Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! October 30, 2018

Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - 09:22 By Eric Olanowski

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Reviewing the top highlights and history makers from the 2018 World Championships, and also the U23 World Championships which begin November 12 in Bucharest, Romania. 

1. Sadulaev Exacts Revenge on Snyder
The Russian Tank is back on top.

Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) earned a first-period fall over returning world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA) in the 97kg gold-medal match at the World Championships, exacting revenge from last year's gold-medal match in Paris. 

The highly-anticipated showdown, which was billed as Snyderlaev II, lasted just over a minute. Sadulaev fired off a single leg thirty-five seconds into the match. Snyder fought the position and quickly found himself in danger. Sadulaev kept Snyder on his back and secured the fall.

"Everybody knows Sadulaev is a very talented wrestler," Snyder said after the match. "He hit me in a good move and it worked out well for him tonight."

Sadulaev has now won three senior world titles to go along with an Olympic gold medal in Rio. He has suffered just one international loss since 2013. That loss came against Snyder at last year's World Championships.

Russia won the freestyle team title and crowned both freestyle gold medalists on Tuesday. The United States finished second in the team standings, while Georgia finished third.

2. Russia Sweeps Greco Gold Medals on Final Day of World Championships
Russia put the finishing touches on a world team title in Greco-Roman by sweeping the gold medals on the final day of the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. 

Aleksandr CHEKHIRKIN (77kg), Musa EVLOEV (97kg) and Sergey SEMENOV (130kg) came through to win gold medals in Greco-Roman for Russia on Sunday.

Chekhirkin captured his gold medal by defeating crowd favorite Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) 3-1 in the gold-medal match at 77kg. The Russian led 1-1 on criteria after the opening period and added to his lead in the second period off a passivity and then scored a late step out to win by two.

Evloev upgraded his world medal from silver to gold as he topped Kiril MILOV (BUL) 7-2 in the gold-medal match at 97kg.

The final Russian gold medal went to Sergey Semenov who dominated Adam COON (USA) 9-0 in the gold-medal match at 130kg. The 23-year-old Russian heavyweight used two four-point throws to cruise to the technical fall victory. Semenov was a gold medalist at the U23 World Championships last year and won two world gold medals as a junior. 

In addition to closing out the Greco-Roman championships with three day nine gold medals, Russia also used championships performances from Sergey EMELIN, Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS), and Artem SURKOV (RUS) to win the team title. 

Russia finished with 178 team points in Greco-Roman, 89 points ahead of runner-up Hungary (89). Turkey finished third in the team standings with 75 points.

3. Gray Dominates 2017 Champ Adar to Capture 4th World Title
After not competing in 2017, Adeline GRAY (USA) left no doubt that she is back. 

A day after beating 2016 Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN) to reach the gold-medal match, Gray claimed her fourth gold medal at the World Championships with a dominant 13-1 technical fall victory over 2017 world champion Yasemin ADAR (TUR) in the gold-medal match at 76kg on Wednesday night in Budapest, Hungary. 

Adar scored first off the shot clock to take a 1-0 lead. But Gray came back with a takedown late in the first period before locking up her leg lace and turning Adar five times for the technical fall.

"I feel great," Gray said after her finals victory. "I can't believe it. I did such a good job mentally today. I'm so proud of myself, proud of my body, proud of my team. I'm so proud of everything that happened. This has been a wonderful two days."

Gray's previous world titles came in 2015, 2014 and 2012. 

Wiebe came back to win a bronze medal at 76kg, beating Epp MAE (EST) 4-0. Hiroe MINAGAWA SUZUKI (JPN) took the other bronze medal by forfeit.

4. Olli Makes History, Wins Finlands First Women's Wrestling Gold Medal 
In the gold-medal match at 65kg, Petra OLLI (FIN) held on to defeat Danielle LAPPAGE (CAN) 6-5 and claimed Finland's first women's wrestling world title after winning a silver medal back in 2015.

Lappage, a 2010 junior world champion, looked strong early, scoring first off the shot clock and adding a takedown to go up 3-0. Olli inched closer with a takedown late in the first period and then grabbed the lead on criteria less than a minute into the second period after scoring a point off a caution. 

Olli extended her lead to 5-3 midway through the second period with a takedown off a duckunder. Trailing by two with 10 seconds left, Lappage shot a single leg and secured a last-second takedown to make the score 5-5. However, a finger caution broke the tie and gave Olli a 6-5 victory.

Though Ollie was the only wrestler to win her countries first-ever gold medal at the 2018 World Championships, three other wrestlers made history for their nations in their respective styles.

They were 125kg freestyle runner-up DENG Zhiwei (CHN), and bronze medalists Taimuraz FRIEV NASKIDAEVA (ESP) (FS86kg) and Lianna de la Caridad MONTERO HERRERA (CUB) (WW55kg).



5.  U23 World Championships Begin November 12 
In less than two weeks, the Polyvalent Hall in Bucharest, Romania will host the 2018 U23 World Championships. Wrestling begins on Monday, November 12. 

Greco-Roman wrestling will kick off the championships, followed by women's wrestling, and will end with freestyle. 

Click here for the full schedule. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. OFF THE MAT - Short clip from behind the scenes at #budawrestle2018 with Yazdani and Taylor. Head to our stories to watch the full video. - #budawrestle2018 #uww

2. Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez - Becoming a World Champion // 'For me, he’s (Julio Mendieta Cuellarone) one of the best. Thanks to him I am here. He trusted me even when I didn’t trust myself. I almost wanted to quit. He was the one who said you have the talent, you can make it. You can be a champion!' #budawrestle2018

3. Thomas Bach (IOC President) and Nenad Lalovic (UWW President) congratulate Frank Staebler after winning his third World Title #budawrestle2018

4. Olympic champion @davorstefanek shares his #BudaWrestle2018 ?with his son, Matija.

5. What goes up, must come down!!! ?????? #budawrestle2018

#WrestleZagreb

Masoumi, Snyder win Zagreb Open golds unscathed

Thursday, February 6, 2025 - 17:38 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (February 6) -- Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) has announced his claim for the 125kg world title.

Soon after win the gold medal at 125kg at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series on Thursday in the Arena Zagreb, Masoumi announced that he 'win the World Championships gold medal at the same hall."

"I hope that this year I can have a good match to become a national champion, and in the same hall, I will also win the gold medal in the 2025 World Championships," he said after winning gold medal at 125kg at the Zagreb Open.

Last year, Masoumi finished with a silver medal after suffering a loss to Amirhossein ZARE (IRI) in the final. But before that he had a close match with Paris Olympian Mason PARRIS (USA).

Thursday was different. He gave no chance to Parris and rolled to a 10-0 win inside first period, a rare phenomenon in the super heavyweight class.

"The match I had last year with Parris and to this year, I was able to have an easy and good match by following a few points that my coaches told me," he said.

Though he is certain of winning the gold medal at the September World Championships, Masoumi has to go through Olympic silver medalist and world champion Amirhossein ZARE (IRI) at 125kg domestically.

"Zare and I are two of the top heavyweights in Iran," he said. "We're scheduled to wrestle each other in two months. I hope that whoever wins that match will represent Iran's heavyweight division at the competition."

Zare defeated Masoumi in the Zagreb Open final last year to confirm his ticket to Paris Olympics. This is was the third meeting between the two and Masoumi is yet to record a win against Zare.

"I chose to come to Zagreb because last year I wrestled Zare in the final, and I came in second place," Masoumi said. "This year, by using the advice I've received, I was able to win gold in this tournament."

Another silver medalist from last year, Kyle SNYDER (USA), returned to the top of the podium. Snyder had lost to Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) in the 97kg final in 2023 but defeated Abofazl BABALOO (IRI) 12-1 in the final on Thursday to pocket the gold medal.

In his earlier bouts, Snyder blanked Richard VEGH (HUN), 10-0, and Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK), 11-0.

In other results, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) must have the memories of the 2021 U23 World Championships semifinals flashing before him as he took on Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE) in the final at 92kg. Firouzpour was caught in a leg lace in that semifinal and trailed 8-0, a deficit he failed to cover and lost 10-7.

But on Thursday, it was Firouzpour who got the better of Nurmagomedov, beating him 11-4 for the gold medal. Firouzpour got an 8-2 lead after launching a gut wrench and despite a few strokes of brilliance from Nurmagomedov, he kept the Azerbaijan wrestler quiet and won his second Ranking Series gold medal and third overall.

Nurmagomedov had earlier defeated Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) 6-5 in the semifinal for a come-from-behind win and also grabbed the spot at 92kg for the European Championships.

Veteran Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) used his experience to beat 18-year-old U20 world champion Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) 5-3 in the 79kg final, frustrating Yousefi with his defense.

Khadjiev also became the first male wrestler from France to win gold medal at a Ranking Series. Only Koumba LARROQUE (FRA) has won gold before at a Ranking Series (Zagreb Open 2023 and 2021 Poland Open).

Khadjiev raced to a 4-0 lead at the break with a takedown and gut wrench as Yousefi failed to find an opening in the first period. But he managed to get Khadjiev tired and scored an arm-bar exposure for two points to cut the lead to 4-2. Khadjiev stopped another such attempt and snapped Yousefi on the edge and scored a stepout to extend his lead to 5-2.

A stepout gave one point to Yousefi with 17 seconds left on the clock but he failed to score a takedown needed for a win and settled for the second place.

Women's Wrestling

Three months after winning a bronze medal at the World Championships, 34-year-old Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA) added a Ranking Series gold medal to her name as she defeated another veteran Samantha STEWART (CAN), 6-2, in 55kg final.

At 50kg, Nadezhda SOKOLOVA (AIN) remained unbeaten in the three bouts of the round-robin bracket to emerge as the gold medal. Lithuania's first-ever Olympian in Women's Wrestling Gabija DILYTE (LTU) won silver while Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA) won bronze.

Photo

RESULTS

Freestyle

79kg
GOLD: Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) df. Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI), 5-3

BRONZE: Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) df. Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK), 7-0
BRONZE: Rocco WELSH (USA) df. Otari ADEISHVILI (GEO), 9-3

92kg
GOLD: Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) df. Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE), 11-4

BRONZE: Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) df. Boris MAKOEV (SVK), 9-2 
BRONZE: Michael MACCHIAVELLO (USA) df. Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA), 9-1

97kg
GOLD: Kyle SNYDER (USA) df. Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI), 12-1

BRONZE: Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK) df. Richard VEGH (HUN), 10-0
BRONZE: Jonathan AIELLO (USA) df. Andro MARGISHVILI (GEO), via inj. def.

125kg
GOLD: Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) df. Mason PARRIS (USA), 10-0
 
BRONZE: Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR) df. Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL), 6-1
BRONZE: Hayden ZILLMER (USA) df.Trent HILLGER (USA), 10-3

Women's Wrestling

50kg
GOLD: Nadezhda SOKOLOVA (AIN)
SILVER: Gabija DILYTE (LTU)
BRONZE: Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA)

55kg
GOLD: Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA) df. Samantha STEWART (CAN), 6-2

BRONZE: Roza SZENTTAMASI (USA) df. Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE), via fall
BRONZE: Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA) df. Ekaterina VERBINA (AIN), 13-2