#worldcupiowacity

Seven Olympic Medalists Set to Kick off Freestyle World Cup

Saturday, April 7, 2018 - 00:18 By Eric Olanowski

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Iowa, United States (April 6) - The United States who is hosting their fourth World Cup in five years is paced by a pair of Olympic champions who boast a combined six world gold medals. Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) and Kyle SNYDER (USA) will be looking to assist the American's in hoisting their fourteenth overall World Cup title and first since 2003.

Burroughs, the keeper of four world gold medals will be making his sixth world cup appearance, and Snyder who owns two world golds will be making his third world cup appearance. Along with Burroughs and Snyder, a third American Olympic medalist in J'den Cox is entered on USA's roster. 

Azerbaijan, who's the favorite to come out of Group B won their last title in 2009 will rely on the direction of their first three-time world champion, Haji ALIYEV (AZE) and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, Jabrayil HASANOV (AZE) to secure their third overall World Cup Title title.

Aliyev, who is competing in his fourth World Cup is up at 65kg, which is four kilos different than his world championship weight of 61kg. This will be the fourth competition that Aliyev has wrestled at 65kg. He also competed at the World Clubs Cup for Setaregan Sari, India’s Pro Wrestling League for the Delhi Sultans and the International Ukrainian Tournament.  

Along with the United States, Georgia, Japan and India round out the four Group A teams.

Japan, who has placed third five times will put the weight of its team on the back of 2017 Breakout Wrestler of the Year and world champion, Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN).

Takahashi will kick-start the second session of action with a rematch of the finals from the 2017 World Championships where he handled Thomas GILMAN (USA), 6-1. When asked about the match, Takashi said, "It was a great match last year. But for him, this is a going to be a home match, and for us, this is an away match. I'm very excited, but also nervous about the match." 

For Georgia to improve on their best showing of fourth-place (2016) they’ll have to rely on 2012 Olympic bronze medalists Dato MARSAGISHVILI (GEO), multiple time age-level European Champion, Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO) and junior world bronze medalist, Tariel GAPRINDASHVILI (GEO).

India, who entered the tournament late brought a squad of ten wrestlers that are patrolled by the pair of Olympians in Amit KUMAR (IND) and Sandeep TOMAR (IND).  

Joining Azerbaijan in Group B will be Cuba, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

Cuba is coming off a Central American and Caribbean Championships where they swept the finals, going six-for-six in the gold-medal bouts. Each of the six Cubans who won Central American and Caribbean Championships titles last weekend have made the trip to Iowa to compete in the 2018 World Cup.

Mongolia, who is looking to snap their three-year streak of sixth-place brings the trio of current world No. 1’s in GANZORIG Mandakhnaran (MGL), LUVSANDORJ Turtogtokh (MGL) and NATSAGSUREN Zolboo (MGL).

The duo of Olympian’s in Meirzhan ASHIROV (KAZ) and Daniyar KAISANOV (KAZ) will be in charge of a Kazakhstan team who is making their first World Cup appearance since 2013.

Freestyle World Cup Schedule
Saturday, April 7 (All Times, CST)
10:00 am: United States v. India (Mat A) // Mongolia v. Kazakhstan (Mat B)
11:15 am: Japan v. Georgia (Mat A) // Azerbaijan v. Cuba (Mat B)
2:00 pm: Opening Ceremonies
2:30 pm: United States v. Japan (Mat A)
4:30 pm: Mongolia v. Cuba (Mat B)
5:45 pm: India v. Georgia (Mat A) // Azerbaijan v. Kazakhstan (Mat B)

Sunday, April 8 (All Times, CST)
10:00 am: United States v. Georgia (Mat A) // Mongolia v. Azerbaijan (Mat B)
11:15am: India v. Japan (Mat A) // Kazakhstan v. Cuba (Mat B)
12:30pm: Fifth Place Match (Mat A) // Seventh Place Match (Mat B)
2:15 pm: Bronze Medal Match (Mat A)
4:00 pm: Gold Medal Match (Mat A)

TV Schedule
Saturday, April 7 (All Times, CST)
10:00 am: USA v. India — Olympic Channel
2:30 pm: USA v. Japan — NBCSN

Sunday, April 8 ((All Times, CST)
11:00 am: United States v. Georgia — Olympic Channel
4:00 pm: Gold Medal Match — NBCSN

#WrestleTirana

Breaking down freestyle battles at World Championships for Non-Olympic weights

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 - 09:44 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 15) -- Six months ago, no one had the Sadulaev-Taylor-Ghasempour three-way battle for world title on their bingo card. But it is about to go down in Tirana.

The World Championships in non-Olympic weight classes is returning after eight years. Despite the fact that none of the Paris Olympic participants were allowed in the tournament, it still has a host of stars hoping to become world champions.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN), a two-time Olympic and five-time world champion, did not participate in the Paris Olympics and is going down a weight class to 92kg in a bid to earn his sixth world title. Three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA) jumped from 86kg to 92kg in a bid to compete at the World Championships. He now gets a shot at Sadulaev. Two-time world champion at 92kg Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI), who has been moving up and down in weight classes, has somehow been made the challenger.

Ghasempour participated in the 97kg weight class in the Zagreb Open but lost to Kyle SNYDER (USA). He was in line for Iran's 86kg spot for Paris but later opted out of a trial against Hassan YAZDANI (IRI).

Sadulaev lost a bout for the second time in his career and first in six years when he lost to Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) at the 2023 World Championships. Taylor lost to Aaron BROOKS (USA) in the U.S. Olympic trials and Ghasempour barely scraped through in the trials for the world team in Iran.

Yet, the three will be the favorite for the gold medal and it will only be a surprise if any of them miss out on the podium in Tirana.

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is eyeing his seventh world title. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Six-time world champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is also chasing history. If he wins, he will win his seventh world title, making him the most successful American wrestler at the World Championships. He missed out on competing at the 2023 World Championships but stormed back in 2024, winning the trial in the United States.

But his path to gold won't be an easy one. Two-time U23 world champion Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN), former world silver medalist Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), three-time world medalist Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI) and Asian champion Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) are also in the fray.

Nokhodi and Burroughs have wrestled in two back-to-back World Championships finals with the latter winning both. But Burroughs suffered his first loss to an Iranian in 2022 when Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) defeated him at the World Cup and Nokhodi will draw confidence from there.

All the big names will be looking to hand Burroughs his first World Championships loss since 2019.

Vitali ARUJAU (USA)Vitali ARUJAU (USA) is the defending world champion at 61kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Another Olympic champion eyeing a world title will be Zavur UGUEV (AIN) as he last won the second of two titles in 2019. Uguev won gold at the Tokyo Olympics at 57kg but finished fifth at the 2023 World Championships. He will be at 61kg in Tirana hoping to deny defending world champion Vitali ARUJAU (USA) a second world title.

Arujau won his first world gold medal in 2023 by beating Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) in a tense final. He won the team trials in the U.S. to confirm his name for the World Championships in Tirana.

An interesting name entered is Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB). The former European champion will turn out for Serbia at 61kg but it is unlikely that he will be challenging for gold.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN), however, can be a big threat for the gold medal given his style and pace of wrestling. He rocked the competition at the U20 World Championships last month and won gold at 61kg. It will be interesting to see how he fares at his first senior World Championships.

Asian Championships silver medalist UDIT (IND) and Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) have some good wins under their belts over the past two years and they would like to make a mark in Tirana.

Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN)Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) wrestled in the U23 World Championships final last year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

U23 world and European champion Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) will be making his senior international debut at 70kg in Tirana and will be the favorite to win the gold medal. However, the field has other top contenders like Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI), Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) and James GREEN (USA) among others.

Yazdani lost the final at 70kg last year to Zain RETHERFORD (USA) but will look to make amends this year. He won the Asian Championships over Aoyagi in a high-scoring final. Yazdani's 13-9 win over Aoyagi was not convincing and the Japanese will look to change the result if the two meet in Tirana. Aoyagi was in the final against Sheriev but dropped the final 9-3. He finished eighth at the World Championships in 2023.

Former U20 world champion for Iran, Peiman BIABANI (CAN) will be turning out for Canada. He finished second at the Pan-Am Championships and the World Championships will be a big test for him. 2023 bronze medalist Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL) will look to change the color of his medal this year.