DOHA – (May 9) -- Cartwheels, headstands and contortionism usually reserved for the circus were all on display Saturday at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha as Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) and YUN Won Choi (PRK) put on one of the most impressive displays of the 2015 wrestling season.
The 59kg gold medal opponents were impressive all day, attacking competitors every moment on the mat. Their trajectory towards each other seemed inevitable, and when the whistle blew to start the finals, fans of the sport were left cheering.
Tasmuradov, a 2014 world bonze medalist jumped out to a 2-0 lead on 2013 world champion Yuh when he countered an arm spin by the DPR-Korean wrestler to send him flying through the air exposed to the mat. In response Yun attacked on the restart, arm-dragging Tasmuradov for what seemed like a certain two point takedown until Tasmuradov performed a standing head roll into a cartwheel, exposing Yuh’s back and earning two rebuttal points of his own for the action.
The score was 4-2 when Yun found a deep front headlock versus Tasmuradov only to find the Uzbeki still had another trick left, locking Yun's arms with his elbows, arching his back and flipping Yun over his head for a four-point exposure.
Yun would lose the challenge and cede a point before earning a takedown in the second period and dropping the bout 9-4.
The action quieted down at 71kg when Iran’s Ramin TAHERISARTANG stretched an early lead against Ruslan TSAREV to find his first Asian Championship with the 2-2 win via criteria. The weight class is considered non-Olympic and will not be contested at Rio 2016.
Uzbekistan earned their second title of the night when Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) took a tightly contested 4-4 match via criteria over Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ). Assakalov was losing on criteria until Tursynov absorbed a late caution for blocking action.
Women’s wrestling concluded on Saturday with the 75kg finals where Hiroe SUZUKI (JPN) held off the late attacks of Odonchimeg BADRAKH (MGL) to secure the 3-1 victory and her second Asian championship.
Japan won the women’s team title with 74 points. China took second place with 64 and Kazakhstan third with 61 points.
The final day of wrestling at the Asian Wrestling Championships begins tomorrow at 9am with Greco-Roman 66kg, 75kg, 80kg, 98kg and 130kg.
Medal Results
Greco-Roman -- 59kg
GOLD: Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) df. Won Chol YUH (PRK), 9-4
BRONZE: Arsen ERALIEV (KGZ) df. Seunghak KIM (KOR), 8-13
BRONZE: Shinobu OTA (JPN) df. Qiye TIAN (CHN) by TF, 8-0
Greco-Roman -- 71kg
GOLD: Ramin Soltanmorad TAHERISARTANG (IRI) df. Ruslan TSAREV (KGZ), 2-2
BRONZE: Ridong ZHANG (CHN) df. Azamat DUMBIROV (KAZ), 5-2
BRONZE: Nurbek KHOLMUKHAMMATOV (UZB) df. JUNGGEUN LEE (KOR), 9-3
Greco-Roman -- 85kg
GOLD: Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) df. Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ), 4-4
BRONZE: Jinsung PARK (KOR) df. Davood ABDEINZADEH CHADORCHI (IRI) by Injury Default, 0-0
BRONZE: Taichi OKA (JPN) df. Janarbek KENJEEV (KGZ), 1-0
Women’s Wrestling – 75kg
GOLD: Hiroe SUZUKI (JPN) df. Odonchimeg BADRAKH (MGL), 3-1
BRONZE: Qian ZHOU (CHN) df. Eunju HWANG (KOR) by TF, 10-0
