Returning Freestyle Gold Medalists Bring Glitter to Worlds

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (September 2) – Ageless Khadshimourad GATSALOV (RUS) will be seeking a sixth world title and youngster Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) his first senior-level crown when the Senior Wrestling World Championships kick off with four freestyle events on September 8.

In addition to Gatsalov’s quest, a trio of wrestlers – Viktor LEBEDEV (RUS), Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) and Reza YAZDANI (IRI) – will be in the hunt for their third world titles at the Gymnastics Sport Palace in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. 

Lebedev, Sadulaev and Gatsalov will all be in action on Monday, September 8, when the championships get under way with wrestling at 57kg, 86kg and 125kg as well as 70kg. The remaining four weights, featuring Burroughs and Yazdani, will be contested the following day.

Lebedev will try to regain the bantamweight crown he won at 55kg in 2010 and 2011, while Gatsalov will seek to defend the super heavyweight title he won last year in Budapest. Gatsalov also owns four world titles and the Athens 2004 Olympic Games gold medal at 96kg.

Sadulaev, meanwhile, seeking his first senior world title comes to Tashkent with two world titles as a cadet -- wrestlers 16 and 17 years old – and the senior European championship crown he won in April one month prior to his 18th birthday.

Burroughs and Yazdani both won world titles in 2011 and 2013, but while the American took the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Yazdani was forced out of the Games with a knee injury suffered in the semifinals at 96kg and had to settle for a fifth place.

Burroughs and Yazdani will wrestle on the second day of freestyle competition, Tuesday, September 9, at 74kg and 97kg along with wrestlers at 61kg and 65kg.

Out of the eight freestyle categories, three – 61kg, 70kg and 86kg – do not feature a returning champion.  With the return to a system of eight weight categories, wrestling will be contested at “lightweight” (68-70kg) for the first time since 2001. 

Along with Yazdani, Iran has entered many of its top wrestlers, including 2013 world champion at 55kg Hassan RAHIMI (IRI), in an effort to hold onto the freestyle team title it won in Budapest.

Unlike Iran, however, some wrestling federations in Asia are planning to send their top wrestlers to the Asian Games later in September rather than to Tashkent.

Iran won the team title in 2013 with 46 points, two champions, one runner-up and a pair of bronze medalists. Russia had a pair of champions and bronze medalists each to finish in the team standings with 44 points, followed by Georgia with 29 points.

Freestyle

57kg – Hassan RAHIMI (IRI) is the defending champion while Viktor LEBEDEV (RUS) won world titles in 2010 and 2011.  Lebedev defeated Rahimi, 4-3, in the World Cup final in March. 

London 2012 silver medalist Vladimir KHINCHEGASVILI (GEO) is top-ranked in the FILA World Rankings after winning at the European championships in April and, most recently, the Golden Grand Prix Final at the end of July.

Others to watch include London 2012 bronze medalist YANG Kyong–Il (PRK), 2013 world bronze medalist Sezer AKGUL (TUR) and 2010 European champion Makhmud MAGOMEDOV (AZE) or alternate, 2013 junior world champion Akhmednabi GVARZATILOV (AZE).

61kg – Haji ALIEV (AZE) defeated 60kg world champion Bekhan GOIGEREEV (RUS), 12-5, in the final of the European championships and edged 66kg world champion David SAFARYAN (ARM) at the German Grand Prix.

Aliev, however, finished only 30th in the 2013 world meet after being pinned in the first round by eventual bronze medal winner Masoud ESMAILPOUR (IRI). Asia champion Esmailpour also owns a 12-6 World Cup win over Russian world team entry Aleksander BOGOMOEV (RUS).

Others to watch in Tashkent include 2013 world silver medalist Vladimir DUBOV (BUL), Yasar Dogu winner James KENNEDY (USA) as well as European bronze medalists Vasyl SHUPTAR (UKR) and Andrei PERPELITA (MDA).

Russia has listed London 2012 gold medalist Dyamal OTARSULTANOV (RUS) as its second alternate at 61kg behind Bogomoev and Goigereev.

65kg – Defending champion David SAFARYAN (ARM) comes to Tashkent on the rebound from reported shoulder and back troubles. He has won a bronze medal in Sassari and a silver at the German Grand Prix this summer.

Three-time Yarygin Grand Prix bronze medalist Soslan RAMONOV (RUS) is expected to challenge for the title after winning at the Russian nationals and relegating European champion and 2013 world bronze medalist Magomed KURBANALIEV (RUS) to alternate. 

Challenges are also expected from Asia champion Sayed Ahmad MOHAMMADI (IRI), 2013 world bronze medalist GANZORIG Mandakhnaran (MGL) and Golden Grand Prix Final winner Brent METCALF (USA).

70kg – Asia champion Mostafa HOSSEINKHANI (IRI) has topped the FILA World Rankings throughout the summer after an impressive World Cup performance, but second-ranked European champion Ruslan DIBIRGADZHIYEV (AZE) has given way to Golden Grand Prix Final runner-up Emin AZIZOV (AZE) for world team selection. 

Ali SHABANOV (BLR), 2013 world bronze medalist at 74kg, will try to shake things up in this non-Olympic weight category, along with Nicholas MARABLE (USA), also making the drop after winning Yasar Dogu at 74kg in February.

Other challengers will include Yasar Dogu winner at 70kg Yakup GOR (TUR), European silver medalist Grigor GRIGORYAN (ARM) and Yarygin Grand Prix bronze medalist Khetik TSABOLOV (RUS), who won the Russian nationals over Golden Grand Prix Final winner Israil KASUMOV (RUS).

74kg – World and Olympic Games champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) will be seeking his fourth world-level title in a row. He suffered his first loss at the senior level in February but rebounded with a win over London 2012 bronze medalist Livan LOPEZ AZCUY (CUB) in the Pan American finals in July.

Top challenger may well be two-time former world champion Denis TSARGUSH (RUS), who will be wrestling in his first world championships since winning a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

European silver medalist at 84kg Murad GAIDAROV (BLR), 2013 world bronze medalist Rashid KURBANOV (RUS) as well as Golden Grand Prix Final winner Yabrail HASANOV (AZE) will also be in the mix.

Meanwhile, Lopez Azcuy, the 2013 world silver medalist at 66kg who had been expected to enter Tashkent at 66kg or 70kg, has tossed his hat into the ring at 74kg.

86kg – Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB) breezed to his fourth Pan American title in Mexico City in July, but has yet to claim a world title in three trips to the world meet. Salas Perez was the silver medalist in Budapest and will be one of the favorites in Tashkent.

Salas Perez will likely have to get by 18-year-old European champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) for his first world title. Sadulaev, a two-time cadet world champion, will also be seeking his first senior-level world crown.

With European runner-up Murad GAIDAROV (BLR) and Asian bronze medal winner Rashid KURBANOV (UZB) dropping to 74kg, London 2012 bronze medalist Dato MARSAGISHVILI (GEO), world bronze medal winner Istvan VEREB (HUN) and Gamzat OSMANOV (AZE) are expected to challenge.

Osmanov notched an 8-2 win over Sadulaev at the 2013 Golden Grand Prix Final on his way to his first senior-level international title. 

97kg - Reza YAZDANI (IRI) comes to Tashkent as the two-time defending world champion, but world silver medalist Khetag GAZUMOV (AZE) is riding a wave of momentum after winning in the Golden Grand Prix Final in July.

Yazdani’s only appearance on the mats this year was at the World Cup where he won three bouts decisively, including a 12-2 technical fall over Ali Aliev winner Yuri BELONOVSKI (RUS) in the final.

Gazumov, meanwhile, defeated London 2012 gold medalist Jacob VARNER (USA) and silver medalist Valeri ANDRIITSEV (UKR) for the title in Baku. The 2010 world champion, however, fell to Abdusalam GADISOV (RUS) in the European championships in April.

In addition to Gazumov and two-time European champion Gadisov, London 2012 finalists Varner and Andriitsev head the short list of challengers.

125kg - Khadshimourad GATSALOV (RUS) will try to become the sixth freestyle wrestler in history to win six world championship titles and, with his gold medal from the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the seventh wrestler to win seven senior-level world events.

Three-time European champion and top-ranked Taha AKGUL (TUR) will try to improve on the bronze medal he won in Budapest last year while Asia champion and London 2012 bronze medalist Komeil GHASEMI (IRI) will challenge for a place on the medals podium.

Other challengers will include 2011 world champion Alexei SHEMAROV (BLR), European bronze medal winner Aleksander KHOTSIANIVSKI (UKR) and Golden Grand Prix Final runner-up Giorgi SAKANDELIDZE (GEO), who replaces 2013 bronze medalist Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO).

SCHEDULE

Sunday, September 7
18:30-19:00  Weigh-in Freestyle 57, 70, 86, 125kg

Monday, September 8
09:00-14:00  Qualification Rounds & Repechage Freestyle 57, 70, 86, 125kg
17:30-18:00  Weigh-in Freestyle 61, 65, 74, 97kg
18:00-18:30  Opening Ceremony
19:00-21:00  Finals & Award Ceremonies Freestyle 57, 70, 86, 125kg

Tuesday, September 9
09:00-14:00  Qualification Rounds & Repechage Freestyle 61, 65, 74, 97kg
17:15-17:45  Weigh-in Female Wrestling 48, 55, 60, 69kg
18:00-20:00  Finals & Award Ceremonies Freestyle 61, 65, 74, 97kg

Wednesday, September 10
09:00-14:00  Qualification Rounds & Repechage Female Wrestling 48, 55, 60, 69kg
17:15-17:45  Weigh-in Female Wrestling 53, 58, 75kg
18:00-20:00  Finals & Award Ceremonies Female Wrestling 48, 55, 60, 69kg

Thursday, September 11
10:00-14:00  Qualification Rounds & Repechage Female Wrestling 53, 58, 75kg
17:15-17:45  Weigh-in Female Wrestling 63kg, Greco-Roman 75, 85kg
18:00-20:00  Finals & Award Ceremonies Female Wrestling 53, 58, 75kg

Friday, September 12
10:00-14:00  Qualification Rounds & Repechage Female Wrestling 63kg, Greco-Roman 75, 85kg
17:15-17:45  Weigh-in Greco-Roman 66, 80, 130kg
18:00-20:00  Finals & Award Ceremonies Female Wrestling 63kg, Greco-Roman 75, 85kg

Saturday, September 13
10:00-14:00  Qualification Rounds & Repechage Greco-Roman 66, 80, 130kg
17:15-17:45  Weigh-in Greco-Roman 59, 71, 98kg
18:00-20:00  Finals & Award Ceremonies Greco-Roman 66, 80, 130kg

Sunday, September 14
10:00-14:00  Qualification Rounds & Repechage Greco-Roman 59, 71, 98kg
18:00-20:00  Finals & Award Ceremonies Greco-Roman 59, 71, 98kg