wrestleOaxtepec

Venezuela Wins Two Junior Greco-Roman Titles on Day One of #WrestleOaxtepec

Thursday, June 10, 2021 - 00:48 By Taylor Miller

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Photo of Daniel BELLO VEGA (VEN). Photo by Osvaldo Aguilar. 

 

OAXTEPEC, Mexico – Venezuela’s Yonaiker MARTINEZ CRAVO (VEN) and Daniel BELLO VEGA (VEN) picked up Junior Greco-Roman titles at the Cadet and Junior Pan American Championships in Oaxtepec, Mexico, on Wednesday.

12 weight classes were contested between the Junior Greco-Roman and Cadet men’s freestyle divisions. For the Junior tournament, the top-eight athletes at each Olympic weight class will earn a bid to the Junior Pan American Games, set for December in Cali, Colombia.

Photo of Fernando FERRER CIPRIAN (DOM). Photo by Osvaldo Aguilar. 

 

Martinez Cravo won the 60 kg bracket with a pin over Jeremy PERALTA GONZALEZ (ECU) in the finals, and Bello Vega earned gold at 77 kg with a 9-1 technical superiority over Brandon CALLE PEREZ (COL). Both are Olympic weight classes. Claiming titles at the other two Olympic weights up for grabs today were Fernando FERRER CIPRIAN (DOM) at 67 kg and Tyler HANNAH (USA) at 87 kg.

At 55kg, Angel SEGURA TELLEZ (MEX) defeated Aizayah YACAPIN (USA) for the gold, while Antonio RUIZ MORA (ECU) won at 63 kg with a 10-2 victory over Payton JACOBSON (USA).

Photo of Luke LILLEDAHL (USA). Photo by Osvaldo Aguilar. 

In the Cadet men’s freestyle division, the USA won all six weight classes, all in round-robin action. The champions included Bowen BASSETT (USA) at 45 kg, Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) t 48 kg, Alan KOEHLER (USA) at 51 kg, Kael LAURIDSEN (USA) t 55 kg, Brock BOBZIEN (USA) at 60 kg and Pierson MANVILLE (USA) at 65 kg.

Action continues on Thursday at 9 a.m. live on uww.org.

En español
OAXTEPEC, Mexico – Dos venezolanos, Yonaiker MARTINEZ CRAVO (VEN) y Daniel BELLO VEGA (VEN) capturaron títulos en el estilo grecorromano juvenil en el Campeonato Panamericano de Cadetes y Juveniles en Oaxtepec, México.

Hoy, se disputaron doce categorías entre estilo libre masculino cadete y grecorromano juvenil. En el torneo juvenil, los ocho mejores luchadores en las clases de peso olímpico califican para los Juegos Panamericanos Juveniles en diciembre en Cali, Colombia.

Martinez Cravo ganó en 60 kg, derrotando a Jeremy PERALTA GONZALEZ (ECU) por puesta espalda, y Bello Vega ganó en 77 kg contra Brandon CALLE PEREZ (COL), 9-1. Ambos son clases de peso olímpico. Reclamando títulos en las otras categorías olímpicas fueron Fernando FERRER CIPRIAN (DOM) en 67 kg y Tyler HANNAH (USA) en 87 kg.

En 55 kg, Angel SEGURA TELLEZ (MEX) superó a Aizayah YACAPIN (USA) mientras Antonio RUIZ MORA (ECU) ganó en 63 kg.

En el estilo libre masculino cadete, USA ganó las seis categorías del día. Los campeones incluyen Bowen BASSETT (USA) en 45 kg, Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) en 48 kg, Alan KOEHLER (USA) en 51 kg, Kael LAURIDSEN (USA) en 55 kg, Brock BOBZIEN (USA) en 60 kg y Pierson MANVILLE (USA) en 65 kg. Todos ganaron en la competencia round robin.

Acción sigue mañana a las 9 a.m. CT en uww.org.

JUNIOR GRECO-ROMAN RESULTS

55 kg
GOLD - Angel SEGURA TELLEZ (MEX)
SILVER- Aizayah YACAPIN (USA)

60 kg
GOLD - Yonaiker MARTINEZ CRAVO (VEN)
SILVER- Jeremy PERALTA GONZALEZ (ECU)
BRONZE- Samuel GUTIERREZ DIAZ (CUB)
BRONZE - Uvaldo CAMACHO DIAZ (MEX)

63 kg
GOLD - Antonio RUIZ MORA (ECU)
SILVER- Richard FEDALEN (USA)
BRONZE- Alan SALAS ESQUIVEL (MEX)

67 kg
GOLD - Fernando FERRER CIPRIAN (DOM)
SILVER - Payton JACOBSON (USA)
BRONZE - Piero CRUCES PANAIFO (PER)
BRONZE - Yosbani NAPOLES MUSTELIER (CUB)

77 kg
GOLD - Daniel BELLO VEGA (VEN)
SILVER- Brandon CALLE PEREZ (COL)
BRONZE- Arlier LA O MENDOZA (CUB)
BRONZE - Franco CHIALANZA (ARG)

87 kg
GOLD - Tyler HANNAH (USA)
SILVER - Juan DIAZ BLANCO (VEN)
BRONZE - Jose MOSQUERA MURILLO (COL)
BRONZE - Pedro BELLO SOTO (MEX)

CADET MEN’S FREESTYLE RESULTS

45 kg
GOLD- Bowen BASSETT (USA)
SILVER- Samir MARCIAGA YAU (PAN)
BRONZE- Roger KANTUN KU (MEX)

48 kg
GOLD- Luke LILLEDAHL (USA)
SILVER- Jonathan MEZA RAYAS (MEX)
BRONZE- Abel SANCHEZ JUAREZ (PER)

51 kg
GOLD- Alan KOEHLER (USA)
SILVER- Jesse PEREZ VERASTEGUI (MEX)
BRONZE- Pedro TORIBIO TORRES (PER)

55 kg
GOLD- Kael LAURIDSEN (USA)
SILVER- Josue VILLAREAL MARTINEZ (MEX)
BRONZE- Jailson LEITE DA SILVA (BRA)

60 kg
GOLD- Brock BOBZIEN (USA)
SILVER- Fernando SALDARRIAGA VELASQUEZ (ECU)
BRONZE- Alan GOMEZ HERMOSILLO (MEX)

65 kg
GOLD- Pierson MANVILLE (USA)
SILVER- Paulo GONCALVES DA SILVA (BRA)
BRONZE- Marco FERNANDEZ CUBAS (PER)

#JapanWrestling

Paris Olympic Champ Sakurai Retires at Age 24

Sunday, April 5, 2026 - 09:12 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (April 4) -- Having never really regained the motivation that led her to achieve her ultimate goal of an Olympic gold, Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) has decided to retire at the tender age of 24.

Sakurai, the women’s 57kg champion at the Paris Olympics, has announced that she will hang up her singlet and begin a second career nurturing a new generation of wrestlers and serving as a goodwill ambassador of sports for her native Kochi Prefecture in western Japan.

“After 21 continuous years, I feel I have reached the cutoff point of my wrestling career, so I have decided to retire,” Sakurai said at a press conference Friday at the Kochi Prefecture government office.

“I gave everything I had for the Olympics, and I was able to experience the feeling of achievement and the ultimate joy. It's difficult to win the Olympics without determination. I couldn't get back to the mindset I had before Paris. That is the biggest reason [for retiring].”

Known for her steely aggressiveness belying a quiet demeanor, and a wicked use of a 2-on-1 arm bar, Sakurai prefaced her triumph in Paris by winning three consecutive world titles, at 55kg in 2021 and back-to-back golds at 57kg in 2022 and 2023.

A U17 world champion in 2016, she won golds at the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but suffered the second of just two career international losses at the 2024 Asian Championships, where she fell to Yongxian FENG (CHN) in the final.

She bounced back five months later for her crowning achievement in Paris, where she defeated 2016 Rio Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) 10-4 in the semifinals, then took the gold with a 6-0 victory over Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) in a rematch of the 2023 world final.

Making the win in Paris even more special was the fact that not only did Sakurai strike gold, but so did another Japanese wrestler who started the sport together with her at the kids wrestling club in Kochi run by her father.

Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), the freestyle 65kg champion in his Olympic debut, and Sakurai became the toast of Kochi, a rural prefecture fronting the Pacific on the island of Shikoku. They were paraded through the streets of the prefectural capital of Kochi City and hailed as heroes.

Like almost all of Japan’s medalists in Paris, the two took time off from the sport to run the gauntlet of TV interviews and variety shows, and just chill out in general. Sakurai, who returned to Kochi and started graduate studies in sport sciences at Kochi University, was particularly slow in returning to the mat.

In what would prove to be her first – and last – competition after Paris, she won the 57kg title at the second-tier Japan Women’s Open in October 2025, ostensibly to qualify for the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships the following December. That would be the starting point for domestic qualifying for major global tournaments.

But Sakurai never made it to the Emperor’s Cup, and has now fully turned the corner on a new career.

“Over the past year, this decision was made after talking to many people, fretting about it, and thinking things through,” she said.

Sakurai said that as an extension of her father’s Kochi Wrestling Club, she wants to run a series of clinics outside of the city, mainly in her hometown of Konan just to the east of Kochi, to expose more children to wrestling and help it grow.

“Aside from wrestling, I'm learning so many things in graduate school right now, so I want to acquire a wide range of knowledge so that I can give back to Kochi Prefecture properly,” Sakurai said. “I think there will be various problems when I put things into practice, so I want to acquire solid knowledge so that I can solve those problems.”

Fans at this week’s Asian Championships in Bishkek will see another product of the Kochi Wrestling Club in action in Moe KIYOOKA (JPN), Kotaro’s younger sister and a former world champion who will be looking to add the 53kg gold to the one she won at 55kg in 2024. She and Sakurai were also teammates at Ikuei University.

And the name Sakurai might soon be appearing on the world stage again. Her younger sister, Tsukino SAKURAI (JPN), won the Asian U15 title last year.