World Champ Stadnik Bulldozes Poland Open Field

Friday, September 7, 2018 - 18:34 By Eric Olanowski

WARSAW, Poland (September 7) - The fourth and final women’s wrestling Ranking Series event of the year, the Poland Open kicked off in Warsaw, Poland, and No. 2 ranked Mariya STADNIK (AZE) once again bulldozed the competition for the third tournament in a row.

Stadnik, the seven-time world and Olympic medalist, capped off her Poland Open finals run with four technical superiority victories while outscoring the competition 41-1.

The Azeri has competed three times this season, making the finals of the Klippan Lady Open, the European Championships and now the Poland Open.

In her three competitions, Stadnik has had twelve matches. In those twelve matches, she’s 11-1, with her only loss coming to defending world champion, Yui SUSAKI (JPN) in the Klippan Lady Open finals. Even more impressive, Stadnik has finished all 11 victories by technical superiority, while outscoring her opponents 115-3.

Stadnik will meet Ilona SEMKIV (UKR) in the 50kg finals. Semkiv, the two-time age-level world runner-up scored an impressive 12-2 win over No. 1 Emilia VUC (ROU), sealing her spot in tomorrow’s finals. The Poland Open finals will be Semkiv’s first finals appearance since the 2017 European Championships where she coincidently wrestled Stadnik, who was the victor 10-0.

In freestyle, Olympic champion Vladimer KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) will meet Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS) for the 65kg title. This is a rematch of the 61kg gold-medal bout at the 2017 European Championships. That match, which was a Match of the Year candidate, was won 10-9 by Khinchegashvili.

It was said that the highest placer at this tournament between Chakaev and Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS) would represent Russia at the 2018 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. It is not clear why, but Bekbulatov entered the tournament but did not compete, dropping out of the match against Dimitar Lyubomirov IVANOV (BUL).

With that said, one can only imagine that Akhmed Chakaev will represent Russia at 65kg at the World Championships. In 2016, Chakaev finished with a bronze medal while representing Russia at the World Championships.

In Greco-Roman, the most surprising upset came at 97kg where Tracy HANCOCK (USA) stuck four-time world and Olympic champion, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) in the semifinals.

Hancock who is wrestling in his first individual international competition since taking tenth place at the U23 World Championships will face Bulgaria’s Nikolay BAYRYAKOV (BUL) for the 97kg gold medal.

The finals will begin tomorrow at 17:00 (local time). The freestyle finals will be on Mat A, the women's wrestling finals will be on Mat B and the Greco-Roman finals will be on Mat C.

RESULTS
Women's Wrestling
50kg
GOLD - Ilona SEMKIV (UKR) vs. Mariya STADNIK (AZE)

Semifinal - Mariya STADNIK (AZE) df. Nadezhda SOKOLOVA (RUS), 11-1
Semifinal - Ilona SEMKIV (UKR) df. Emilia Alina VUC (ROU), 12-2

55kg
GOLD - Roksana Marta ZASINA (POL) vs. Tetyana KIT (UKR)

Semifinal - Tetyana KIT (UKR) df. Olga SHNAIDER (UKR), 10-0
Semifinal - Roksana Marta ZASINA (POL) df. Sofia Magdalena MATTSSON (SWE), 4-3

59kg
GOLD - Marwa AMRI (TUN) vs. Svetlana LIPATOVA (RUS)

Semifinal - Svetlana LIPATOVA (RUS) df. Olena KREMZER (UKR) , 12-1
Semifinal - Marwa AMRI (TUN) df. Lingling BAO (CHN), 7-2

65kg
GOLD - Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) vs. Danielle Suzanne LAPPAGE (CAN)

Semifinal - Danielle Suzanne LAPPAGE (CAN) df. Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE), 4-1
Semifinal - Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) df. Moa Lena Maria NYGREN (SWE), 2-0

72kg
GOLD - Kunming WANG (CHN) vs. Agnieszka Jadwiga WIESZCZEK-KORDUS (POL)

Semifinal - Agnieszka Jadwiga WIESZCZEK-KORDUS (POL) df. Catalina AXENTE (ROU), 3-0
Semifinal - Kunming WANG (CHN) df. Alexandra Nicoleta ANGHEL (ROU), 9-5

Freestyle
57kg

GOLD - Stevan Andria MICIC (SRB) vs. Givi DAVIDOVI (ITA)

Semifinal - Givi DAVIDOVI (ITA) df. Frank Vincent PERRELLI IV (USA) , 9-6
Semifinal - Stevan Andria MICIC (SRB) df. Nurislam (Artas) SANAYEV (SANAA) (KAZ) , 9-5

65kg
GOLD - Vladimer KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) vs. Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS)

Semifinal - Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS) df. Jordan Michael OLIVER (USA) , 9-8
Semifinal - Vladimer KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) df. Dimitar Lyubomirov IVANOV (BUL) , 11-0

74kg
GOLD - Wei WU (CHN) vs. Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)

Semifinal - Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO) df. Nurlan BEKZHANOV (KAZ) , 5-0
Semifinal - Wei WU (CHN) df. Andrzej Piotr SOKALSKI (POL), 7-1

86kg
GOLD - Zbigniew Mateusz BARANOWSKI (POL) vs. Samuel Joseph BROOKS (USA)

Semifinal - Samuel Joseph BROOKS (USA) df. Akhmed AIBUEV (FRA) , 6-2
Semifinal - Zbigniew Mateusz BARANOWSKI (POL) df. Piotr IANULOV (MDA), 2-2

97kg
GOLD - Mamed IBRAGIMOV (KAZ) vs. Elizbar ODIKADZE (GEO)

Semifinal - Elizbar ODIKADZE (GEO) df. Pavlo OLIINYK (HUN), via injury.
Semifinal - Mamed IBRAGIMOV (KAZ) df. Chaoqiang YANG (CHN), 5-2

Greco-Roman
63kg

GOLD - Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) vs. Nikolay Ivanov VICHEV (BUL

Semifinal - Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) df. Virgil Alexander BICA (SWE), 4-3
Semifinal - Nikolay Ivanov VICHEV (BUL) df. Hassan Hassan Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY), 8-0

72kg
GOLD - Denis HORVATH (SVK) vs. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)

Semifinal - Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR) df. Shogo TAKAHASHI (JPN), 2-1
Semifinal - Denis HORVATH (SVK) df. Joilson DE BRITO RAMOS JUNIOR (BRA), 8-0

82kg
GOLD - Oleksii OSNIACH (UKR) vs. Emrah KUS (TUR)

Semifinal - Emrah KUS (TUR) df. Daniel Tihomirov ALEKSANDROV (BUL), 7-4
Semifinal - Oleksii OSNIACH (UKR) df. Petr NOVAK (CZE), 6-6

97kg
GOLD - Tracy Gangelo HANCOCK (USA) vs. Nikolay Nikolaev BAYRYAKOV (BUL)

Semifinal - Nikolay Nikolaev BAYRYAKOV (BUL) df. Mathias BAK (DEN), 4-1
Semifinal - Tracy Gangelo HANCOCK (USA) df. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM), via fall

#WrestleTirana

Breaking down freestyle battles at World Championships for Non-Olympic weights

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 - 09:44 By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (October 15) -- Six months ago, no one had the Sadulaev-Taylor-Ghasempour three-way battle for world title on their bingo card. But it is about to go down in Tirana.

The World Championships in non-Olympic weight classes is returning after eight years. Despite the fact that none of the Paris Olympic participants were allowed in the tournament, it still has a host of stars hoping to become world champions.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN), a two-time Olympic and five-time world champion, did not participate in the Paris Olympics and is going down a weight class to 92kg in a bid to earn his sixth world title. Three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA) jumped from 86kg to 92kg in a bid to compete at the World Championships. He now gets a shot at Sadulaev. Two-time world champion at 92kg Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI), who has been moving up and down in weight classes, has somehow been made the challenger.

Ghasempour participated in the 97kg weight class in the Zagreb Open but lost to Kyle SNYDER (USA). He was in line for Iran's 86kg spot for Paris but later opted out of a trial against Hassan YAZDANI (IRI).

Sadulaev lost a bout for the second time in his career and first in six years when he lost to Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) at the 2023 World Championships. Taylor lost to Aaron BROOKS (USA) in the U.S. Olympic trials and Ghasempour barely scraped through in the trials for the world team in Iran.

Yet, the three will be the favorite for the gold medal and it will only be a surprise if any of them miss out on the podium in Tirana.

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is eyeing his seventh world title. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Six-time world champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is also chasing history. If he wins, he will win his seventh world title, making him the most successful American wrestler at the World Championships. He missed out on competing at the 2023 World Championships but stormed back in 2024, winning the trial in the United States.

But his path to gold won't be an easy one. Two-time U23 world champion Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN), former world silver medalist Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), three-time world medalist Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI) and Asian champion Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) are also in the fray.

Nokhodi and Burroughs have wrestled in two back-to-back World Championships finals with the latter winning both. But Burroughs suffered his first loss to an Iranian in 2022 when Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) defeated him at the World Cup and Nokhodi will draw confidence from there.

All the big names will be looking to hand Burroughs his first World Championships loss since 2019.

Vitali ARUJAU (USA) is the defending world champion at 61kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Another Olympic champion eyeing a world title will be Zavur UGUEV (AIN) as he last won the second of two titles in 2019. Uguev won gold at the Tokyo Olympics at 57kg but finished fifth at the 2023 World Championships. He will be at 61kg in Tirana hoping to deny defending world champion Vitali ARUJAU (USA) a second world title.

Arujau won his first world gold medal in 2023 by beating Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) in a tense final. He won the team trials in the U.S. to confirm his name for the World Championships in Tirana.

An interesting name entered is Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB). The former European champion will turn out for Serbia at 61kg but it is unlikely that he will be challenging for gold.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN), however, can be a big threat for the gold medal given his style and pace of wrestling. He rocked the competition at the U20 World Championships last month and won gold at 61kg. It will be interesting to see how he fares at his first senior World Championships.

Asian Championships silver medalist UDIT (IND) and Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) have some good wins under their belts over the past two years and they would like to make a mark in Tirana.

Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) wrestled in the U23 World Championships final last year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

U23 world and European champion Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) will be making his senior international debut at 70kg in Tirana and will be the favorite to win the gold medal. However, the field has other top contenders like Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI), Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) and James GREEN (USA) among others.

Yazdani lost the final at 70kg last year to Zain RETHERFORD (USA) but will look to make amends this year. He won the Asian Championships over Aoyagi in a high-scoring final. Yazdani's 13-9 win over Aoyagi was not convincing and the Japanese will look to change the result if the two meet in Tirana. Aoyagi was in the final against Sheriev but dropped the final 9-3. He finished eighth at the World Championships in 2023.

Former U20 world champion for Iran, Peiman BIABANI (CAN) will be turning out for Canada. He finished second at the Pan-Am Championships and the World Championships will be a big test for him. 2023 bronze medalist Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL) will look to change the color of his medal this year.

World Champ Stadnik Bulldozes Poland Open Field

Comments

Breaking down freestyle battles at World Championships for Non-Olympic weights