Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! September 3, 2019

Tuesday, September 3, 2019 - 15:11 By Eric Olanowski

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Discussing Iran's new freestyle line up and Retherford downing Diakomihalis to claim USA's 65kg world team spot. Also looking at the most wide-open weight at the World Championships and when rosters are scheduled to be released. 

1. Iran’s New-Look Lineup 
Iran finalized their freestyle roster over the weekend and made two major unexpected updates to the top half of their lineup. 

Reza YAZADANI (IRI) and Parviz HADI (IRI) were entered at 97kg and 125kg respectively, but both suffered injuries during their final training cycle and will no longer compete in Kazakhstan. 

Yazdani, the two-time world champion, will be replaced by Ali Khalil SHABANIBENGAR (IRI) at 97kg. Shabanibengar was a runner-up at the Yasar Dogu, where he lost to Kyle SNYDER (USA) in the finals. 

Yadollah MOHEBI (IRI) will replace returning world bronze medalist Parviz Hadi at 125kg. This season, Mohebi won the Takhti Cup and Asian Championships and also finished in fifth place at the Yasar Dogu. 

Iran’s Freestyle Lineup 
57kg - Reza ATRINAGHARCHI
61kg - Behnam Eshagh EHSANPOOR
65kg - Amirmohammad Babak YAZDANICHERATI
70kg - Yones Aliakbar EMAMICHOGHAEI
74kg - Reza Alireza AFZALIPAEMAMI
79kg - Bahman Mohammad TEYMOURI
86kg - Hassan Aliazam YAZDANICHARATI
92kg - Alireza Mohammad KARIMIMACHIANI
97kg - Ali Khalil SHABANIBENGAR
125kg - Yadollah MOHEBI

2. Retherford Takes Down Diakomihalis, to Represent USA at 65kg 
Zain RETHERFORD (USA) downed Yianni DIAKOMIHALIS (USA), 2-1, and will represent the United States of America at 65kg at the 2019 World Championships. 

Retherford won the first Final X series a few months ago, but after an arbitrator negated the result from the second match, Retherford had the 1-0 series lead coming into Monday’s match. Retherford only needed to win one match to punch his ticket, while Diakomihalis needed to win two straight matches.

In their Monday matchup, all the action came in the first period. Retherford trailed 1-0 after a failed challenge but capitalized on a counter-offensive crotch lift and took the 2-1 lead into the second period. 

A scoreless final three minutes gave Retherford the victory he needed to punch his ticket to the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. 

This'll be his second trip to the World Championships. He also represented the United States at the 2017 World Championships in Paris, where he finished in 11th place. 

USA’s Freestyle World Team: 
57kg - Daton FIX 
61kg - Tyler GRAFF
65kg - Zain RETHERFORD
70kg - James GREEN 
74kg - Jordan BURROUGHS 
79kg - Kyle DAKE 
86kg - Pat DOWNEY 
92kg - J'den COX 
97kg - Kyle SNYDER 
125kg - Nick GWIAZDOWSKI

Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) returns to the World Championships with hopes of defending his 65kg title from a year ago. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne)

3. The Most Wide-Open Weight: 65kg 
The most wide-open weight class for the World Championships is going to 65kg. There are three of the four returning world medalists who are currently entered, and an Olympic gold medalist and a three-time world champion.

The returning medalists, who finished with gold through bronze respectively, were Takuto OTOGURO (JPN), Bajrang PUNIA (IND), and Alejandro VALDES TOBIER (CUB). 

Although they failed to medal at last year's World Championships, two other wrestlers who have a shot at winning the 65kg world title are Haji ALIYEV (AZE) and Vladimer KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO). 

Aliyev comes into the Nur-Sultan looking for his fourth world title since 2014. This season, the Azeri is undefeated and has won the European Championships and European Games. 

Khinchegashvili, the Rio Olympic champion, is another serious threat to win the world title at 65kg. He's coming off a European Games runner-up-finish where he fell to Aliyev in the gold-medal bout. 

Myles AMINE (SMR), a European Games bronze medalist, will be the first freestyle wrestler from San Marino to compete at the World Championships. He's entered at 86kg. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

4. World Lineup to be Released This Week
The deadline for teams to make updates to their world team entries ends tomorrow, September 4. After the deadline has passed, United World Wrestling will be releasing the entries through the week. Currently, the entry list is just shy of 1000 wrestlers from 100 different nations.

5. World Championships Countdown: 11 Days
The wait is almost over. We’re into the month of September, which means its officially World Championships month. The 2019 World Championships kick off on September 14 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. 

This year’s World Championships will hold immense weight because the top-six wrestlers in each weight category will qualify their nation's spot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. 

The schedule for this year’s Worlds is much different than that of the Budapest World Championships. Unlike last year, where Greco-Roman closed out the 2018 World Championships, Greco-Roman will instead kick things off this year -- beginning on September 14. Women’s wrestling will be sandwiched in between Greco-Roman and freestyle -- starting on September 17. Finally, freestyle will close out the World Championships, with the potential third match-up between the three-time world and Olympic champions Abdulrashid Sadualev and Kyle Snyder squaring off the 97kg gold medal. The pair have split the last two world titles at 97kg, with Snyder winning in Paris and Sadualev exacting revenge in Budapest by picking up the 70-second fall. 

Here is the World Championships SCHEDULE. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media
1. Big Move Monday -- Sadulaev A. (RUS) -- Senior Worlds 2015
2. #TBT Petriashvili Edges Akgul to Win First World Title
3. Follow The Beach Wrestling World Series Final This Week-end!!
4. Will @hasan_yazdani73 reclaim his crown? Let us know what you think!
5. Tickets for #WrestleNurSultan are On Sale!

#WrestleNoviSad

U23 World Championships 2025 Day 5 FS & WW Highlights

Friday, October 24, 2025 - 08:30 By Vinay Siwach

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NOVI SAD, Serbia (October 23) -- The U23 World Championships enters day five with two Freestyle weight classes -- 74kg and 92kg and three in women's wrestling -- 53kg, 59kg and 62kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 4 RESULTS

14:40: European champion Iryna BONDAR (UKR) finds a way to beat Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR) in the final 40 seconds. Kolawale was lead 3-0 but Bondar with two different takedowns to win 4-3.

14:30: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) seems to be unbothered by the weight change as he puts on a clinic to win his 74kg quarterfinals against Mohammad BAKHSHI (JPN), 11-0. Aoyagi now into the semifinals

14:25: Mobin AZIMI (IRI) puts Iran in the semifinals after a technical superiority win over Joshua BARR (USA). Azimi led 1-1 on criteria but Barr began the second period with a takedown. But Azimi kept the pressure and scored a takedown, and used a high gut-wrench to score five turns and complete a 13-3 win and advance to the 92kg semifinals

14:20: There is no way 

14:15: Mukhamed KHANIEV (AZE) with a 10-0 victory over SACHIN (IND) and move into the semifinals at 92kg. Khaniev with three go-behinds before launching a big throw and turn to win via technical superiority.

14:10: Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA) with another technical superiority win as he beats Omar MOURAD (EGY), 12-2, to enter the 74kg semifinals.

14:00: Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) and Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) face-off in the quarterfinals at 74kg. Both wrestlers exchange takedowns with Asluev leading 2-2 on criteria. Khaniev gets on a leg attack and manages to trip Asluev without control. It is, however, scored two points for Khaniev which gives him a 4-2 lead. Asluev manages to leg attack Khaniev but no points as both wrestlers go out of bounds in par terre. Bahrain challenges the call but it is lost, giving a 5-2 lead to Khaniev. Khaniev gets hit with caution and one point for fleeing, and the bout resumes in par terre. Asluev was about to turn Khaniev but loses his grip and Khaniev gets the two points for exposure which is also his winning points in his 7-3 win

13:35: SARIKA (IND) with a late takedown against Alexis JANIAK (USA) to clinch a 6-4 victory in their 59kg bout. Sarika set up Janiak a couple of times but failed to finish until the final takedown which resulted in victory. 

13:30: Returning silver medalist Ruka NATAMI (JPN) got a solid challenge from Olivia LICHTI (CAN) in her opening 59kg bout. Natami managed to counter Licthi's attacks and score her points in the 8-1 win but Litchi can be proud of her world debut

13:15: Mobin AZIMI (IRI) books a spot in quarterfinals at 92kg against Joshua BARR (USA) after an 8-1 victory over Sadig MUSTAFAZADE (AZE). Big four pointer for Azimi in that win.

12:50: Iryna BONDAR (UKR) with a quick takedown and turn to lead 4-1 against SAVITA (IND) after being put on activity clock in the 62kg match. Savit starts the second period with a takedown to  make the score 4-3. Bondar defends that lead for the last two minutes to advance to the quarterfinals.

12:45: Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA) gets his double-leg attacks to win his 1/8 finals against PARVINDER (IND), 10-0, at 74kg. He finished with a lace turn to get the last two points.

12:30: Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) comes back from 3-1 down to beat Ion MARCU (MDA), 11-5, at 74kg. Asluev moves into the quarterfinals and keeps Magomed BAITUKAEV (UWW) alive

12:25: Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) with some masterful defense against Grigor CHOLAKYAN (ARM) and he scores on counters to beat the Armenian 14-5. Khaniev now in the quarterfinals.

12:20: Moving into the next round of 74kg bouts and we have world champion Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) doing what he does best. He beats Baitemir TULEBERDIEV (KGZ) 11-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.

11:40: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN), chasing a historic gold to complete the Golden Grand Slam, begins with a fall over world bronze medalist Nigina SABIROVA (UZB) at 62kg.

11:30: Mobin AZIMI (IRI) upsets U20 world champion Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) at 92kg. Mix of stepouts and takedowns in his 7-1 victory.

11:15: U20 world champion and senior European champion Iryna BONDAR (UKR) and Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR) involved in a little heated match. Bondar wanted twice for aggressive fouls but she manages to beat Ilyasoglu via fall at 62kg.

10:55: Former U20 world champion Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA) begins his chase for a first world U23 title with a 12-2 win over Aliaksandr HULNIK (UWW) at 74kg.

U23 World Championships 74kg

10:50: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN), world champion at 70kg, makes his debut at 74kg at the U23 World Championships. He begins slow but manages to up the pace in the second period and beat Petar PETKOV (BUL), 10-0.

10:40: Muhammed OZMUS (TUR) has pulled off a mini upset at 74kg as he beats Manuel WAGIN (GER), 10-2, two chest wrap attempts from Wagin costed him eight points and one for the lost challenge in that defeat.

10:30: Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) has more steady start at 74kg. He starts with a 10-0 controlled win against Georgios IOAKEIMIDIS (GRE). Khaniev will now be the favorite to reach the final from top half of that bracket.

10:20: We are off to very unexpected start at 74kg. Magomed BAITUKAEV (UWW), one of the favorites for gold at 74kg, goes down 3-3 against Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) in the opening bout. He led 3-0 but Asluev tied it in the second period, taking a criteria lead. He defended the lead to win.

10:00: The fifth day in Novi Sad can witness history. Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) is chasing the gold and join the elite group of wrestlers to win all world titles and the Olympic gold medal.