Azerbaijan won two Beach Wrestling golds at the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games, hosted by Senegal which won total three golds in Beach Wrestling.
DAKAR, Senegal (November 8) -- Azerbaijan closed the Beach Wrestling competition at the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games with two gold medals after missing one on Saturday in heartbreaking manner.
Tunar GULIYEV (AZE) and Elgun KARIMLI (AZE) won gold medals in Men's Beach Wrestling 70kg and 90kg, respectively.
Hosts Senegal, which won historic two gold medals on Saturday, added one more as Ndeye DIATTA (SEN) captured the 45kg gold medal and Dominican Republic won the 75kg gold medal through Yolayni ROSADO (DOM) as she defeated Garciela ENINGO (ESP), 3-1, in the final.
Diatta's gold medal was the third for Senegal, to go along with two bronze medals, making the host country the most successful at the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games. Senegal is now eighth in the medal's tally, thanks to wrestling.
The final session began with U17 World Championships bronze medalist Guliyev wrestling Luka MAKHARADZE (GEO) in the 70kg final. Makharadze took a 1-1 criteria lead with more than a minute left in the final.
He decided to defend his lead and was almost successful but Guliyev broke through the elbow control and tried an inside trip before controlling Makharadze's leg for a takedown with one second left on the clock. The point gave Guliyev a 2-1 lead.
Georgia asked for a challenge for the final move the challenge was lost which added one more point to Guliyev's score.
His compatriot Elgum KARIMLI (AZE) did not keep it close against Nuradin MUSTAFAEV (GEO) in the 90kg final. Karimli scored a stepout in the first eight seconds of the bout to lead 1-0.
Mustafaev hit back with a leg-attack and Karimli, releasing that he could be thrown for three points, decided to land on the chest to concede one point. Mustafaev led 1-1 on criteria after that, however, 10 seconds later Karimli once again forced a stepout to take a 2-1 lead.
Karimli finished the final in 30 seconds when he pushed Mustafaev outside for the third time and win the gold medal with a 3-1 score.
Ablaye DIOUF (SEN) won the bronze medal in this weight class after beating Allan DE SOUSA (BRA), 4-1, in a one-sided bout.
Diatta, who was the flag-bearer of Senegal at the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympics, denied Karen RIOS (MEX), 3-1, in the 45kg final that was full of challenges.
The Senegal wrestler opened the scoring when she picked Rios and planted her outside the ring for a stepout to lead 1-0. With 45 seconds remaining in the final, Rios went for a headlock throw and dropped Diatta on the sand.
Rios was awarded three points for the move which meant she won the final. But Diatta went for the challenge straightaway and on review, it was Rios' head that touched the sand first, giving one point to Diatta who now led 2-0.
With six seconds left, Rios went for the headlock throw again but only got a point for her move that made the score 2-1 and a point more would give Rios a criteria win.
Rios took all her chances and went for the headlock for the third time with three second left on the clock. As she was bringing Diatta down, Rios face touched the sand first which gave one point to Senegal and the gold medal to Diatta.
The final gold medal of the competition was captured by Rosado who defeated Eningo in the 65kg final, her second win over the Spaniard after beating her in the group stages as well.
A second into the final, Rosado snapped Eningo whose knee touched the sand, giving one point to Rosado. She doubled her lead when she cut back to bring Eningo down for another point.
She would have finished the final at the 1:03 mark but when pushing out Eningo out, Rosado put her hand out-of-bounds before completing the move, conceding a point to Eningo. But just 35 seconds later, Rosado got the win when Eningo tried a snap down but lost her own balance and fell on the sand.
Rosado won her country's first gold medal of the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games.
RESULTS
Men's Beach Wrestling
70kg
GOLD: Tunar GULIYEV (AZE) df. Luka MAKHARADZE (GEO), 3-1
BRONZE: Mykyta KUZMENKO (UKR) df. Kiarash TORABI (IRI), 4-2
90kg
GOLD: Elgun KARIMLI (AZE) df. Nuradin MUSTAFAEV (GEO), 3-1
BRONZE: Ablaye DIOUF (SEN) df. Allan DE SOUSA (BRA), 4-1
Women's Beach Wrestling
45kg
GOLD: Ndeye DIATTA (SEN) df. Karen RIOS (MEX), 3-1
BRONZE: Valery RUBIO (COL) df. Meriem GRIB (ALG), 4-0
65kg
GOLD: Yolayni ROSADO (DOM) df. Graciela ENINGO (ESP), 3-1
BRONZE: Anujin ERKHEMBAATAR (MGL) df. Malak ABDELGALIL (EGY), via fall (6-2)
