Ivan Yarygin

Yarygin Day Two Finals

Saturday, January 27, 2018 - 02:48 By Eric Olanowski

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Russia continued its dominance on day two of the Ivan Yarygin placing five of a possible six into the night's finals. The host nation has now placed 11 of 12 wrestlers into the first six freestyle weights.

Defending Yarygin champion Ilyas BEKBULATOV (RUS) picked up a quick win in the semifinals scoring a takedown and four gut wrenches to earn the 10-0 win. Bekbultakov will meet 2017 world bronze medalist Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS) in the finals. Chakaev took out Tsogtbaatar DAMDINBAZAR (MGL), 9-1 in his semifinal.

Kyle Dake broke Russia's strangehold on the finals with a 10-0 technical superiority victory in the 79kg semifinals. Dake faces Shiabdinovitch GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (RUS) who squeaked out a 2-1 semifinal victory over Radik VALIEV (RUS).

At 125kg, Muradin KUSHKHOV (RUS) will wrestle fellow Russian, Anzor Ruslanovitch KHIZRIEV who only ceded four points through his first three matches. Kushkov defeated 2017 world bronze medalist Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) in the quarterfinals.

In women’s wrestling, China, Japan and Mongolia each enter tonight’s session with two finalists.  China and Japan are looking to expand on their gold medal haul, having each captured a pair of gold medals on Friday night. Russia’s Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) and Tamyra MENSAH (USA) are also making final appearances, with Mensah looking to defend her 2017 title.

Here are the final matches:

65kg

GOLD - Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS) vs. Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS)
BRONZE - Nachyn Sergeevitch KUULAR (RUS) vs. Batmagnai BATCHULUUN (MGL) 
BRONZE - Selahattin KILICSALLAYAN (TUR) vs. Tsogtbaatar DAMDINBAZAR (MGL) 

79kg

GOLD - Kyle DAKE (USA) vs. Akhmed Shiabdinovitch GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (RUS)
BRONZE - Muhammet KUTANOGLU (TUR) vs. Radik VALIEV (RUS)
BRONZE - Alan ZASEEV (RUS) vs. Rashid KURBANOV (UZB)

125kg

GOLD - Muradin KUSHKHOV (RUS) vs. Anzor Ruslanovitch KHIZRIEV (RUS) 
BRONZE - Zolboo NATSAGSUREN (MGL) vs. Zachery William REY (USA) 
BRONZE - Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) vs. Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) 

Women’s wrestling

53kg

GOLD - Yu MIYAHARA (JPN) df. Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS), 4-4
BRONZE -  Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS) df. Yujiao LIU (CHN), 4-4
BRONZE -  Natalia MALYSHEVA (RUS) df. Otgonjargal GANBAATAR (MGL), 7-3

57kg

GOLD - Gantuya ENKHBAT (MGL) vs. Qi ZHANG (CHN) 
BRONZE -  Lianna de la caridad MONTERO HERRERA (CUB) vs. Battsetseg ALTANTSETSEG (MGL) 
BRONZE - Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (RUS) vs. Alexandra ANDREEVA (RUS)

62kg

GOLD - Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL) vs. Kiwa SAKAE (JPN) 
BRONZE - Ayaulym KASSYMOVA (KAZ) vs. Yaquelin ESTORNELL ELIZASTIGUE (CUB) 
BRONZE -  Juan KANG (CHN) vs. Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS) 

68kg
GOLD -  Tamyra mariama MENSAH (USA) df. Yue HAN (CHN)

BRONZE - Yudari SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ (CUB) df. Iuliia MAKSIMOVA BARTNOVSKAIA (RUS)BRONZE -  Rui XU (CHN) df. Galina BULATOVA (RUS)

THIS IS THE START OF THE Yarygin Live Notebook - Day Two 

The second day of wrestling at the 2018 Ivan Yarygin kicks off at 11:00am. Here is where you can WATCH the three men's freestyle and four women's wrestling categories that are in action today. 

Did you miss the action from the first day? Here is everything that you may have missed from DAY ONE of the #Yarygin2018. 

PHOTO OF THE DAY - DAY ONE 

TWEETS OF THE DAY 
Get social with United World Wrestling (@wrestling) on twitter and use the #Yarygin2018 for a chance to be featured on our TWEETS OF THE DAY!  

Freestyle

The three Freestyle  weight categories that will compete today are 65kg,79kg and 125kg. 

First and Second Round 
Logan STIEBER (USA), the 2016 World champion trailed 3-2 heading into the second period when he picked up a takedown to a leg lace. Stieber ended the match with that sequence, 13-3. 

Over on MAT A, BATCHULUUN Batmagnai (MGL) and Lazaro Dayron CARBONELL VALDES (CUB) are wrestling in what's going to be a MATCH OF THE DAY CANDIDATE. The final score of this match was 13-9 in favor of Batchluun. 

Y. Rodrigues BONNE (CUB) who is one of the most explosive wrestlers on the planet is coming up on MAT A. Chalk up Y. Rodrigues BONNE (CUB) for another #BIGMOVEMONDAY! He just ended his first round match with an insane five point move. 

Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS) and Logan STIEBER (USA) are about to come to MAT A. Bekbulatov's the returning champion, and as previsouly mentioned, Stieber is a world champion.

There were a few good exchanges, but overall it was Bekbulatov's defense and gut wrench that helped seal the 16-6 technical superiority victory. 

Fan favorite, Cengizhan ERDOGAN (TUR) just picked up his second victory of the day, putting himself into the quaterfinals at 65kg. 

Bonne trails 6-3 with under a minute left over on Mat A. After giving up a four-point move, BATCHULUUN Batmagnai (MGL) won, 10-3. 

Over on Mat C, it will be back-to-back matches for the Americans. First up was Bobby TELFORD,  now it's Zach RAY (USA). 

Quarterfinals (2:22 PM) 

FS 65kg - (2:25 PM) - Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS) just scored twelve unanswered points and leads Nachyn Sergeevitch KUULAR (RUS), 12-4 with two minutes remaining in the second period.  Bekbulatov  wins and moves onto the 65kg semifinals. He'll wrestle the winner of Cengizhan ERDOGAN (TUR) and Batmagnai BATCHULUUN (MGL). 

FS 79kg - (2:25 PM) - The 79kg quarterfinals are about to begin over on Mat B. 

FS 79kg - (2:33 PM) - Kyle DAKE (USA) outlasts Alan ZASEEV (RUS) to make the semifinals at 79kgs. 

FS 65kg - (2:54 PM) - The semifinals are starting over on Mat A with  Tsogtbaatar DAMDINBAZAR (MGL) and Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS). 

 

Women's Wrestling 
The four women's wrestling weight categories that will compete today are 53kg, 57kg, 62kg and  68 kg. 

Erdenesukh NARANGEREL (MGL) just capped off her second round match with a 12-2 technical fall over Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS). ERDENESUKH used a blast double right to a leg lace to score the final four points of the match. 

Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) uses two takedowns to defeat Natalia MALYSHEVA (RUS), 4-0. 

WW 57kg - (3:11 PM) Gantuya ENKHBAT (MGL) and Alexandra ANDREEVA (RUS) will wrestle in the first women's wrestling semifinal on Mat B. 

Obituary

Japanese legend and Olympic champ Obara passes away aged 44

Saturday, July 19, 2025 - 11:00 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (July 19) — Legendary Japanese wrestler Hitomi OBARA, the 2012 London Olympic gold medalist at women's 48kg and an eight-time world champion, passed away on Friday, the Japanese media reported on Saturday. She was 44.

The Japan Self-Defense Force Physical Training School, where Obara was a women's coach, said it was withholding the cause of death "out of consideration for the privacy and emotions of the bereaved family," according to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Obara, the mother of two elementary school-aged children, was a director in the Japan Wrestling Federation, and had just been appointed in June as a coach of the women's national team for the run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics along with fellow former Olympic champion Kaori ICHO.

Obara, who won six of her world titles at 51kg under her maiden name of SAKAMOTO, became a model case for the ups and downs of high-level sports and the ability to overcome grave disappointment. Her victory at the London Olympics, at age 31, came after being denied spots on Japan's team at both of the two previous Olympics by fellow legend Saori YOSHIDA.

Born in 1981 in the wrestling hotbed of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, in northern Japan, Obara went on to attend Chukyo University (now Shigakkan), which she helped turn into a national powerhouse along with Yoshida and fellow Hachinohe native Icho.

"It's hard, it's hard, I can't keep from crying," former Shigakkan and national team coach Kazuhito SAKAE was quoted as telling the Japanese media. "She was a wrestling prodigy. At the least, she was a hard worker with a strong sense of responsibility. She was wrestling's heaven-sent child. I still can't believe it." 

Obara won back-to-back world 51kg titles in 1999 and 2000. A serious knee injury would keep her from returning to the world championships until 2005, from which she won four in a row.

In between, she attempted to make the Japanese's squad to the 2004 Athens Olympics, but that dream ended with a loss by fall to Yoshida in the 55kg final at the All-Japan Championships in December 2002. She would only compete once in 2003 before returning in earnest in 2004 and beginning her streak of world titles the following year.

But more disappointment came her way in the qualifying process for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Again it was Yoshida who squashed her dreams, beating her 2-0 (2-0, 4-0) in the 2006 All-Japan final. After the match, Obara sat for hours sobbing in a corner of the warm-up room, a towel draped over her head.

Obara managed to rebound from the defeat to win a playoff for the 51kg spot at the 2007 World Championships, where she won gold No. 5. After adding No. 6 a year later with a run to the gold that included a victory over future Olympic champ Helen MAROULIS (USA), she decided to retire.

But despite all of her success, the lack of a Olympic gold -- or even an appearance, for that matter -- still left a sting that would not abate. That, and the decision of her younger sister Makiko to retire, led her to attempt the difficult path of cutting down to 48kg to make it to London.

Makiko was a world bronze medalist at 48kg in 2005 and 2008, but decided to end her career after placing eighth in 2009. Hitomi had never wanted to displace her sister from the national team, but now the door to 48kg was open.

Her biggest battle may have been with the scale. On the mat, she was as unbeatable as ever, storming to world golds in 2010 and 2011 -- now as Obara after getting married in 2010.

There was one slip-up along the way -- a semifinal loss to So Sim HYANG (PRK) at the 2010 Asian Games that ended her 70-match winning streak in international matches. But she regained her confidence with a decisive win at the All-Japan, and it was with a full head of steam that she headed to the London Olympics, which she had announced would be her swan song.

In London, Obara knocked off defending Olympic champion Carol HUYNH (CAN) in the semifinals before coming from behind in the final to defeat Mariya STADNIK (AZE) 2-1 (0-4, 1-0, 2-0) -- a replay of the gold-medal match at the 2011 worlds.

"If you keep doing what you love and never give up, you can achieve your dream," Obara told students at the junior high school she attended during a visit in January last year.

Upon retiring, Obara joined the staff at the Self-Defense Force Physical Training School, where she was also an officer. Among the members she coached were Haruna MURAYAMA OKUNO, Himeka TOKUHARA and Masako FURUICHI, who all made Japan's team to this year's World Championships.

In 2022, Obara was inducted into UWW's Hall of Fame along with Yoshida and Icho.