#BudaWrestle2018

Wrestling Releases Fan and Press Guide; Announces Documentary Series ‘Wrestling 360’

By Tim Foley

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (October 17) – With the 2018 Wrestling World Championships kicking off in three days, United World Wrestling has released its first Fan and Press Guide and announced its new documentary series, “Wrestling 360'.”

[La version française est disponible ici : Guide Presse & Fans.]

The Fan and Press guide is a full account of the past year in wrestling; providing statistics, results and link-rich text to allow fans and press from around the world to gather a better sense of matchups, rivalries, weight categories, and team races in all three styles.

The Fan and Press Guide is available for download at the World Championship event page, which will also include full, updated entry lists for each of the 90+ nations set to attend the World Championships as well as updated individual and team results, livestreams, and news wraps from the event. 

In another first, United World Wrestling is also offering free photo downloads from the world championships. The open access to United World Wrestling’s images allows fans, press, national federations and the wrestlers to download and share images from their favorite moments during the eight days of the championships. The link also includes access to all the images from the 2017 World Championships in Paris.

In addition to the press and fan-friendly items, United World Wrestling’s media team has released Episode 1 of its documentary series, “Wrestling 360.” The first installment, “From Many, One – United States Men’s Freestyle, takes viewers inside the minds of the American freestyle wrestling team as they reflect on their 2017 team title and state their intentions to repeat as world champions in 2018.

Episode 2, scheduled to be released at the end of 2018, concentrates on the wrestling culture of Dagestan and includes interviews with Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADUALEV and UFC lightweight champion Khabib NURMAMAGOMEDOV. Dagestan’s rich wrestling culture, and the positive affects it has on the region, was recently documented by the New York Times and AFP.

The 2018 Senior Wrestling World Championships will run from October 20-28 at the Papp Laszlo Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Livestream coverage of the event will be on the United World Wrestling homepage with TV coverage available worldwide.

A detailed schedule of events can be found in the Fan and Press Guide as well as on the event page for the championships.

#WrestleTirana

Aitmukhan wins U23 Worlds gold; Iran best team

By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (October 26) -- After becoming Kazakhstan's first world champion in Freestyle, Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) is on a mission to collect age-group world titles. Two months after winning the U20 World Championships gold medal, Aitmukhan won the 97kg gold medal at the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania. The gold medal ensured Aitmukhan's record of finishing on the podium of all tournaments he has participated in since 2023.

Aitmukhan wrestled Mahdi HAJI (IRI) in the final and led 2-2 at the break but Haji struggled with conditioning in the second. He fell behind 10-4 at one point and there was no coming back against Aitmukhan.

Iran, however, won the Freestyle team title as it got 158 points. Japan had an incredible run and finished with 102 points for second position and Azerbaijan was third with 100 points.

Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) claimed the 79kg gold medal for Iran after he defeated Paris Olympian Feng LU (CHN), who became the first wrestler from China to reach the final in Freestyle.

Ibragimov repeats

Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN) claimed his second straight world title at the U23 World Championships as he took only 53 seconds to beat Kaiji OGINO (JPN) 14-2.

A takedown opened the scoring for Ibragimov and he added four turns to make it 8-0. However, Ogino managed to wrap his arm around Ibragimov and tossed him for two points. Ibragimov never left control of Ogino and transitioned to a leg lace to finish the match 13-2.

Ogino challenged for the sequence but it was scored correctly on the challenge. The lost challenge of Japan made it 14-2 for Ibragimov.

The 57kg gold medal was captured by 19-year-old CHIRAG (IND) as he defeated Abdymalik KARACHOV (KGZ) 4-3 in the final.

Chirag was called passive in the second period but scored with a beautiful duckunder during the activity. But Karachov scored a stepout with a minute remaining in the match to take a 3-2 lead.

Chirag continued to work for a takedown for the win, got a leg attack, and scored two points. His 4-3 lead was good enough till the end of six minutes to win India's second-ever gold medal in Freestyle at the U23 World Championships.

 At 70kg, Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) held on to a 5-4 lead against Magomed ELTEMIROV (AIN) and win the gold medal.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: CHIRAG (IND) df. Abdymalik KARACHOV (KGZ), 4-3

BRONZE: Ali Hossein MOMENI (IRI) df. Maxwell GALLAGHER (USA), 8-0
BRONZE: Iunus IAVBATIROV (AIN) df. Allan ORALBEK (KAZ), 6-2

65kg
GOLD: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN) df. Kaiji OGINO (JPN), 14-2

BRONZE: Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB) df. Bilol SHARIP UULU (KGZ), 4-1
BRONZE: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) df. Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR), 15-4

70kg
GOLD: Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) df. Magomed ELTEMIROV (AIN), 5-4

BRONZE: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) df. Ali Mahmoud KHORRAMDEL (IRI), 10-0
BRONZE: SUJEET (IND) df. Mustafo AKHMEDOV (TJK), 13-4 

79kg
GOLD: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) df. Feng LU (CHN), 12-5

BRONZE: Arsen BALAIAN (AIN) df. Hayk PAPIKYAN (ARM), 9-1
BRONZE: Masaki SATO (JPN) df. Owen MARTIN (CAN), 11-0

97kg
GOLD: Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) df. Mahdi HAJI (IRI), 11-6

BRONZE: Uladzislau KAZLOU (AIN) df. Shamil GADZHIALIEV (AIN), 2-2
BRONZE: VICKY (IND) df. Ivan PRYMACHENKO (UKR), 7-2