Five must-watch WW bouts at #WrestleBudapest European C'ships

Wednesday, March 23, 2022 - 18:27 By Eric Olanowski

BUDAPEST, Hungary (March 24) -- The first-class women's wrestling field at the European Championships will feature four podium toppers and 18 total returning medalists from last year's Warsaw Championships.

With the level of talent that'll be in the Hungarian capital, there's bound to be an endless list of top-tier matches. We've picked the five matches that wrestling fans need to see in Budapest next week.

5. Miglena SELISHKA (BUL) vs Emilia VUC (ROU)
When you look at the 50kg European landscape over the last few years, Mariya STADNIK (AZE) has sat atop the tier one field on her way to eight continental titles. But without the future Hall of Famer in Budapest, two of the weight's best European athletes, Miglena SELISHKA (BUL) and Emilia Alina VUC (ROU), gain control of the 11-woman 50kg bracket.

Selishka will be competing in her 14th European Championships across all styles. Over the last three seasons, she's 8-2 at the event. Her two losses came in the '19 and '21 finals against Oksana LIVACH (UKR) and Stadnik respectively.

But the road for Selishka to win her second European title since the gold at the '20 Rome European Championships will likely go through two-time world runner-up Vuc. These two have met twice over the last two years, with the Bulgarian coming out on top on both occasions. Selishka shut out Vuc, 6-0, at the Olympic Games and scored an 8-1 win over the Romanian at the '21 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event.

Vuc and Selishka will be seeded first and second, respectively, which means if they meet, it would be for the European title.

Andreea ANA (ROU) is a U23 World and European champion. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

4. Andreea ANA (ROU) vs Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR)
Since late last year, Romania's Andreea ANA (ROU) has been on an absolute tear. She's won gold medals at the U23 World and European Championships and the Dan Kolov. Considering her last three performances, Ana comes into the European Championships as one of the favorites at 55kg. But if she wants to upgrade her '19 and '21 continental bronze medals to gold, she'll have to get through Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR).

Khomenets won last year's U20 European title and will be making her senior-level continental debut in Budapest. The Ukrainian's sample size at the senior level consists of International Ukrainian Tournament and the World Championships, where she finished with bronze medals at both events.

At the World Championships, Khomenets dropped her opening round match against eventual champion Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) but scored huge upset wins against Tokyo Olympians and world bronze medalists Roksana ZASINA (POL) and Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (RWF) en route to the bronze.

Khomenets and Ana hold the top two seeds at 55kg and wouldn't meet until the gold-medal match.

Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL) is a Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist. (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

3. Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL) vs Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR)
When the 57kg bracket comes out, the first name wrestling fans should look for is Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL). Over the last year, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist became world-famous for her trademark move to pick up pins when the stakes are the highest, earning her nickname Evelina "Pinolova."

"Pinolova," who is ranked No. 2 globally, is fresh off winning gold at the Yasar Dogu. She stuck four of her five opponents en route to gold – including a finals-punching pin over Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Iryna KURACHKINA (BWF).

One of the biggest roadblocks on Nikolova's quest for the first European gold medal will be Ukraine's rising star Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR).

Hrushyna Akobiia is carrying a six-tournament podium-finishing streak into Budapest. Most recently, she won the '21 U23 European and World gold medals. Those wins came after she won a bronze medal at the '21 European Championships and qualified Ukraine for the Olympic Games through continental qualifiers.

Despite earning Ukraine its 57kg berth for the Tokyo Games, Hrushyna Akobiia could not make her debut at the Olympics after a hand injury ruled her out.

On paper, Nikolova and Hrushyna Akobiia met for gold at the European Olympic Qualifier but the Ukrainian injury defaulted out of the finals after punching her country's ticket to the Olympic Games.

Nikolova will sit atop the bracket in the No. 1 slot while Hrushyna Akobiia heads into Budapest unseeded.

Irina RINGACI (MDA) is a world champion at 65kg. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

2. Irina RINGACI (MDA) vs Alla BELINSKA (UKR)
There are 18 returning European medalists from last year's Championships that'll compete in Hungary. At 68kg, returning champions Irina RINGACI (MDA) and Alla BELINSKA (UKR) will compete in the same bracket.

Ringaci won World Championships gold at the non-Olympic weight of 65kg last year but moved up to 68kg in a quest for the '24 Paris Olympic Games medal. Over her last four competitions, the Moldovan history-maker has straight ones across the board. Dating back to last season, she's won consecutive golds at the Junior and Senior World Championships, the Dan Kolov and the U23 European Championships.

Belinska, who won European gold at 72kg last season, will be making her way down to 68kg for the first time since the '18 U23 World Championships, where she finished 10th.

With both wrestlers changing weights this season, neither will garner a top-four seed, meaning they can meet at any point during the competition.

1. Yasemin ADAR (TUR) vs Epp MAEE (EST)
Since '16, Yasemin ADAR (TUR) has been in a class of her own on the continental level. She sat out of last year's European Championships to focus on qualifying Turkey for the Olympic Games but won four European titles and reached the gold-medal match a handful of times in her previous five European appearances.

In absence of the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist in 2021, Epp MAEE (EST) rose to the top of the podium and became Estonia's first-ever woman to win the European title with shocking criteria win over two-time Olympic finalist Natalia VOROBEVA (RWF).

Despite being in countless brackets together, Adar and Maee haven't squared off against each other since the '18 edition of the event. The Turkish wrestler won that quarterfinal meeting, 10-0, in Kaspisyk, Dagestan. Prior to that meeting, Adar won their previous two meetings at the '17 World and European Championships.

Maee and Adar will be seeded first and second, respectively, which means that the European title will be on the line in their match.

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW announces 2024 Hall of Fame inductees

Wednesday, July 31, 2024 - 10:07 By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS (July 31) -- In his earlier life, Steeve GUENOT (FRA) was a railwayman. He juggled his day job with his passion, wrestling, which led him to the Olympics.

There, on the biggest stage of all in Beijing 16 years ago, the Frenchman scripted history—winning a gold medal to end his country's 80-plus-year drought of producing an Olympic champion wrestler. That moment changed his life, and Guenot went on to inspire a generation of wrestlers.

For his path-breaking achievements on the mat and his restoration of belief in an entire nation, the French hero was inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame days before the Paris Olympics were declared open.

The Beijing Games gold medallist, who also won a bronze at London 2012 and a bronze medal in the 2007 World Championship, was among the three wrestlers included in this year's list. The other two were freestyle legend Mavlet BATIROV (RUS) and Canadian trailblazer Tonya VERBEEK (CAN).

Additionally, referee Vassilis PAGONIS (GRE) and legendary Armenian coach Levon JULFALAKYAN (ARM), too, were accorded the prestigious honor this year.

The Hall of Famers are permanently recognized on UWW's website, at the organization's headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, and in the international wing of the USA Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Mavlet BATIROV (RUS) is a two-time Olympic champion. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Martin Gabor)

A 66kg category Greco-Roman champion, Guenot was born to a family of wrestlers in 1985. Both his parents were involved in the sport, and his siblings were, too. Like him, Guenot’s brother Christophe is an Olympic medallist. But no one scaled the heights that Guenot did.

France hadn't won an Olympic gold medal in wrestling since the 1936 Games when Emile Poilve finished on top of the podium.

Guenot broke that hoodoo and went on to win a lot more. After a highly successful playing career, he moved to coaching and was involved in grooming young wrestlers at his club in Dijon, something he has done to date.

Joining him on the list of honors is a Russian legend whose name is synonymous with excellence. One of the true greats of the sport, Batirov won admirers all over the world with his gritty wrestling style. He was one of the most dominant wrestlers in the noughts, particularly in the 55kg men's freestyle category, before he moved to 60 kg due to weight class adjustment.

Born in 1983, Batirov’s first big moment came in 2004, when he won the gold medal in the 55 kg category at the Athens Olympics. He went on to win his second Olympic gold medal four years later while competing in the 60 kg category and during that four-year cycle, he won the world title as well as a world championship bronze at 60kg.

These results, combined with multiple European championship medals, sealed his status as one of the finest wrestlers to ever step on the mat. After he retired from the sport, Batirov gave back to it by mentoring and coaching young wrestlers and sharing his deep insights into the game with them.

Tonya VERBEEK (CAN) was the head coach of the Canadian national team. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Tony Rotundo)

Like Guenot and Batirov, Verbeek too has had an outsized influence on the sport, especially in her country.

After the Ontario native picked the sport as a schoolgirl at age 11, Verbeek reportedly remained undefeated throughout her career as a school-level wrestler. She nearly mirrored that level of success as a senior in international wrestling.

Despite the total dominance of Japanese wrestlers, Verbeek carved out a niche for herself with her fearless style of play. She was the first Canadian woman to win a wrestling medal at the Athens Games, a silver, went on to add a bronze to her collection four years later in Beijing and completed the hattrick of medals by clinching the silver medal at the London Olympics. Apart from these, she has multiple worlds, Pan-Am and Commonwealth Games medals.

After retiring, Veerbek would break more barriers, becoming the head coach of both the men's and women's Canada teams. She currently coaches the women's program at the University of Iowa.

Armenia coach Levon JULFALAKYAN (ARM) inducted into UWW Hall of Fame. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

While all these wrestlers across the three events are legends in their own right, few actually come close to doing what Julfalakyan did.

As a wrestler, he has won it all -- Olympic gold, World Championship gold, and European Championship gold. His Olympic title in 1988 was a great exhibition of his art, as he won all his bouts in a one-sided manner to romp through the field and win the gold.

After he hung his boots, Julfalakyan turned to coaching. The academy where he coached turned into a conveyor belt of talented wrestlers. He has produced an Olympic champion, and multiple Olympic silver bronze medallists, as well as seven world and 14 European champions.

His elder son, Arsen, went on to win a silver medal at the London Olympics. In 2011, Julfalakyan was also feted at home after the country's government released postage stamps in his honor.

Vassolos PAGONIS, referee. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

Last but not least, referee Pagonis has also been included in the Hall of Fame. The Greek referee has officiated in five Olympics, 20 World Championships, and 25 European Championships. At the 1996 Olympics, Pagonis was feted with a Golden Whistle award.

Five must-watch WW bouts at #WrestleBudapest European C'ships

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UWW announces 2024 Hall of Fame inductees