Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! May 14, 2018

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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

#WomensWrestling

Stadnik, Chasing Olympic Gold, Confirms Run for '24 Paris Games

By Eric Olanowski

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (January 10) – Mariya STADNIK (AZE) officially put an end to the rumors that she’s hanging up her wrestling shoes, as she told United World Wrestling she's committed to competing through the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. 

There was a slew of retirement announcements following the Tokyo Olympics, and it was heavily speculated that the 33-year-old mother-of-two would call an end to her career after she won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games – her fourth Olympic medal in as many tries. But the nine-time European champion (seven European Championships and two European Games) squashed the rumors, saying she still believes in her potential and has a burning passion for the sport.

“I think that as long as I have the desire to wrestle, I should fulfill all my potential,” Stadnik said. “I made this decision to continue wrestling as soon as I came back home [from Tokyo]. All my relatives and friends believe in me very much.  My son wants me to go on wrestling because he says I am very strong.”

Stadnik, who has a combined ten Worlds and Olympic medals and only ten losses since she made her senior-level debut at the 2008 Golden Grand Prix in Baku, sits alongside Kaori ICHO (JPN) and Saori YOSHIDA (JPN) as the only women in the Games history to claim a quartet of Olympic medals.

If she reaches the podium in Paris, she’d become the first-ever wrestler – male or female – to win five Olympic medals in one style. Furthermore, if Stadnik wins that long-awaited Olympic gold, she’d become the oldest Olympic champion in women’s wrestling by a long shot.

Icho, who won her Rio Olympic title at 32-years-and-2-months-old, holds the current record. Stadnik will be 35-years-and-8-months-old during the ’24 Paris Games.

“I would really love to have five Olympic medals. Each medal is a part of my life story; it’s a part of my way. There are five Olympic Rings, so having five Olympic medals would make history," she said.

But Stadnik, who won a bronze in Beijing and silver in London and Rio, understands that to sustain greatness at her age, she has to listen to her body and can’t compete as often as she once did.

“Competing four or five tournaments a year is perfect for me,” Stadnik explained. “The only problem I might have before going to Paris is I don’t know how my body would react to training. I have some experience that I need to use in the right way in order to compensate for that energy I had when I was 20 years old.”

Owing to a similar reason, the 2019 world champion has limited her participation in tournaments in past. In 2019 and 2021, she participated only in two competitions each year, perhaps to keep her body healthy and reduce the burden of cutting weight before competitions. Although she didn’t say when she plans on lacing up her shoes next, Stadnik is expected to compete at the ’22 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary (March 28 – April 3).

Stadnik's Resume:
Olympic Games: ????
World Championships:??????
Euro Championships: ???????
European Games: ??