Turkish Nationals

Demirhan, Tosun, and Yesilirmak Punch Tickets to World and European Championships

Wednesday, January 9, 2019 - 17:05 By Eric Olanowski

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YALOVA, Turkey (January 9) - The Turkish Women’s Wrestling National Championships came to an end in Yalova, Turkey, and U23 world champions Evin DEMIRHAN and Buse TOSUN, and 2018 world runner-up Elif YESILIRMAK were among the winners.

Of the ten tournament champions, nine wrestlers punched their tickets to the 2019 World and European Championships. Yasin ADAR, the 2017 world champion and 2018 world runner-up did not compete at this weekend's National Championships but will be Turkey's 76kg representative at the World and European Championships.

In his opening ceremony speech, Turkish Wrestling Federation President Musa Aydin talked about the importance of September's Astana World Championships, saying, "Our first goal is the 2019 World Championships because there's now an Olympic quota. Athletes entering the top 6 in 2019 will receive a visa. We want to ensure that our athletes receive their visas one year in advance. Our goal is to join the Olympics by creating the best wrestling team in the world in 2020." 

The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan will be the most important Olympic Games in Turkish women's wrestling history. Turkey has won 63 Olympic medals, 29 of those being gold, at the Olympic Games, but they've all come from freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers. 

Six Turkish women have qualified for the Olympic Games, but have all fell short of winning a medal. Their highest finishes came at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games when Buse Tosun, who won the 68kg gold medal this weekend, and Hafize SAHIN finished in seventh-place. 

Elif Yesilirmak, who won the 62kg gold medal this weekend, was the first and lone Turkish women to wrestle at the 2008 London Olympics. She also competed in the 2016 Olympic Games, and has the opportunity to become the first Turkish woman to qualify for three Olympic Games. 

You can watch the Turkish women's wrestling team compete at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Ivan Yaryin, which begins on January 24 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Click HERE to read the full story from the Turkish Wrestling Federation. 

RESULTS

50kg
GOLD - Evin DEMIRHAN 
SILVER - Aynur ERGE 
BRONZE - Funda TUKENMEZ 
BRONZE - Zehra DEMIRHAN 
 

53kg 
GOLD - Zeynep YETGIL 
SILVER - Emine ÇATALOGLU 
BRONZE - Elif Büşra KOCA 
BRONZE - Fikriye GOK

55kg  
GOLD - Bedia DAY 
SILVER - Elif YILMAZ 
BRONZE - Aysun ERGE 
BRONZE Esra PUL 

57kg  
GOLD - Mehlika OZTURK 
SILVER - Ozge FINDIKCI 
BRONZE - Nurife DUMAN 
BRONZE - Nuray KARADUMAN


59kg  
GOLD - Elif YANIK 
SILVER - Derya BEYHAN 
BRONZE - Dilan KAYA 
BRONZE - Gizem KABAK 
 

65kg 
GOLD - Asli TUGCU 
SILVER - Cansu AKSOY 
BRONZE - Merve KARADENIZ 
BRONZE - Asli DEMIR 

62kg 
GOLD - Elif YESILIRMAK 
SILVER - İlknur BATIR 
BRONZE - Damla ARSLAN 
BRONZE - Cemile UNUDAN 

68kg
GOLD - Buse TOSUN 
SILVER - Kadriye AKSOY 
BRONZE - Sehernur BULUT 
FOURTH - Aysegul SEVER 

72kg  
GOLD - Merve PULA 
SILVER - Tugba SWORD 
BRONZE - Bester ANDERSON 

76kg 
GOLD - Aysegul OZBEGE 
SILVER - Mehtap GULTEKIN 
BRONZE - Fatma KANLIADA 

#WrestleBudapest

Budapest Ranking Series Live: Tazhudinov untroubled; Aoyagi, Suda win

Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 08:07 By Vinay Siwach

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 17) -- The final Ranking Series of the season begins Thursday in Budapest with seven Freestyle weight classes -- 57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg, 97kg and 125kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | FREESTYLE PREVIEW

Budapest Ranking Series 2025 Day 1 Live Report

97kg: Olympic champion Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), who wrestled for the first time since Paris last week with a gold medal in Grand Prix of Spain, continues his return at the Budapest Ranking Series at 97kg.

In his first bout, Tazhudinov was up against Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA) and rolled to a 12-2 technical superiority win, making Viskhanov pay for his half-hearted attacks.

Tazhudinov began slow but hit a double-leg for four points and Viskhanov scored exposure for two points. But Tazhudinov scored a takedown and two turns from par terre to make it 10-2.

The bout went into the second period and Tazhudinov locked a cradle but Viskhanov avoided the fall, but failed to stop a Tazhudinov win.

His next bout was even shorter as he defeated Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (UWW) 10-0, thanks to a series of takedowns, and book  a spot in the semifinals.

65kg: Another Paris Olympic medalist, Islam DUDAEV (ALB), suffered an 11-0 loss to Asian U23 champion SUJEET (IND). After a slow start, Sujeet had a scoring spree in the second period and broke Dudaev down to post a win.

Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) has no trouble taking out Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI (POL), 6-0, in the bout which included a huge suplex from quad-pod.

79kg: Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), wrestling for the first time since the Paris Games, opens with a 12-1 win over European silver medalist Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) in a very aggressive match. Kougioumtsidis just too much for an aging Khadjiev.

70kg: Austin GOMEZ (MEX) gets the better of a very sluggish Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) 10-0. Muszukajev has not looked the same ever since the 2024 Olympic Games.

Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) hands Sina KHALILI (IRI) a defeated at 70kg. That means that Khalili may be out of the contention for the World Championships now.

57kg: World U20 champion Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) pulls of a last-second win over Niklas STECHELE (GER), 4-2 at 57kg. Lilledahl was down 2-2 on criteria but attacked a single-leg and both wrestlers went out-of-bounds. Lilledahl was given a point as Stechele's hand touched first.

Germany challenged the call but it was upheld and Lilledahl was awarded another point for lost challenge. He will take on RAHUL (IND) in the semifinals.