Sadulaev makes another epic comeback

The Feti Borova Arena has now witnessed two of the most epic comeback from neutral wrestler Abdulrashid Sadulaev.

In 2024, he marked his return from injury with his sixth world title, one which he won by going down to 92kg and shocking the world with a buzzer-beating win over Iranian Kamran Ghasempour.

The second was yesterday. In his first international tournament since the world title, Sadulaev returned to 97kg and won the gold medal at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series.

Sadualev’s return to competition was much talked about as he entered the tournament which had the likes of his long-time rival and world champion Kyle Snyder of the USA), up-and-coming star Mukhamed Khaniev (UWW), Olympic bronze medalist Magomedkhan Magomedov of Azerbaijan, former world champion Rizabek Aitmukhan of Kazakhstan and other world medalists.

While his fifth match against Snyder was denied after the American lost to Khaniev in the quarterfinals, Sadulaev was met with a stiffer challenger in Khaniev.

The U23 world silver medalist defeated Snyder 10-4 and then took out Magomedov in the semifinal to set up a clash against Sadulaev. The winner would also book his spot for the European Championships, to be held at the same arena in April.

Sadulaev was checked by Khaniev in the first period but a double-leg blast helped the former take a 4-0 lead. Khaniev cut it to 4-2 but a watchful Sadulaev never allowed him to dictate the pace of the bout.

Keeping Khaniev at an arm’s length, Sadulaev scored three counter takedowns while giving up two stepouts to win final, 10-4, and lock his spot for the European Championships.

In other Freestyler results, Abdulla Kurbanov (UWW) clinched the 125kg gold medal after an impressive 8-5 victory over world bronze medalist Mason Parris of the USA in the final.

While the score makes the final look close, Kurbanov was the better of the two wrestlers in the final, managing to tire Parris out in the final. He scored a four-pointer in his eight points and did not let Parris threaten his lead even one.

When the score was 7-3, Parris tried to score a takedown but Kurbanov scored a stepout on counter to make 8-3. He did give up a takedown in the final 10 seconds to avoid further risks in the final.

Iran Wins 2 Golds

After Yones Emami won Iran’s first gold medal on Wednesday, Iran added two more through Mohammad Nokhodi and Amirhossein Firouzpour in the 79kg and 92kg, respectively.

Nokhodi, who had struggled with a knee injury last season, seemed to have gained full fitness. He had no trouble in seeing off American Dean Hamiti, 10-0, in the final at 79kg.

The two-time world silver medalist scored three different takedowns and managed to turn Hamiti twice to accumulate his points in the gold medal bout.

Firouzpour, world bronze medalist in Zagreb, was in similar form as he defeated former world silver medalist Miriani Maisuradze of Georgia 11-1, in the 92kg final.

RESULTS

Freestyle

79kg
GOLD: Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI) bt Dean HAMITI (USA) , 10-0

BRONZE: Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) bt Sagar JAGLAN (IND), 10-4 
BRONZE: Luka CHKHITUNIDZE (GEO) bt Cameron AMINE (USA), 3-3

92kg
GOLD: Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) bt Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO), 11-1

BRONZE: Ahmed BATAEV (BUL) bt Jacob CARDENAS (USA), 11-0
BRONZE: Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ) bt Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ), 4-0

97kg
GOLD: Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) bt Mukhamed KHANIEV (UWW), 10-4

BRONZE: Kyle SNYDER (USA) bt Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE), via inj. def.
BRONZE: Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) bt Jointy KUMAR (IND), 10-0

125kg
GOLD: Abdulla KURBANOV (UWW) bt Mason PARRIS (USA), 8-5

BRONZE: Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA) bt Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR), via fall
BRONZE: Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL) bt Nursultan AZOV (KAZ), 4-2

Women’s Wrestling

50kg
GOLD: Zeinep BAYANOVA (KAZ) bt Priyanshi PRAJAPAT (IND), 13-2

BRONZE: MUSKAN (IND) bt Kendra RYAN (USA), 10-0
BRONZE: Erin GOLSTON (USA) bt Valeriia TIUKPIEKOVA (UWW), 4-2

55kg
GOLD: Laura ALMAGANBETOVA (KAZ) bt Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR), 3-2

BRONZE: Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER) bt PUSHPA (IND), 3-2
BRONZE: Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW) bt Beatrice FERENT (ROU), 10-0