#BeachWrestling

Marchenko wins gold for Ukraine; Romania best at U20 Worlds

Saturday, September 3, 2022 - 12:47 By Vinay Siwach

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CONSTANTA, Romania (September 2) -- When Romania hosted its national championships for beach wrestling, more than 800 wrestlers registered across age groups. Perhaps Romania is by far the most active country in the sport.

So it was no surprise when seven of the eight finalists at the U20 World Championships at the Mamaia beach in Constanta, Romania were from the host country.

Winning three out of the four gold medals, Romania ended the championships as the best team in the women's category, as it did at the U17 edition a day before.

The only non-Romanian wrestler who managed to win the gold on Friday was Sofiia MARCHENKO (UKR), winning the 60kg title after beating Viorica ADAM (ROU) in the final.

While Adam, a silver medalist from the U17 World Championships last year, was the favorite, Marchenko dug deep to upset the local in the final minute of the bout.

Surprised by the constant attacks from Adam, Marchenko took time to adjust to Adam's style. On a few occasions, Adam almost got the fall but Marchenko managed to defend the attempted throws.

After two minutes of no action, Adam got the first point but Marchenko answered with a takedown four seconds later. But since she had a caution against her, Adams led 1-1 on criteria.

But Marchenko remained calm and scored a stepout with just 18 seconds remaining to win the gold medal.

"The final match was tough," Marchenko said. "The girl [Adam] was really active. I was risking with the hip-toss, but I did everything right and won."

Marchenko finished ninth at the U17 Worlds where Adams won the silver but has been training for the championships and it paid off.

"I practice freestyle wrestling, but when it’s getting warmer in summer I practice beach wrestling," she said.

The 18-year-old showed her class in the semifinal as well when she defeated Ana PUIU (ROU) 3-2 in the semifinal. She took a 1-0 lead with a snap down in the first four seconds but Puiu countered with an ankle pick. As the bout neared its end, Puiu took the lead when Marchenko's knee touched the sand.

With 37 seconds remaining, Puiu was happy defending her lead but Marchenko scored via a strong snap. She ended the bout with another snap down.

But Romania's three gold medalists came at 50kg, 70kg, and +70kg.

'21 U20 world bronze medalist Ana PIRVU (ROU) upgraded her medal to gold this year as she won her four bouts at 50kg to remain undefeated.

She began with a 1-0 win over Fanny VIGOUROUX (FRA) in Round 2 before beating Andreea BARAGA (ROU) 3-1 in Round 3, Nicoleta BAJAN (ROU) 3-0 in Round 4 and  Cristina ANDUJAR (ESP) 3-0 in Round 5.

At 70kg, Teodora SIRBU (ROU) defeated compatriot Paula ROTARU (ROU) 3-1 in the final to claim the gold medal. Sirbu had missed out on a medal last year but dominated the field on Friday to win her first world title in beach wrestling.

Drosoula TZIANAKOPOULOU (GRE) won the bronze medal after she beat Georgiana ANDRIES (ROU) 3-0. She won her second bronze in two days as she was a medalist at the U17 Worlds as well.

In the +70kg weight class, Elena MARGAS (ROU) pulled off a thrilling 2-2 win over Andreea SCARLATESCU (ROU) to win the gold medal.

Both wrestlers were tied 0-0 for the first two minutes before the referee penalized Margas for passivity. Scarlatsecu then scored a stepout to lead 2-0.

But Margas managed to get a point with five seconds remaining. She then got another throw in the final second to win 2-2.

Amalia RATUNZEANU (ROU) defeated Maren ANDERSON (USA) 3-0 in the bronze medal bout to ensure a sweep of the podium for Romania.

Georgian TRIPON (ROU)Georgian TRIPON (ROU), dark, won the +90kg gold medal. (Photo: FRL)

3 gold for Romania men

Like the women's category, Romania dominated the show in men's as well, winning three out of the four gold medals on offer.

At 70kg, Daniel SANDU (ROU) put the Round 1 loss against Alin CIORICI (MDA) behind him to reach the semifinals in which he defeated Rubail IBRAHIMLI (AZE) 3-2 in a close decision. Ibrahmili got behind Sandu and almost forced the Romanian's knee to touch the sand but his own knee touched first which gave Sandu the win.

In the final, he defeated Ion MARCU (MDA) 3-1 to be crowned champion, an improvement from his bronze medal at the U17 Worlds last year.

The final was expected to be a rematch between Sandu and Ciorici but in the semifinal, the Moldovan was tied 0-0 with Marcu. In such a case, the wrestler with lower weight wins. But both Marcu and Ciorici had the exact weight of 69.85kg.

As luck would have it, Marcu's draw number was lower than Ciorici which gave him the win over his teammate.

Ibrahimli bounced back in the bronze medal bout and defeated Ciorici 3-0 for the win.

At 80kg, Thor MICHAELSON (USA) looked in some form as he dominated his way to reach the semifinals against Ion MARCU (MDA). He was trailing 2-0 when he scored a three-point move to win and reach the final against Denis CHIRICA (ROU).

He once again came from behind with a lead 2-2 on criteria against Chirica but as he tried defending his lead with 10 seconds left, Chirica used a snap down in which Michaelson's knee touched the sand the Romanian won 3-2.

Marcu returned to beat Luca FINIZIO (ITA) 3-0 and win the bronze medal.

The Nordic bracket was followed at 90kg and Farid JABBAROV (AZE) emerged as the unbeaten wrestler after Round 5. 

He began with a win against Razvan PAVALASC (ROU), followed by Alexandru OLTEAN (ROU) and David MITRAN (ROU). In Round 5, he defeated Konstantinos TSAKNAKIS (GRE) to claim the gold medal.

Oltean with three wins was the silver medalist while Pavalasc took home the bronze with two wins.

Azerbaijan could have won a second gold medal but Georgian TRIPON (ROU) defeated Zafar ALIYEV (AZE) in the +90kg final to deny it.

In a rematch of the Round 3 bout which Tripon won, 3-2, Aliyev tried to avenge that loss but Tripon was well prepared for the final which he won 2-1.

The bronze medal was won by Rafail GKIRNIS (GRE) who defeated Eduard POPESCU (ROU) 2-0.

#WrestleTirana

Olympic medalists in strong field set to light up Tirana

Monday, February 24, 2025 - 12:21 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (February 24) -- After he won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, Semen NOVIKOV (BUL) was asked his wrestling journey. He replied that he "had many problems" but will go through it again without second thoughts.

Taking his first step in the new Olympic cycle for 2028 LA Olympic, Novikov won the prestigious Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tournament in January and is now wrestling his first Ranking Series event of the year -- the Muhamet Malo in Tirana.

Novikov is the only Paris Olympic champion who has returned to a UWW tournament since winning gold in August last year. He will be up against a top 87kg Greco-Roman field at the second Ranking Series of the year.

The tournament will be held in Tirana from February 26 to March 2 with important Ranking Series points up for grabs. The Zagreb Open, held two weeks ago, and Muhamet Malo will be crucial for wrestler hoping to get seeded at the continental championships that begin in March.

Novikov will be expecting rematches with David LOSONCZI (HUN) and Alireza MOHAMADIPIANI (IRI), both of whom he beat in Paris. Losonczi has Istvan TAKACS (HUN) and Tamas LEVAI (HUN) to watch out for as Hungary to second its pick for the European Championships.

Georgia is doing the same with Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO), Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) and Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) entered at 87kg while other strong contenders include Marcel STERKENBURG (NED) and Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB).

Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI)Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) is hoping to be Iran's mainstay at 60kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake KIRKMAN)

Despite the dropouts in other weight classes across styles just days before the tournament, it still throws quite a strong field.

At 60kg, Iran is pushing for Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) as it's flagbearer after struggling to find a world-beater. His first senior test will see him go up against a few stars including world champion Victor CIOBANU (MDA), Olympian Enes BASAR (TUR) and Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) among others.

Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI) was at 60kg earlier and was about to retire after Paris Olympics. However, he is wrestling at 63kg in Tirana and Turkiye's Kerem KAMAL (TUR) is also returning to action.

At 72kg, Levente LEVAI (HUN), who surprisingly won Zagreb Open gold, will look to continue his run but has hurdles in the name of former world champion Ali ARSALAN (SRB) and European champion Selcuk CAN (TUR).

Paris Olympic bronze medalist Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) is warming up for the Asian Championships and will be the favorite to win the gold medal at 130kg. He has Tokyo silver medalist Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) and age-group world champion Hamza BAKIR (TUR) in the bracket as well.

Chermen VALIEV (ALB)Chermen VALIEV (ALB) is a Paris Olympic medalist at 74kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Freestyle

Albania's star Freestyle trio of Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB), Islam DUDAEV (ALB) and Chermen VALIEV (ALB) are wrestler in front of their home crowd. All three are returning to action since the Paris Games in which Dudaev and Valiev won bronze medals.

Abakarov will be tested by former European champion Nachyn MONGUSH (UWW) and Artem GOBAEV (UWW) at 61kg.

Dudaev will have tougher challenges at 65kg. He is likely to have a Paris rematch with silver medalist Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) who is expected to be Iran's representative at the Asian Championships.

U23 world champion Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW) is also entered and is always the biggest threat for the gold medal. Amouzad and Dudaev will be cautious of the rising star.

For Valiev, Yones EMAMI (IRI) and Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) could be the trouble-makers at 74kg, a weight class he is expected to dominate. Valiev and Salkazanov match for styles but Valiev seems to always find a way to score points while Salkazanov is more of a tactical wrestler who can play the clock well.

Naychn KUULAR (KAZ)Nachyn KUULAR (KAZ), a former U23 world champion, wrestling in Bundesliga. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

At 70kg, former U23 world champion Nachyn KUULAR (KAZ) is turning up for UWW competition after six years, this time for Kazakhstan. Kuular, who represented Russia previously, has kept himself in the news with a win over Olympic champion Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) in the Bundesliga, albeit at 71kg.

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) won't have great memories of Tirana as he lost the World Championships semifinal to Abdulrashid SADULAEV in the last second and returned empty-handed. But he is back in Tirana with less expectations and pressure at 92kg as he begins an Olympic cycle in which he may finally get to be at the Olympics.

At 125kg, Olympic silver medalist Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) will be in action and the favorite to win gold medal as well.

Kyle SNYDER (USA) will be wrestling at back-to-back Ranking Series events. He won the gold medal in Zagreb and is expected to be in Tirana as well. A second gold medal this year will push him to the top of the ranking at 97kg.

Moe KIYOOKA (JPN)Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) is the world champion at 55kg but wrestling at 53kg in Tirana. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

Japan is sending its six Emperor's Cup winners to Tirana. The six include two world champions from last year as Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) and Ami ISHII (JPN) return to Tirana for another trip.

Others include former age-group world champion Umi ITO (JPN) who finished with a bronze at the U23 World Championships, will also be returning to Tirana. Former world champion Haruna MURAYAMA (JPN) [nee OKUNO], is registered at 55kg, U20 world champion Sakura ONISHI (JPN) is at 59kg, world bronze medalist Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) at 65kg and Nodoka YAMAMOTO (JPN) is at 76kg.

China too is sending a strong but a relatively new team. It will be led by former 59kg world champion Qi ZHANG (CHN) who is moving up to 62kg for this tournament. She will be wrestling for the Asian Championships spot as well against teammate LILI (CHN) who won world bronze medal in 2023.

Grace BULLEN (NOR)Grace BULLEN (NOR) is returning to action at 62kg after Paris. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

However, Paris Olympic bronze medalist Grace BULLEN (NOR) will be the favorite in this weight class which also Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA) and Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL). Bullen will be wrestling at her first competition since winning the first Olympic medal for Norway in Women's Wrestling in Paris.

62kg silver medalist at Paris Olympic Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) is wrestling at 65kg for the Ranking Series. She will be up against former world champions Irina RINGACI (MDA) and Morikawa in her bracket which will be divided into two groups as the weight class has only seven wrestlers. There is a chance that all three wrestler end up in the same group.

Another loaded weight class is the 55kg in which Zagreb Open champion Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA) will be looking to add a second gold medal of the Ranking Series. In Zagreb, she wrestled only one match -- final -- but Albania has a bigger bracket which also includes Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (UWW), Okuno, Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA) and Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR).

At 72kg, three-time world silver medalist Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) will hope to win gold in Tirana as she lost the World Championships final here last year despite leading it at one point. 

Her compatriot and former Asian champion Elmira SYZDYKOVA (KAZ) is registered at 76kg but her path to gold medal may not be as easy. The weight class also has Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ), Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU) and Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR) who will look to confirm her spot at 76kg for Ukraine in the new Olympic cycle.