Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! May 14, 2018

By

Reviewing Thursday's Beat the Streets, the Youth Olympic Games qualifiers and Yazdani making Iran's world team.  

1. Cadet European Championships Begin Monday 
The 2018 Cadet European Championships begin Monday, May 14 in Skopje, Macedonia. 

The second cadet continental championship will serve as a qualifier for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games which take place this October. 

The first place finisher in freestyle and Greco-Roman will qualify their countries spot in the five designated weight classes, while the first and second place finishers in women's wrestling will qualify their nations spot for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.  

European Championship Schedule

Youth Olympic Weight Classes 
Freestyle - 
48kg, 55kg, 65kg, 80kg, and 110kg 
Greco-Roman - 45kg, 51kg, 60kg, 71kg, and 92kg 
Women's Wrestling - 43kg, 49kg, 57kg, 65kg, and 73kg 

Amir ZARE (IRI) closes out the 2018 Cadet Asian Championship with a 10-0 win over Kumar ANIRUDH (IND). (Photo by Sachiko Hotaka)

2. Iran's Cadets Illuminate Uzbekistan 
Iranian freestyle wrestlers left the 2018 Cadet Asian Championships with medals in all but one weight class. 

Iran claimed an impressive six golds and three bronzes to close out the first cadet continental championship of the year. 

Even more impressive, in their six finals bouts, Iranian wrestlers picked up four technical superiority wins and averaged nearly ten points a match! 

Full Cadet Asian Championship Results   

3. Beat the Streets Match-up Order Announced 
The wait is almost over!

Three Olympic champions in Togrul ASGAROV (AZE), Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)  and Helen MAROULIS (USA) are set to compete at Beat the Streets which begins this Thursday, May 17 at 2:30 PM in New York, New York. 

The final two duals, USA vs. Nigeria and USA vs. Cuba start at 6:30 PM.

Women's Freestyle
USA vs. Nigeria 
57kg: Helen MAROULIS (USA) vs. Odunayo ADEKUROYE (NGR)
59 kg: Alli RAGAN (USA) vs. Adeniyi AMINAT (NGR)
68 kg: Tamyra STOCK (USA) vs. Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)

FREESTYLE
USA vs. Cuba

57kg – Josh RODRIGUEZ (USA) vs. Reineri ORTEGA (CUB)
70kg – James GREEN (USA) vs. Franklin MAREN CASTILLO (CUB)
79kg – Kyle DAKE (USA) vs. Livan LOPEZ AZCUY  (CUB)
92kg – J’den COX (USA) vs. Yurieski TORREBLANCA QUERALTA (CUB)
97kg – Kyle SNYDER (USA) vs. Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB)
125kg– Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) vs. Yudenny ESTEVEZ (CUB)

Age-level Match-up - Patrick GLORY (USA) vs. Gavin TEASDALE (USA) 

Co-Main Event – Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) vs. Frank CHAMIZO (ITA)
Main Event  – Jordan OLIVER (USA) vs. Togrul ASGAROV (AZE) 

4. Olympic Champion, Yazdani Locks up Another Iranian World Team Spot 
The world and Olympic champion, Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) defeated 2018 Takhti Cup champion, Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) twice in the best of three series to make Iran’s 2018 Asian Games and 2018 World Championship roster. 

In the first match-up, Yazdani was tested early, giving up the first two points. The reigning world champion came back to outscore Ghasempour, 8-0 to take the first match, 8-2. 

The Olympic champion remained undefeated in Iran for the fourth consecutive year with a 5-0 victory in the second match. 

FULL RESULTS

5. Youth Olympic Qualifications by Country 
The 2018 Youth Olympic Games will take place October 12-14 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

The highest placing athlete from the Asian Championships qualified their countries spot for the Games in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. 

In women's wrestling, the top two athletes from the Asian Championships qualified their nations spot for the Buenos Aires Games. 

Qualifiers After the Cadet Asian Championships 
Freestyle 
48kg - UZB
55kg - JPN 
65kg - IRI
80kg - IRI 
110kg - IRI

Greco-Roman 
45kg - IRI 
51kg - JPN  
60kg - UZB
71kg - JPN
92kg - IRI 

Women's Wrestling 
43kg - JPN and MGL 
49kg - JPN and UZB 
57kg - JPN and IND 
65kg - JPN and CHN 
73kg - JPN and UZB 

Full Cadet Asian Championship Results   

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday! @vlasovroma90 #kaspeuro2018
2. Happy Mother’s Day, wrestling fans!
3. One of the most anticipated matches in years will go down May 17th in NYC. If you live in the area go ahead and support @beatthestreets, which provides wrestling opportunities to disadvantaged youth around the city. —>http://bit.ly/rotr-tix
4. Preparing for the match #wrestling #sportsgirl #cadet #asia #борьба
5. A few Black and Whites from the 2018 European Championships Kaspiysk.  #wrestling #kaspiysk2018 #unitedworldwrestling

#WrestleKonya

Kyrgyzstan close out Islamic Solidarity Games with 3 golds

By Ali Feizasa

KONYA, Turkey(August 13) -- Two Kyrgyzstan Greco-Roman stars affirmed their status as the top wrestlers in their respective weight classes by winning gold medals at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey.

The wrestling competition ended Saturday in Konya with Kyrgyzstan winning two Greco-Roman golds while Azerbaijan, Iran and Uzbekistan won one each. Women's wrestling also had two weight classes with Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan winning a gold medal each.

Overall, Iran and Azerbaijan won three gold medals each in both Greco-Roman and women's wrestling and emerged as the top two teams in both styles.

But Saturday belonged to Kyrgyzstan as two-time world silver medalist Zholman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) rose to the top of the podium with a decisive 10-2 win over Murad MAMMADOV (AZE) in the final of 60kg.

Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) wrestled world silver medalist Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE) in the 77kg final which turned out to be a close battle. Suleymanov managed to score two points over Makhmudov but the Kyrgyzstan star got a total of four points after Suleymanov was put in par terre. That remained the winning sequence as he captured the gold medal with a score of 5-2.

The third gold of the night for Kyrgyzstan was captured by world champion Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ) at 68kg in women's wrestling.

Olympic bronze medalist Zhumanazarova was on a roll on Saturday and capped off her brilliant performance by pinning 2022 Asian champion Madina BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) final.

In her previous bouts, Zhumanazarova won three bouts with technical superiority and one via fall. None of her opponents were able to score a single point on the Asian silver medalist.

Azerbaijan won two gold medals on Saturday with U23 world champion Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) capturing the gold at 67kg and Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE) winning the 57kg weight class in women's wrestling.

At 67kg, European bronze medalist Jafarov wrestled Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ) in the final and put a solid defensive performance to win 3-1. The difference was that Jafarov was able to score when Ismailov was put in par terre while the Kygyrzstan wrestler failed to do so.

For Aliyeva, the 57kg final turned out to be a high-scoring bout against former African champion Omolayo KOLAWOLE (NGR). A total of 20 points were scored in the gold medal bout but Aliyeva, a U23 European champion, won 14-6.

With that gold, Azerbaijan matched the tally of Kyrgyzstan as both countries won three gold medals each. Turkey won two gold medals in the home Games while Nigeria and Kazakhstan managed to win one each.

Iran finished with three Greco-Roman gold medals after world champion at 130kg Aliakbar YOUSEFI came out on top against Turkey's star wrestler Osman YILDIRIM (TUR).

Carrying a foot injury into the final, Yousefi was determined to step on the top of the podium and managed to hold off Yildirim, 3-2, in the gold medal bout.

The other gold medal went to Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) at 87kg and joined Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) as the country's Greco-Roman gold medalist.

In a battle of Asian champions, Berdimuratov faced three-time Asian gold medalist Ramin TAHERI (IRI) twice in the day and won both of the bouts.

The 2019 world bronze medalist defeated first wrestled Taheri in Round 5 of the Nordic bracket but managed to beat the Iranian with the barest of the margins -- 5-5.

The two managed to win their semifinals and wrestled again in the gold medal bout. But Berdimuratov made sure he doesn't run it as close as the Round 3 bout and stunned Taheri with an 11-2 superiority win in the 87kg weight class.

Iran and Azerbaijan finished the Greco-Roman event with three gold medals each while Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan shared the remaining 4 other golds by winning two each.

Day 4 Results

Greco-Roman

60kg
GOLD: Zholman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) df. Murad MAMMADOV (AZE), 10-2

BRONZE: Ayhan KARAKUS (TUR) df. Yernar FIDAKHMETOV (KAZ), 6-2
BRONZE: Muhammadkodir YUSUPOV (UZB) df. Omid ARAMI (IRI), 8-1

67kg
GOLD: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) df. Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ), 3-1

BRONZE: Mohammad REZAEI (IRI) df. Begmyrat NOBATOV (TKM), 11-0
BRONZE: Abror ATABAEV (UZB) df. Bilal El BAHJA (MAR), 9-0

77kg
GOLD: Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) df. Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE), 5-2

BRONZE: Amin KAVIANINEJAD (IRI) df. Lamjed MAAFI (TUN), 3-1
BRONZE: Furkan BAYRAK (TUR) df. Aram VARDANYAN (UZB), 9-0

87kg
GOLD: Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) df. Ramin TAHERI (IRI), 11-2

BRONZE: Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) df. Mahammad AHMADIYEV (AZE), 3-2

130kg
GOLD: Aliakbar YOUSEFI (IRI) df. Osman YILDIRIM (TUR), 3-2

BRONZE: Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) df. Anton SAVENKO (KAZ), 5-0

Women's wrestling

57kg
GOLD: Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE) df. Omolayo KOLAWOLE (NGR), 14-6

BRONZE: Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR) df. Laura ALMAGANBETOVA (KAZ), via fall

68kg
GOLD: MEERIM ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ) df. Madina BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ), via fall

BRONZE: Asli DEMIR (TUR) df. Oguljan EGEMBERDIYEVA (TKM), 10-0