Egypt, Nigeria Bag Pair of Wins in Final Session of Africa-Oceania OG Qualifier

By William May

ALGIERS (April 3) – Africa champions Mohamed Aly Zaghloul MOHAMED (EGY) and Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY) won a pair of titles Sunday to close the Africa-Oceania Olympic Games qualifying tournament in style for Egypt.

Nigeria also claimed two titles in freestyle at Mohamed Boudiaf Olympic Complex while Australia’s veteran duo and Tunisian heavyweights Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN) and Slim TRABELSI (TUN) were sent home with silver medals.

Mohamed took an injury default from Saadaoui in the 86kg final after both wrestlers had qualified their countries for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at middleweight with semifinal wins in the morning session.

Abdelmottaleb broke open a tight match with All-African Games gold medalist Trabelsi midway through the second period of the 125kg final with a pair of leg attack counters, then cruised to a 13-3 technical fall triumph.

Egypt’s hopes to sweep the top three weight categories were tripped up when Soso TAMARAU (NGR), a bronze medalist at last month’s African championships, squeezed out a 3-1 win over a third Africa champion Aly Hamdy MOUSTAFA (EGY) at 97kg.

Earlier, Amas DANIEL (NGR) held on for an 8-8 win on criteria over Sahit PRIZRENI (AUS) in the 65kg final after the three-time Africa champion grabbed an 8-7 lead on a double-leg takedown and cross-ankle turn with one minute remaining in their bout.

Prizreni’s Australian teammate Talgat ILYASOV (74kg) also surrendered a late lead in the 74kg final as Augusto MIDANA (GBS) heads to his third Olympic Games with a 6-3 win in Algiers.

In the first championship final of the evening, Adama DIATTA (SEN) capped a technical fall over Chakir ANSARI (MAR) with a double-leg takedown that he carried out of bounds for a 10-0 victory at 3:43 of the 57kg final.

-- Results --

Freestyle

57kg (11 entries)
Gold – Adama DIATTA (SEN) df. Chakir ANSARI (MAR) by TF, 10-0, 3:43
Bronze – Chedii METHLOUTHI (TUN) df. Ebikewenimo WELSON (NGR) by Fall, 2:41 (8-1)
Bronze – Mohamed HEGAB (EGY) df. Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG), 6-4

Semifinal – Adama DIATTA (SEN) df. Chedii METHLOUTHI (TUN), 4-0
Semifinal – Chakir ANSARI (MAR) df. Mohamed HEGAB (EGY) by Fall, 2:11 (10-0)

65kg (12 entries)
Gold – Amas DANIEL (NGR) df. Sahit PRIZRENI (AUS), 8-8
Bronze – Ibrahim MOHAMED (EGY) df. Zohier IFTENE (ALG) by Injury Default, 0:00
Bronze – Bilal EL OUARRAQE (MAR) df. Jason AFRIKANER (NAM) by Injury Default, 0:00

Semifinal – Amas DANIEL (NGR) df. Ibrahim MOHAMED (EGY), 8-1
Semifinal – Sahit PRIZRENI (AUS) df. Jason AFRIKANER (NAM) by Fall, 2:31 (11-2)
 
74kg (9 entries)
Gold – Augusto MIDANA (GBS) df. Talgat ILYASOV (AUS), 6-3
Bronze – Ayad IBRAHIM (EGY) df. Ali Ben Farhat AYARI (TUN), 8-4
Bronze – Melvin BIBO (NGR) df. Yassine SARDI (MAR) by Injury Default, 0:25 (2-0)
 
Semifinal – Talgat ILYASOV (AUS) df. Ayad IBRAHIM (EGY) by Fall, 2:54 (9-1)
Semifinal – Augusto MIDANA (GBS) df. Melvin BIBO (NGR), 4-0

86kg (11 entries)
Gold – Mohamed Aly Zaghloul MOHAMED (EGY) df. Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN) by Injury Default, 1:48 (4-5)
Bronze – Quintino INTIPE (GBS) df. Connor EVANS (AUS) by Fall, 2:44 (4-1)
Bronze – Nathaniel TUAMOHELOA (ASA) df. Cheikh NIANG (SEN) by Fall, 0:27 (4-0)

Semifinal – Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN) df. Quintino INTIPE (GBS) by TF, 12-1, 3:49
Semifinal – Mohamed Aly Zaghloul MOHAMED (EGY) df. Cheikh NIANG (SEN) by TF, 10-0, 1:32

97kg (8 entries)
Gold – Soso TAMARAU (NGR) df. Aly Hamdy MOUSTAFA (EGY), 3-1
Bronze – Lounes BOUZID (ALG) df. Cedric NYAMSI TCHOUGA (CMR) by TF, 10-0, 3:43
Bronze – Bedopassa BUASSAT DJONDE (GBS) df. Alex Paul AKPI (CIV) by Fall, 2:41 (7-0)
 
Semifinal – Soso TAMARAU (NGR) df. Cedric NYAMSI TCHOUGA (CMR), 12-5
Semifinal – Aly Hamdy MOUSTAFA (EGY) df. Bedopassa BUASSAT DJONDE (GBS) by TF, 10-0, 0:24

125kg (8 entries)
Gold – Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY) df. Slim TRABELSI (TUN) by TF, 13-3, 5:25
Bronze – Mohamed BENDJILALI (ALG) df. Thiacka FAYE (SEN), 2-1
Bronze – Florian TEMENGIL (PLW) df. Marcus CARNEY (AUS) by Fall, 2:11 (9-3)
 
Semifinal – Slim TRABELSI (TUN) df. Thiacka FAYE (SEN) by Fall, 1:07 (2-4)
Semifinal – Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY) df. Marcus CARNEY (AUS) by Fall, 0:52 (2-0)