Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! November 19, 2018

Monday, November 19, 2018 - 14:42 By Eric Olanowski

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Reviewing results from the U23 World Championships and the U15 Asian Schoolgirl Championships. Also looking at December's World Clubs Cup. ​​​​​​​

1. Bullen Gets Revenge to Win U23 World Championship
Grace BULLEN (NOR) stunned 2018 Senior World champion Ningning RONG (CHN) in the final seconds of the 59kg gold match of the 2018 U23 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania.

“I’m so thrilled. The last two days have been really amazing with how I’ve technically done in the matches and not only using my physical strength all the time,” Bullen said. “[Beating Rong] means more than winning gold. If I had faced her earlier in the bracket and won that way, I think it would feel as amazing as it does right now.”

Two weeks ago, Bullen and Rong met up in the 57 kg semifinals of the Senior World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with Rong taking a 12-2 win. This time, Bullen came out on top.

Down 2-1 with 12 seconds left, Rong had Bullen’s leg in the air and the Norweigan whipped her opponent to her back for four points to steal the match, 5-2, and bring the crowd to its feet in the exciting finish.

In addition to her World crown, Bullen now owns a 2014 Cadet World gold, 2014 Youth Olympic Games gold and a 2017 Junior World bronze.

Also of note, Yudari SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ (CUB) became the first Cuban women’s wrestling world champion in any age group. 

Sanchez, a 2017 Junior World silver medalist, and 2017 U23 World bronze medalist, won the crown at 68 kg, taking out Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN). Morikawa is a 2018 Junior World bronze medalist and 2016 Cadet World silver winner.

The Cuban shut down Morikawa’s offense and produced a 6-2 decision for the gold medal.

Women’s Wrestling U23 World Champions
50kg - Momoka KADOYA (JPN)
53kg - Miho IGARASHI (JPN)
55kg - Saki IGARASHI (JPN)
57kg - Alexandria TOWN (CAN)
59kg - Grace BULLEN (NOR)
62kg - Yukako KAWAI (JPN)
65kg - Ayana GEMPEI (JPN)
67kg - Yudari SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ (CUB)
72kg - Buse TOSUN (TUR)
76kg - Paliha PALIHA (CHN)

Team scores       
1. Japan – 188
2. Russia – 113
3. China – 106
4. Ukraine – 81
5. USA – 76

2. Elsayed Wins Egypt’s First World Gold Since 2006
For the first time in 12 years, at any age group and in any style, Egypt produced a world champion with Mohamed Ibrahim ELSAYED winning the U23 World title at 67kg in Greco-Roman in Bucharest, Romania. The last Egyptian World champion was Mohamed Ibrahim Abdelfattah, who won a 2006 senior-level world gold in Greco-Roman at 84kg.

For Elsayed, it was a dominant run to the gold. At the break, Elsayed held a 2-0 lead over 2012 Cadet World champion Karim JAFAROV (AZE). From there, the Egyptian kept piling on the points, eventually shutting out his opponent for an 8-0 technical fall.

Also making history was Daniel CATARAGA (MDA) who became the first two-time U23 World champion in history, winning the 77kg Greco-Roman U23 world title.

After winning the 2017 U23 World title at 71kg, Cataraga bumped up to 77kg to claim his second, putting together a solid tournament to do so. In the gold-medal match, Cataraga faced 2018 U23 European champion Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN).


The newly minted U23 world champion Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO) holds up six fingers to symbolize his three junior world titles and two cadet world championships. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne)

Meanwhile, Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO) added a U23 world gold to his five age-level world gold medal collection.

In the heavyweight finale, Pataridze, last year's U23 world runner-up, battled back from a five-point deficit against Osman YILDIRIM (TUR) to win gold at 130kg.

Yildirim led 5-0 at the break before Pataridze slowly chipped away at the lead, drawing a passivity, two caution-and-twos and a step out point to win his sixth age-group World championship.

Greco-Roman Wrestling U23 World Champions
55kg - Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
60kg - Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
62kg - Katsuaki ENDO (JPN)
67kg - Mohamed Ibrahim ELSAYED (EGY)
72kg - Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)
77kg - Daniel CATARAGA (MDA)
82kg - Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
87kg - Semen NOVIKOV (UKR)
97kg - Aleksandr GOLOVIN (RUS)
130kg - Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO)

Team results (top five)
1. Georgia – 126
2. Russia – 101
3. Turkey – 87
4. Japan – 80
5. Azerbaijan – 71

3. Olympic Silver Medalist Higuchi Wins to U23 World Title 
Among Japan’s pair of U23 freestyle world champions was 2016 Rio silver medalist, Rei HIGUCHI (JPN) at 65kg.

Higuchi relied on a takedown with 14 seconds left to defeat Morteza GHIASI CHEKA (IRI) to advance to the 65kg finals against 2018 Yasar Dogu runner-up Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE).

In the finals, 2016 Olympic silver medalist Higuchi edged in a 5-4 battle. Rahimzade rallied from a 4-1 deficit to tie the score as the clock ran out, but Higuchi held criteria. Azerbaijan’s corner challenged, looking for a fleeing call, but lost the challenge, resulting in another point for Higuchi.

Japan’s second champion was 57kg gold medalist Toshihiro HASEGAWA (JPN). In the finals, Hasegawa, a 2013 cadet world bronze medalist, went up 4-0 halfway through the first period against Kumar RAVI (IND) before locking up a cradle and getting the pin at the 2:08 mark.

Freestyle U23 World Champions 
57kg - Toshihiro HASEGAWA (JPN)
61kg - Magomedrasul IDRISOV (RUS)
65kg - Rei HIGUCHI (JPN)
70kg - Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
74kg - Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)
79kg - Nika KENTCHADZE (GEO)
86kg - Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)
92kg - Shamil ZUBAIROV (AZE)
97kg - Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
125kg - Said GAMIDOV (RUS)

Team results
1. Russia – 181
2. Georgia – 108
3. Iran – 105
4. Japan – 93
5. USA – 92

4. Rising Star Fujinami Leads Japan Gold Rush at Asian U-15 Girls
Having already surpassed her world medalist brother in one aspect, Akari FUJINAMI (JPN) continues to establish herself as a likely future star in Japan's women wrestling.

Fujinami, a junior high schooler who this summer became a world cadet champion, stormed to victory in the 54kg division to lead a gold rush by the host country at the Asian U-15 Girls Championships on Friday in Fujimi, north of Tokyo.

Fujinami was one of six Japanese who made it to the top of the medal podium in the 10 weight classes, with Miu OBATA (39kg),  Yu SAKAMOTO (46kg), Moe KIYOOKA (50kg), Kanami YAMANOUCHI (58kg) and Ayano MORO (62kg) also emerging victorious. Japan also won two silver medals.

India claimed three golds, including a victory at 42kg by world cadet bronze medalist SWEETY (IND), along with three silvers and a bronze, while Uzbekistan took the remaining title in the heaviest weight of 66kg as well as four bronzes. It was a bittersweet day for Mongolia, which had to settle for four silver medals to go with one bronze.

Women's Wrestling U15 Asian Champions 
36kg - Komal KOMAL (IND)
39kg - Miu OBATA (JPN)
42kg - Sweety SWEETY (IND)
46kg - Yu SAKAMOTO (JPN) 
50kg - Moe KIYOOKA (JPN)
54kg - Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)
58kg - Kanami YAMANOUCHI (JPN)
62kg - Ayano MORO (JPN)
66kg - Rushana ABDIRASULOVA (UZB)

Team Standings
1. Japan - 202
2. India - 181 
3. Kazakhstan -125 
4. Mongolia - 114
5. Uzbekistan - 105

5. Tehran to Host 2018 World Wrestling Clubs Cup in Three Weeks 
Tehran, Iran is set to host the fifth annual World Wrestling Clubs Cup on December 13-14. 

Last year, 16 World and Olympic medalists took part in the two-day competition, but it was Iran's Easy Pipe Kashan who edged defending champions from the United States, Titan Mercury, 6-4, while Setaregan Sari (IRI) downed Khimori (MGL) in the third-place dual.

2017 Finals Results 
57kg - Reza ATARI (Easy Pipe) df. Thomas GILMAN (TMWC), 6-4 
61kg- Vladimir KHINCHEGASHVILI (Easy Pipe) df. Alan WATERS (TMWC), 7-0
65kg- Farzad AMOUZAD KHALILI df. (Easy Pipe) Bernard FUTRELL (TMWC), 6-3
70kg- Mohammad NADERI (Easy Pipe) df. Franklin GOMEZ (TMWC), 2-2
74kg- Nazariy KULCHYTSKYY (TMWC) df. Hossein ELYASI (Easy Pipe), 5-4 
79kg- Kyle DAKE (TMWC) TF. Reza AFZALI (Easy Pipe), 12-0
86kg- David TAYLOR (TMWC) df. Alireza KARIMI (Easy Pipe), 3-1 
92kg- Hossein SHAHBAZI (Easy Pipe) df. Nickolas HEFLIN (Titan), 4-2
97kg- Kyle SNYDER (TMWC) TF. Vladislav BAITSAEV (Easy Pipe), 11-0
125kg - Geno PETRIASHVILI (Easy Pipe) df. Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (Titan), 6-5

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 
 

1. Big throws and Takedowns at U23 World Championships 2018. #uww #unitedworldwrestling
2. Iran ??. Ghasempour wins gold ?????
طلای قاسم پور برای ایران. پرچم بالاست ?? ??
#unitedworldwrestling #uww #wrestling
3. Big Move From Day 6 and the fastest fight ?‍♂️? // #Bucharest2018 #freestylewrestling #olympic #wrestling#bigmove #throw #takedown
4. Big Move From Day 4 // #Bucharest2018 #grecoromanwrestling #olympic #wrestling#bigmove #throw #takedown
5. An amazing throw by Pilidis from Greece who comes back from behind to get the win! ???#unitedworldwrestling #uww #wrestling

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! November 5, 2019

Tuesday, November 5, 2019 - 14:29 By Eric Olanowski

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Reviewing results from the U23 World Championships and previewing the upcoming Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman World Cups. 

1. Egypt's Rising Star El Sayed Defends U23 World Title 
Ten days. That’s how long it took for Mohamed EL SAYED (EGY) to bolster his resume by a pair of world titles. In just under two weeks, the 21-year-old Egyptian rising star steamrolled his way to the top of the podium at the U23 World Championships and World Military Games. 

El Sayed kick-started his impressive two-week run on October 23, taking out five wrestlers in Wuhan, China, to win the World Military Games title at 67kg. Then, El Sayed downed five foes in Hungary last weekend and defended his U23 world gold medal from a year ago. 

The Nur-Sultan world fifth-place finisher capped off his world-title run by obliterating Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (BLR), 8-0, in the 67kg finals. In addition to his finals win, the man who qualified Egypt for the Olympic Games at 67kg, scored perhaps his most significant win of the tournament when he bested Katsuaki ENDO (JPN) in the semifinals. The Egyptian wrestler came out on top of that matchup between returning U23 world champions, 7-5.

Egypt won't compete at the 2019 Greco-Roman World Cup, so the next time wrestling fans can catch El Sayed in action could be at  January's Matteo Pellicone, which is the first Ranking Series event of 2020. 

Taylor Miller's Greco-Roman Wraps:
Novikov Avenges European C’Ships Loss to Defend U23 World Title
Elsayed Collects Second World Title in Less than Two Weeks at #WrestleBudapest

Greco-Roman Finals Results
55kg - Shota OGAWA (JPN) df. Emin Narimanovitch SEFERSHAEV (RUS), 4-3
60kg - Armen MELIKYAN (ARM) df. Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ), 11-7 
63kg - Meysam Karamali DALKHANI (IRI) df. Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO), 7-6 
67kg - Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY) df. Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (BLR), 9-0 
72kg - Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) df. Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE), 7-0 
77kg - Islam OPIEV (RUS) df. Kodai SAKURABA (JPN), 3-1 
82kg - Milad Valerikovitch ALIRZAEV (RUS) df. Vjekoslav LUBURIC (CRO), 8-0 
87kg - Semen NOVIKOV (UKR) df. Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO), 6-1
97kg - Arvi Martin SAVOLAINEN (FIN) df. Giorgi MELIA (GEO), 5-3 
130kg - Aliakbar Hossein YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) df. Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO), via inj. def. 

Haruna OKUNO (JPN) was one of seven Japanese wrestlers to win a U23 women's wrestling title. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka)

2. Japanese Women Seize Seven of Ten U23 World Golds 
The Japanese women’s wrestling team capped off an extraordinary run to a U23 team world title with a 37-3 record, which culminated in ten medals – seven of which were golds. They finished 125 points ahead of second-place China, who finished with 105 points. 

In total, Japan’s U23 women’s world team had seven champions, two runner-ups, and a bronze-medal finisher. 

Japan’s domination at the U23 World Championships solidifies the island nation’s spot atop the ranks in women’s wrestling after they swept the four major World Championships in 2019. The Far East country took home the team trophy at the cadet, junior, U23 and senior world championships – while grabbing at least six medals at every World Championships. Furthermore, they finished with six champions at the cadet, junior and U23 world championships. 

Taylor Miller's Women's Wrestling Wraps Wraps:
Marin Potrille Takes Down Senior World Medalist for U23 World Title
Furuichi Wins Seventh World Gold, Paliha Defends U23 World Title at #WrestleBudapest

2019 U23 World Champions: 
50kg - Kika KAGATA (JPN)
53kg - Haruna OKUNO (JPN)
55kg - Sae NANJO (JPN)
59kg - Yumeka TANABE (JPN)
62kg - Yuzuka INAGAKI (JPN)
65kg - Misuzu ENOMOTO (JPN)
68kg - Masako FURUICHI (JPN)

2019 World Championships Medal Breakdown: 
Cadet – Six gold and three bronze – nine medals 
Junior – Eight gold and two bronze – ten medals 
U23 – Seven gold, two silver and one bronze – ten medals 
Senior – One gold, three silver and two bronze – six medals

Razambek ZHAMALOV (RUS) helped Russia claim their fourth freestyle world title across all divisions with an 8-1 victory over  Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (IRI) in the 74kg finals. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

3. Russia Edges Iran at U23 Worlds, Sweeps Freestyle World Championships 
The Russia Federation hoisted a freestyle 2019 team trophy for the fourth time this year at the World Championships after edging second-place Iran by six points at the U23 World Championships. 

Russia’s run to a fourth consecutive freestyle team trophy came on the back of Razambek ZHAMALOV’S 74kg title-winning effort. Zhamalov, a 2018 junior world runner-up, became a world champion for the first time in his career with a smothering 8-1 victory over Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (IRI) in the 74kg finals. Four other Russians joined Zhamalov in the finals, but that quartet settled for silver medals after falling in their respective gold-medal matches. The Russian Federation also had a pair of bronze medalists – bringing their overall medal count to seven. 

Russia finished six points ahead of second-place Iran and 34 points ahead of third-place Azerbaijan. 

Taylor Miller's Freestyle Wraps:
Zholdoshbekov Claims First Men’s Freestyle World Title for Kyrgyzstan Since 2005
Andreu Ortega and Goleij Claim Second U23 World Titles at #WrestleBudapest

Freestyle Finals Results
57kg - Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) df. Adlan ASKAROV (KAZ), 10-0 
61kg - Ulukbek ZHOLDOSHBEKOV (KGZ) df. Ravinder RAVINDER (IND), 5-3 
65kg - Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) df. Takuma TANIYAMA (JPN), 3-2 
70kg - Mirza SKHULUKHIA (GEO) df. Chermen VALIEV (RUS), 7-5 
74kg - Razambek ZHAMALOV (RUS) df. Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (IRI), 8-2 
79kg - Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO) df. Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE), via fall 
86kg - Kamran Ghorban GHASEMPOUR (IRI) df. Gadzhimurad MAGOMEDSAIDOV (AZE), 9-3 
92kg - Bo Dean NICKAL (USA) df. Batyrbek TCAKULOV (RUS), 12-2 
97kg - Mojtaba Mohammadshafie GOLEIJ (IRI) df. Shamil Alievitch MUSAEV (RUS), 8-2 
125kg - Amir Hossein Abbas ZARE (IRI) df. Vitalii GOLOEV (RUS), 10-0 

Three-time world and Rio Olympic champ Risako KAWAI (JPN) will compete at 57kg at the Women's Wrestling World Cup. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan) 

4. Japan Gearing up to Host Women's World Cup (November 16-17)
For the sixth time in its 18-year run, the Women’s Wrestling World Cup returns to the winningest women’s wrestling country in the world, Japan. The four-time defending World Cup champions will host the annual dual meet event November 16-17 at the Nakadai Sports & Recreation Park Gymnasium in Narita, Japan. 

Risako KAWAI (JPN) and Adeline Maria GRAY (USA) headline a group of five reigning world champions and 19 total medalists that'll compete in Narita. 

Kawai and Gray, who combine for eight world titles and a Rio Olympic gold medal, are unquestionably the most dominant women's wrestlers in the world. Kawai, who'll scrap at 57kg, has won three consecutive world titles after claiming gold in Rio de Janerio at the 2016 Olympic Games. Gray, who is coming off winning her American history-making fifth women's wrestling world title, will wrestle at 76kg. 

Jacarra Gwenisha WINCHESTER (USA), Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS) and Tamyra Mariama MENSAH (USA) are the trio of newly-minted world champs that'll join Kawai and Gray at the World Cup. 

The Women's Wrestling World Cup starts on November 16 and will be streamed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

Reigning World Champions Entered
55kg - Jacarra Gwenisha WINCHESTER (USA)
57kg - Risako KAWAI (JPN)
62kg - Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS)
68kg - Tamyra Mariama MENSAH (USA)
76kg - Adeline Maria GRAY (USA)

Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

5. Loaded Field Entered into Greco-Roman World Cup (November 28-29) 
The Azadi Stadium in Iran's capital city of Tehran will welcome a loaded field of top-level talent to the 2019 Greco-Roman World Cup from November 28-29. Six reigning world gold medalists will travel to Tehran to compete in the Greco-Roman World Cup, but 67kg will be the weight-to-watch, as a potential Olympic finals rematch between Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) and Shinobu OTA (JPN) could be looming on the horizion. 

Borrero and Ota both won world titles in Nur-Sultan, but the Japanese wrestler will begin his ascent from his title-winning non-Olympic weight of 63kg to the Olympic weight of 67kg, where the Cuban wrestler is the current world-title holder. Shortly after winning his world title last month, Ota announced that he'll climb up 4kg to 67kg to make a run at improving his silver medal from the Rio Olympic Games where he fell to Borrero in the finals.

In addition to Borrero and Ota, the Greco-Roman World Cup will also welcome four other world champs. The returning world champs are: Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO), Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN), Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) and Lasha GOBADZE (GEO). 

The Greco-Roman World Cup starts on November 28 and will be streamed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

Reigning World Champions Entered
55kg - Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
60kg - Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) 
67kg - Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB)
67kg - Shinobu OTA (JPN)
72kg - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS)
82kg - Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday -- Akmataliev E. @akmataliev_ernazar -- U23 Worlds 2019
2. SEFERSHAEV (RUS) gets the win in a crazy match against HALAKURKI (IND) ? .
3. Big throws by FENG (CHN) ?? ? ?‍♂️
4. GHASEMPOUR (IRI) defeats SADOWIK (POL) will he win the gold again? ? ?? ?
5. Back and forth match between IBRAGIMOV (AZE) and PANTALEO (USA) with IBRAGIMOV grabbing the 9-8 win ?? ? ?