Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! May 29, 2018

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - 13:33 By Eric Olanowski

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Reviewing the 2018 Cadet Pan-American C'ships and the updated list of Youth Olympic Games qualifiers. Also taking a look at next weeks 2018 U23 European Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. 

1. The USA Caps off Pan-American C'ships with Nine Freestyle Gold Medals
The United States of America capped off the final day of competition at the 2018 Pan-American Championships in Guatemala City, Guatemala with a 38-1 record and won nine of the possible ten gold medals.

More importantly, the quartet of American gold medals at YOG weights helped the United States punch four tickets to the 2018 Buenos Aires Games in October. Mexico, who won the fifth and final gold medal also locked up their spot for the 2018 Games.

Watch all freestyle matches from the 2018 Pan-American Championships.

Team Scores
GOLD - United States (245 points)
SILVER - Mexico (120 points)
BRONZE - Canada  (100 points)
Fourth - Guatemala (89 points)
Fifth - Dominican Republic  (74 points)

Axel ESQUIVEL (MEX) celebrates after defeating Paxton Liam CREESE (USA) in the 51kg Greco-Roman Pan-American finals. (Photo by Robbert Wijtman)

2. Mexico Qualifies Trio for Youth Olympic Games 
Mexico and the United States each had eight wrestlers vying for Greco-Roman gold medals at the 2018 Cadet Pan-American Championships. The winner of 45kg, 51kg, 60kg, 71kg, and 92kg qualified their nations spot for October’s Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Although USA wrestlers won five gold medals, none of those came at a Youth Olympic weight class. 

Mexico nabbed three gold medals against American opponents, with all three wins coming in weight categories where there was a Youth Olympic Games spot up for grabs. 

Igor ALVES DE QUEIROZ (BRA) and Jeremy GONZALEZ (ECU) claimed the two remaining YOG spots. 

Watch all Greco-Roman Matches from the 2018 Pan-American Championships.

Team Scores 
GOLD - United States (215 points) 
SILVER - Mexico (190 points) 
BRONZE - Guatemala (99 points) 
Fourth - Ecuador (61 points)
Fifth - Brazil (51 points) 

Tiare IKEI (USA), 49kg Cadet Pan-American champion. (Photo by Robert Wijtman)

3. USA Claims Six Women’s Wrestling Pan-Am Golds 
The United States capped off their impressive run at a Cadet Pan-American Championship team title with six individual championships, which included four births to the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina later this year. 

Venezuela and Cuba grabbed a pair of spots to the YOG, while Brazil and Mexico each had a solo wrestler punch their ticket to Buenos Aires.

Watch all women’s wrestling Matches from the 2018 Pan-American Championships.

TEAM SCORES
GOLD - United States (205 points) 
SILVER – Canada (131 points) 
BRONZE – Mexico (130 points) 
Fourth - Ecuador (80 points)
Fifth - Brazil (60 points) 

 Milaimys POTRILLE (CUB), 73kg Pan-American champion. (Photo by Robbert Wijtman)

4. Youth Olympic Games Qualifiers After the Cadet Asian, European and Pan-American C'ships.
The 2018 Youth Olympic Games will take place October 12-14 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For qualification purposes, the highest placing athlete from the cadet continental championships will qualify their nations spot for the 2018 Games in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. 

In women's wrestling, the top two athletes from the cadet continental championships will qualify their nations spot for the Buenos Aires Games. 

Qualifiers After the Cadet Asian, European and Pan-American Championships 
Freestyle 
48kg – RUS, USA, and UZB
55kg – JPN, UKR, and USA 
65kg – AZE, IRI, and USA
80kg – IRI, RUS, and USA
110kg – MEX, IRI, and RUS 

Greco-Roman 
45kg – BUL, ECU, and IRI 
51kg – GEO, JPN, and MEX 
60kg – ARM, MEX, and UZB
71kg – JPN, MEX, and RUS 
92kg – IRI, MEX, and RUS 

Women's Wrestling 
43kg – AZE, BLR, BRA, JPN, MGL, and USA
49kg – HUN, JPN, SWE, USA, UZB, and VEN
57kg – HUN, IND, JPN, MDA, USA, and VEN
65kg – CHN, CUB, HUN, JPN, MEX, and UKR
73kg – BLR, CUB, JPN, TUR, USA, and UZB

5. U23 European Championships Begin Next Monday, June 4 
The 2018 U23 European Championships kick off next Monday, June 4 in Istanbul, Turkey. 

Wrestlers between the ages of 19 and 23 years old will compete to qualify for the 2018 U23 World Championships which take place November 12-18 in Bucharest, Romania. 

EVENT SCHEDULE

Weekly FIVE! in Social Media 

1.Big Move Monday! @pascal.eisele @ringen_drb

2. Watch as South Africa’s Madi MPHO tells the @unitednationshumanrights about her journey from orphan to adulthood and how wrestling educated her on having empathy. Incredible story.

3.Erica Wiebe: “One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.”
.
Feeling like I’m ready to come out of the darkness soon.
I have a love/hate relationship with this part of the process. We push just past the point of breaking in the hopes we will become reborn, renewed, an evolution of who we once were. It’s magical. But it’s simultaneously physically, mentally, emotionally demanding. It’s why I love this sport.
@eweebz ?

4. How about this unusual wrestling singlets?? Как на счет таких необычных борцовских трико?? ?@pincancer #charity#wrestlingsinglet#wrestlers#gucci#louisvuitton#борцовскоетрико

5. Continuing series of wrestling "puzzles"? Продолжаем серию борцовских "головоломок"?
? @wow_worldofwrestling #wrestling#coolpic#wrestlers#wow#sport#борцы#борьба#круто

#WrestleSamokov

Kyrgyzstan, Moldova earn chance to end U20 World title drought

Sunday, August 17, 2025 - 18:58 By Vinay Siwach

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SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 17) -- Kyrgyzstan and Moldova earned a chance to end their gold-medal drought at the U20 World Championships.

On the first day of the 2025 World U20 Championships in Samokov, four Freestyle weight classes were in action. Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ) was the surprised finalist at 74kg and will try to become Kyrgyzstan's first gold medal at the U20 World Championships in 20 years. He will take on European U23 champion Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) in the final.

At 70kg, Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) earned the final and will now try to become Moldova's first U20 world champ in Freestyle since 1999. He will take on returning bronze medalist PJ DUKE (USA) in the gold-medal bout.

The 125kg weight class will see an all-Asian final as Asian U20 champion Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) earned a shot for the world title against Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI), a wrestler over whom Kassimbek has a 3-0 head-to-head record.

Two returning bronze medalists, Duke and Justin RADEMACHER (USA), upgrade their bronze medals from last year and earn themselves a chance to win gold on Monday at 70kg and 97kg respectively.

Akylbekov, who had finished at 17th at 79kg last year, had a dream run on Sunday and ended one for Raul CASO (ITA) in the semifinals. Caso had posted two last-second victories, however, he failed to repeat those heroics in the semifinal against Akylbekov.

Caso was 3-2 and went attack-mode in the final 15 seconds. He almost scored a takedown over Akylbekov who managed to sneak out and then Caso jumped over to take control for a takedown. However, the Kyrgyz wrestler stood up to avoid giving up any points. Italy challenged for two points but lost that on review, giving one more point to Akylbekov.

While Caso was leaving it late in his wins, Akylbekov was contrastingly dominating them. He defeated Nicholas HOOPER (CAN), 12-0, in the opening bout, blanked Titas PIJORAITIS (LTU), 10-0 and then handed Dosszhan KUL GAIYP (KAZ) a 6-1 loss.

Ismail KHANIEV (UWW)Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) defeated Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN), 7-3, in the semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

He will now face Khaniev, who earned himself his first world medal at any level. Khaniev defeated Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN), 7-3, in a very close semifinal than the scoreline suggests.

Khaniev led 3-3 on criteria but Yamaguchi constantly threatened to score in the final 25 seconds. He hit a double-leg attack and planted Khaniev, who somehow managed to not land in danger. In a counter, Khaniev exposed Yamaguchi for two points and took a 5-3 lead. Yamaguchi tried a desperate throw in the final 15 seconds but Khaniev blocked it for two more points to win.

Earlier in the day, Khaniev avenged his European U20 Championships loss to Manuel WAGIN (GER) with a technical superiority win after he had beaten returning silver medalist Ladrion LOCKETT (USA).

Duke had his first big challenge of the day in the semifinals against former world U17 champion Erfan ELAHI (IRI) at 70kg. Duke scored a takedown while Elahi had a point for stepout and Duke's passivity. Duke's two-point scoring move gave him the criteria.

However, Elahi somehow thought he has the criteria and did not think of attacking in the final 30 seconds. When the bout was over, Elahi celebrated as if he had won only to realize that he has lost 2-2.

Duke will look to win his first a world title before wrestling at the senior World Championships later in September. He will take on Gaidarli for the gold-medal after the Moldovan won his semifinal 7-4 against Nurlan AGHAZADA (AZE).

Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA)Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) reached the 70kg final in Samokov. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Gaidarli became the first Moldovan Freestyle wrestler to reach the final at U20 Worlds since 2019 after a stunningly good run in Samokov. He defeated European U20 champion Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), 13-3, avenging his loss from Carole, Italy.

In the semifinals, he scored three takedowns in the second period against Aghazada to win 7-4, bettering his 18th-place finish from last year and earning a chance to end the gold-medal drought for Moldova.

Returning bronze medalist at 97kg Rademacher defeated European U20 champion Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO) in the semifinals and will now try to win gold. Rademacher led 4-3 at the break extended his lead with a takedown for two points to start the second period, add another go-behind and single-leg to takedown to lead 10-3.

Petriashvili got an attack for two points but Rademacher was relentless in his wrestling and scored three more takedowns to win 16-5.

Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW)Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) survived to win 11-9 against VISHAL (IND) in the 97kg semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

For the gold medal, he will face Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) who survived, with some help, for an 11-9 win over VISHAL (IND) who had Magomedov in all sorts of trouble. Magomedov led 10-4 when Vishal mounted a comeback against an absolutely broken Magomedov. He scored a takedown and Magomedov was cautioned for a singlet-pull foul which made it 10-7.

As the bout was restart in par terre, India challenged for two more points but the referee had blown the whistle before control from Vishal. That challenge gave enough breathing time to Magomedov to managed to hang on to his lead and win 11-9.

Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ)Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) celebrates after winning his 125kg semifinal against Cole MIRASOLA (USA). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Kassimbek had a very dominant semifinal as he defeated Cole MIRASOLA (USA), 11-0, inside the first period. He had two excellent counter takedowns and then locked up Mirasola's legs around his head and turns him twice. He finished things with a double-leg takedown.

Kassimbek has lost to two World U17 Championships finals before but he will have a good chance to win his first world title. He will take on Mohammad Nezhad, a wrestler he has defeated three times before.

The Iranian denied former world U17 champion Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE) after a 1-1 victory in the semifinal. Mohmmad Nezhad got the one point for passivity in the second period which gave him the criteria.

Mohammad Nezhad lost to Kassimbek for the first time in 2023 Asian U17 Championships final, 8-1, then at the same tournament in 2024, 2-2 in the semifinals. His third loss to Kassimbek came in the semifinals of the 2024 World U17 Championships, 4-3.

RESULTS

70kg
GOLD: PJ DUKE (USA) vs. Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) 

SF 1: Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) df. Nurlan AGHAZADA (AZE), 7-4
SF 2: PJ DUKE (USA) df. Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI), 2-2

74kg
GOLD: Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) vs. Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ)

SF 1: Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ) df. Raul CASO (ITA), 4-2
SF 2: Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) df. Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN), 7-3

97kg
GOLD: Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) vs. Justin RADEMACHER (USA)

SF 1: Justin RADEMACHER (USA) df. Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO), 16-5
SF 2: Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) df. VISHAL (IND), 11-9

125kg
GOLD: Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) vs. Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI)

SF 1: Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI) df. Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE), 1-1
SF 2: Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) df. Cole MIRASOLA (USA), 11-0