#BudaWrestle2018

Wrestling Elects New Bureau Members, Announces Host Cities Through 2021

By Tim Foley

BUDAPEST (October 19) – The United World Wresting Bureau and Congress held meetings and elections this week ahead of the 2018 Wrestling World Championships in Budapest, covering a range of important topics, including the allocation of host cities through 2021.

The Congress, who met Friday, began with a minute of silence in remembrance for the victims of last month’s Maiwand Wrestling Club in Kabul. Lalovic also announced the organization would dedicate significant resources to the club’s rebuilding effort.

“We must never accept these cowardly acts,” said Lalovic “We must stand together in support of our family members.”

The Congress gathers bi-annually to discuss a range of topics. The 2018 Congress focused on a complete financial review, new initiatives in women’s wrestling, media outreach, and the promotion of associated styles. Congressional representatives also voted for new bureau members, with a total of seven positions available. Six seats were up for election based on it being the end of their six-year term. The seventh had been vacated earlier in the year with the departure of Rasoul KHADEM (IRI).

Zamel Sayyaf Al SHAHRANI (QAT), Daulet TURLAKANOV (KAZ), and vice presidents Stan DZIEDIC (USA) and Natalia YARYGIN (RUS) were each re-elected and to serve six-year terms. Newly elected bureau members Pedro SILVA (POR) and Peter BACSA (HUN) will also serve until 2024.

Ms. ZHANG Xia of China was elected to replace Khadem and will serve until 2022.

Mr. Lalovic, As part of an ongoing dialogue supported by the Olympic movement, also oversaw a friendly handshake between representatives for the Republic of Korea and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with the sides trading kind words and wishing each other good luck during the world championships.

The United World Wrestling bureau met Thursday and approved a series of guidelines aimed to improve the sportsmanship of coaches and athletes.

Coaches and athletes who receive two yellow cards in a match will now be given a red card and face immediate disqualification from the tournament. They are also encouraged to celebrate gold medal victories but are asked to refrain from bronze medal celebrations and elaborate religious gestures while on the field of play.

It was also announced that plans were being constructed so that in the future coaches would be required to attain a United World Wrestling license to coach athletes at events.

In an effort to stabilize the calendar and allow national federations and host cities the proper time to prepare for championships, the Bureau also announced the allocation of several continental and world championships for 2019-2021.

2019 World C’Ships

Senior: Astana, KAZ

U23: Budapest, HUN

Junior: Tallinn, EST

Cadet: Sofia, BUL

Veterans: Tblisi, Geo


2020 World Championships

U23: Tampere, FIN

Junior: Belgrade, SRB

Cadet: Tatabanya, HUN

Veteran: Athens, GRE


2021 World C’Ships

Senior: Oslo, NOR

Cadet: Budapest, HUN


2019 European C’Ships

Senior: Bucharest, ROM

U23: Novi Sad, SRB

Junior: Pontevedra, ESP

Cadet: Faenza, ITA


2020 European C’Ships

U23: Salzburg, AUT

Junior: Skopje, MKD

Cadet: Chisinau, MDA


2021 African C’Ships

All: Marrakech, MAR


2019 Pan-American C’Ships

Senior: Buenos Aires, ARG

Junior: Guatemala City, GUA

Cadet: Morelia, MEX


2020 African C’Ships

All: Alger, ALG


2021 Asian C’Ships

Senior: Almaty, KAZ


2019 Asian C'Ships

Senior: Xi’an, CHN

Junior: Beirut, LBN

Cadet: Taichung, TPE
 

2020 Africa/Oceania Olympic

All: El Jadida, MAR
 

2019 African C’Ships

All: Tunis, TUN

 

 



 

 

#WrestleZagreb

Lee strikes gold as U.S., Iran shine at Zagreb Open

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 5) -- Spencer LEE (USA) did not compete internationally, for circumstances beyond his control, for eight years after winning his U20 world title in 2016. But in a year since he came back in February 2024, Lee has competed in six tournaments in less than a year.

Lee competed at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix in January and won gold. Two weeks later he won the Zagreb Open gold medal at 57kg on Wednesday, marking his debut at a Ranking Series event.

The Paris Olympic silver medalist led a strong performance of the wrestlers from United States as they won two gold medals as six weight classes concluded on day one of the Zagreb Open at Arena Zagreb.

Lee did not look as dominant as he did in Paris before the final but still managed to pull out a good defensive game and win the gold medal with rather ease.

In the final, Lee defeated Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2, after a similar win over Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) in the semifinals. He opened the day with an 11-0 drubbing of Luka GVINJILIA (GEO).

"It's good to get competition right now," Lee said. "[It] showed that I'm really not ready yet."

Though Lee was not convinced about his readiness, his coach Dan DENNIS kept pushing Lee and reminded him of the progress he is making bout after bout.

"I think it [progress] comes from being more successful early and then I was in on three shots, kicked out of all three of them," he said. "He's (Dan Dennis) just saying that you just kind of kept progressing. You even got taken down, good counter from him, got to keep wrestling, keep moving."

In the final, Lee scored two takedowns, first one a double-leg and second a counter, as his scoring actions to beat Bazarganov, a bronze medalist at the European Championships last year.

The win takes second-ranked Lee to 43000 ranking points, same as top ranked Rei HIGUCHI (JPN), the gold medalist from Paris Olympics. If Lee can finish top eight at any other Ranking Series or Pan-Am Championships, he will move to the top. However, Lee was not sure if he will be in action internationally before the World Championships.

"I think that ranking tournaments are awesome because good guys come," he said. "The points are obviously a nice bonus to that just because you can get seeded in the bracket. I love competing. Obviously I need more of it. So maybe. This tournament was tough. So good for me."

Zahid VALENCIA (USA)Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won the 86kg gold medal in Zagreb. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Zahid VALENCIA (USA) was the second gold medalist for the U.S. as he won gold medal at 86kg after beating Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0, in the final. Valencia was good with his counters and after building a 4-0 lead at the break, he scored two more takedown in the second period to win the gold medal.

The two bronze medals at this weight class went to Nathan JACKSON (USA) and Trent HIDLAY (USA), making sure all three U.S. wrestlers finish on the podium at the weight class.

Ahmad JAVAN (IRI)Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ibrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 in the 61kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Iran wins 2 golds

Iran also won two gold medals but the tournament left it with more questions than answers for the Asian Championships team.

At 61kg, Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ebrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 to confirm his spot for the Asian Championships. Khari, who won silver at the U20 World Championships last year, failed to give Javan a fight in the final.

Prior to the final, Javan defeated Nashon GARRETT (USA) 7-2 in the quarterfinals and Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) 9-3 in the semifinals.

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI)Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) defeated Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) undoubtedly gave Iran its biggest win of the day as he came back to beat Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final.

McKenna got the first two takedowns to lead 4-0 before Ebrahim answered with his own to lead 4-4 at the break. Ebrahim began the second period with another takedown to go ahead 6-4 but with less than a minute to go, McKenna hit ankle pick and transitioned into a leg-attack. He scored a takedown to lead 6-6 on criteria.

In the dying seconds of the bout, Ebrahim  tried a front headpinch but McKenna defended it as he had Ebrahim's one leg locked. However, the Iranian managed to get his leg out of McKenna's hands, he tried to circle back and complete a takedown but McKenna held his knee pad which was penalized as one point, giving the win to Ebrahim 7-6.

The United States challenged that call but it remained and McKenna was docked one more point for lost challenge, making the score 8-6.

Both Iran and the U.S. had two silver medalists as well after Sina KHALILI (IRI) lost the final at 70kg and David CARR (USA) dropped the final at 74kg.

Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE), a former U20 world champion, gave no chance to Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final and shut him down for a 12-1 win victory.

The weight class also had Paris Olympian and 2023 world champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) who was stunned in the first bout of the day by Jarrett JACKQUES (USA) who scored a takedown in his 3-2 win Muszukajev.

Carr ran into three-time world medalist Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) in the final and finished with a silver medal at 74kg.

Salkazanov scored a takedown on each side of the break to complete a 4-0 win.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: Spencer LEE (USA) df. Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2

BRONZE: Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) df. Luka GVINJILIA (GEO), 11-2 
BRONZE: Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) df. Ahora KHATERI (IRI), 11-0

61kg
GOLD: Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) df. Ebrahim KHARI (IRI), 10-0

BRONZE: Nahshon GARRETT (USA) df. Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO), 16-11
BRONZE: Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE) df. Reza MOMENI (IRI), 8-4

65kg
GOLD: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) df. Joseph MC KENNA (USA), 8-6

BRONZE: Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) df. Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR), 2-2
BRONZE: Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE) df. Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), 6-0

70kg
GOLD: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. Sina KHALILI (IRI), 12-1

BRONZE: Austin GOMEZ (MEX) df. Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI), 9-3
BRONZE: Vasile DIACON (MDA) df. James GREEN (USA), via inj. def.

74kg
GOLD: Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) df. David CARR (USA), 4-0

BRONZE: Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN) df. Kamil RYBICKI (POL), 10-0
BRONZE: Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) df. Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE), 3-2

86kg
GOLD: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) df. Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0

BRONZE: Nathan JACKSON (USA) df. Matthew FINESILVER (ISR), 12-2
BRONZE: Trent HIDLAY (USA) df. Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO), 10-4