Ivan Yarygin

Russia and USA Release Preliminary Yarygin Rosters

By Eric Olanowski

The Russian Wrestling Federation and USA Wreslting have released their preliminary Freestyle line-ups for the 2018 Ivan Yargin, which begins on January 26 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. 

Russia's star-studded line-up features a trio of Olympic medalists in Abdulrashid SADULAEV (gold), Aniuar GEDUEV (silver) and Bilyal MAKHOV (bronze). World medalists competing for the Russian Federation include world champion Magomed KURBANALIEV (70kg), world silver medalists Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (61kg) and Khetag TSABOLOV (74kg), and world bronze medalists Akhmed CHAKAEV (65kg), Alan GOGAEV (65kg) and Vladislav VALIEV (86kg). 

USA's squad will feature Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion, Kyle Snyder. Other notable wrestles that will compete for the red,white and blue will be 2016 world champion, Logan STIEBER (65kg), 2016 Olympian Frank MOLINARO (70kg) and world bronze medalist Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (125kg). 

Russia's Ivan Yarygin Line-up
57kg: Zaur UGUEV and Azamat TUSKAEV 
61kg: Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV, Aleksander BOGOMOEV and Ismail MUSUKAEV
65kg: Alan GOGAEV, Ilias BEKBULATOV and Akhmed CHAKAEV
70kg: Israil KASUMOV and Magomed KURBANALIEV
74kg: Khetag TSABOLOV and Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV
79kg: Aniuar GEDUEV, Akhmed GADZHIMAGOMEDOV and Alan ZASEEV
86kg: Vladislav VALIEV, Daueren KURUGLIEV and Artur NAIFONOV
92kg: Abdulrashid SADULAEV, Anzor URISHEV and Yuri BELONOVSKY
97kg: Vladislav BAITSAEV, Shamil MUSAEV and Rasul MAGOMEDOV
125kg: Bilyal MAKHOV, Anzor KHIZRIEV and Alan KHUGAEV

USA's Ivan Yarygin Line-up
57kg: Frank PERRELLI                                          
61kg: Tony RAMOS and Cory CLARK                
65kg: Logan STIEBER, Jayson NESS and Josh KINDIG                                                  
70kg: Frank MOLINARO
74kg: Joe TAVOSO                                                   
79kg: Kyle DAKE and Alex DIERINGER                                           
86kg: David TAYLOR and Travis STEFANIK
92kg: Jacob WARNER and  Nick HEFLIN                                                  
97kg: Kyle SNYDER and Nathan BURAK
125kg: Nick GWIAZDOWSKI, Zach REY and Bobby TELFORD

#WrestleTirana

Aitmukhan wins U23 Worlds gold; Iran best team

By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (October 26) -- After becoming Kazakhstan's first world champion in Freestyle, Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) is on a mission to collect age-group world titles. Two months after winning the U20 World Championships gold medal, Aitmukhan won the 97kg gold medal at the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania. The gold medal ensured Aitmukhan's record of finishing on the podium of all tournaments he has participated in since 2023.

Aitmukhan wrestled Mahdi HAJI (IRI) in the final and led 2-2 at the break but Haji struggled with conditioning in the second. He fell behind 10-4 at one point and there was no coming back against Aitmukhan.

Iran, however, won the Freestyle team title as it got 158 points. Japan had an incredible run and finished with 102 points for second position and Azerbaijan was third with 100 points.

Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) claimed the 79kg gold medal for Iran after he defeated Paris Olympian Feng LU (CHN), who became the first wrestler from China to reach the final in Freestyle.

Ibragimov repeats

Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN) claimed his second straight world title at the U23 World Championships as he took only 53 seconds to beat Kaiji OGINO (JPN) 14-2.

A takedown opened the scoring for Ibragimov and he added four turns to make it 8-0. However, Ogino managed to wrap his arm around Ibragimov and tossed him for two points. Ibragimov never left control of Ogino and transitioned to a leg lace to finish the match 13-2.

Ogino challenged for the sequence but it was scored correctly on the challenge. The lost challenge of Japan made it 14-2 for Ibragimov.

The 57kg gold medal was captured by 19-year-old CHIRAG (IND) as he defeated Abdymalik KARACHOV (KGZ) 4-3 in the final.

Chirag was called passive in the second period but scored with a beautiful duckunder during the activity. But Karachov scored a stepout with a minute remaining in the match to take a 3-2 lead.

Chirag continued to work for a takedown for the win, got a leg attack, and scored two points. His 4-3 lead was good enough till the end of six minutes to win India's second-ever gold medal in Freestyle at the U23 World Championships.

 At 70kg, Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) held on to a 5-4 lead against Magomed ELTEMIROV (AIN) and win the gold medal.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: CHIRAG (IND) df. Abdymalik KARACHOV (KGZ), 4-3

BRONZE: Ali Hossein MOMENI (IRI) df. Maxwell GALLAGHER (USA), 8-0
BRONZE: Iunus IAVBATIROV (AIN) df. Allan ORALBEK (KAZ), 6-2

65kg
GOLD: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN) df. Kaiji OGINO (JPN), 14-2

BRONZE: Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB) df. Bilol SHARIP UULU (KGZ), 4-1
BRONZE: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) df. Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR), 15-4

70kg
GOLD: Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) df. Magomed ELTEMIROV (AIN), 5-4

BRONZE: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) df. Ali Mahmoud KHORRAMDEL (IRI), 10-0
BRONZE: SUJEET (IND) df. Mustafo AKHMEDOV (TJK), 13-4 

79kg
GOLD: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) df. Feng LU (CHN), 12-5

BRONZE: Arsen BALAIAN (AIN) df. Hayk PAPIKYAN (ARM), 9-1
BRONZE: Masaki SATO (JPN) df. Owen MARTIN (CAN), 11-0

97kg
GOLD: Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) df. Mahdi HAJI (IRI), 11-6

BRONZE: Uladzislau KAZLOU (AIN) df. Shamil GADZHIALIEV (AIN), 2-2
BRONZE: VICKY (IND) df. Ivan PRYMACHENKO (UKR), 7-2