ASTANA (March 19) – KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) is back. And, PUREVDORJ Orkhon (MGL) is on her way.

Or, so it would seem from their results – even though both wrestlers and their coaches speak modestly about where they are on the road to Rio 2016.

Kim qualified Korea for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at 75kg in Greco-Roman at the Asian Olympic qualifying tourney on Saturday while Purevdorj grabbed a ticket for Mongolia in the women’s 58kg category.

World champion and London 2012 Olympic Games gold medalist Kim smiled quietly about his pending return to the Games in Rio, saying “I’ve always hoped to go to the Olympics twice.”

“In Korea, we train very hard every day and every day I’m very tired,” Kim said. “And, today was the result.”

The result was two hard fought wins in the morning session to secure the Rio 2016 berth for Korea and then a victory over Asian Games silver medalist Dilshod TURDIEV (UZB) in the final, ending in a fall at 5:17. 

“Actually, I think I’m at about 50 percent of where I want to be,” Kim said, adding “But, in Rio I will be 100 percent.”

Purevdorj, meanwhile, won two bouts in the morning by fall but was tripped up by the low-level attacks of newly minted Asia champion Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ). Tynybekova, headed to her second Olympic Games, won the 58kg final, 10-3.

“Our main goal here was to win the license for the Olympic Games, not the gold medal,” Mongolian national team coach BUYANDELGER Batbayar told United World Wrestling after Purevdorj’s 10-3 loss to Tynybekova.

“I think we will have to focus more on low-level attacks, but we also need to continue with the upper body wrestling as well,” Buyandelger said.

“In my opinion, I think we are at about 80 percent of where we need to be,” the coach said, adding “We still need more and more work before Rio.”

Korea came into the Asian qualifier with only won ticket to Rio 2016, from world runner-up in Greco-Roman’s 66kg categor in Las Vegas, RYU Han-Soo (KOR). Mongolia held six tickets, including two in women’s wrestling.

Korea has added two tickets via Kim and YUN Jun-Sik (KOR) at 57kg in freestyle over the first two days of the qualifier, while Mongolia has also added two with Purevdorj and ERDENECHIMEG Sumiya (MGL) in women’s wrestling.

Earlier on Saturday, host Kazakhstan and neighbor Kyrgyzstan each grabbed three of the 12 tickets on offer the second day of the Asian Olympic Games qualifying tournament.

Asian Games gold medalist Nurmakhan TINALIEV (KAZ) was the only member of the home team to close with a title in the evening session as he overwhelmed rival Murat RAMONOV (KGZ) by technical fall in the 130kg final in Greco-Roman.

Kyrgyzstan, however, got wins from its other two finalists, Tynybekova and Magomed MUSAEV (KGZ), who scored a late takedown to defeat Mamet IBRAGIMOV (KAZ), 3-2, in the 97kg freestyle final.

Also, Japan’s Rio WATARI (JPN) worked behind two-time Olympic Games medal winner Gouzel MANYUROVA (KAZ) for a 2-1 victory in the women’s 75kg final. Manyurova will be headed to her third Olympic Games and Watari completes Japan’s entries in women’s wrestling in Rio at six.

London 2012 bronze medalist Yogeshwar DUTT (IND) breezed into the freestyle finals at 65kg and will be headed to his second Olympic Games while Asian Games bronze medalist YEERLANBIEKE Katal (CHN) will be headed to his first after defeating Asia champion Adam BATIROV (BRN) in the semifinals.

-- Results --

Freestyle

65kg (14 entries)
Gold – Yogeshwar DUTT (IND) df. YEERLANBIEKE Katal (CHN) by Injury Default, 0:00
Bronze – KIM Ju-Song (PRK) df. LEE Seung-Chul (KOR) by Injury Default, 0:02
Bronze – Shogo MAEDA (JPN) df. Adam BATIROV (BRN) by Injury Default, 0:00

Semifinal – Yogeshwar DUTT (IND) df. LEE Seung-Chul (KOR), 7-2
Semifinal – YEERLANBIEKE Katal (CHN) df. Adam BATIROV (BRN), 6-1

97kg (10 entries)
Gold – Mamet IBRAGIMOV (KAZ) df. Magomed MUSAEV (KGZ), 3-2
Bronze – DORJKHAND Khuderbulga (MGL) df. Rustam ISKANDARI (TJK) by TF, 10-0, 1:29
Bronze – Takeshi YAMAGUCHI (JPN) df. Satyavart KADIAN (IND), 3-2

Semifinal – Mamet IBRAGIMOV (KAZ) df. DORJKHAND Khuderbulga (MGL), 4-4
Semifinal – Magomed MUSAEV (KGZ) df. Satyavart KADIAN (IND), 4-3

Women's Wrestling

58kg (9 entries)
Gold – Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) df. Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL), 10-5
Bronze – Aiym ABDILDINA (KAZ) df. Sakshi MALIK (IND), 5-2
Bronze – JONG Insum (PRK) df. PHAM Thi Loan (VIE) by TF, 10-0, 1:11

Semifinal – Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL) df. Sakshi MALIK (IND) by Fall, 1:04 (4-0)
Semifinal – Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) df. JONG Insum (PRK), 7-7

75kg (7 entries)
Gold – Rio WATARI (JPN) df. Gouzel MANYUROVA (KAZ), 2-1
Bronze – CHANG Hui-tsu (TPE) df. Kiran KIRAN (IND), 7-5
Bronze – BADRAKH Odonchimeg (MGL) df. PARK Chae-Rin (KOR) by Fall, 1:23 (7-0)

Semifinals – Gouzel MANYUROVA (KAZ) df. CHANG Hui-tsu (TPE) by TF, 10-0, 2:30
Semifinals – Rio WATARI (JPN) df. BADRAKH Odonchimeg (MGL), 5-2

Greco-Roman

75kg (9 entries)
Gold – KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) df. Dilshod TURDIEV (UZB) by Fall, 5:17 (12-2)
Bronze – Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) df. Shohei YABIKU (JPN), 3-0
Bronze – YANG Bin (KOR) df. Harpreet SINGH (IND), 4-2

Semifinal – Dilshod TURDIEV (UZB) df. Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ), 5-4
Semifinal – KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) df. YANG Bin (CHN), 4-2

130kg (9 entries)
Gold – Nurmakhan TINALIEV (KAZ) df. Murat RAMONOV (KGZ) by TF, 8-0, 4:19
Bronze – Bashir BABAJANZADEH (IRI) df. MENG Qiang (CHN) by Injury Default, 0:00
Bronze – Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) df. Muradyan TUICHIEV (TJK) by TF, 8-0, 3:54

Semifinal – Nurmakhan TINALIEV (KAZ) df. MENG Qiang (CHN), 4-1
Semifinal – Murat RAMONOV (KGZ) df. Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB), 4-0