WRESTLING: Gray wins fifth World title, the most by any U.S. wrestler … for now

For five-time World Champion Adeline Gray of the U.S., Tokyo is a business trip! (Photo: UWW)

American star Adeline Gray placed her name above all others American wrestling greats with a confident and disciplined 4-2 win over Japan’s Hiroe Minagawa Szuzuki at the UWW World Championships in Nur-Sultan (KAZ).

The victory at 76 kg was her fifth World Championships gold, surpassing the four titles won by John Smith, Jordan Burroughs and Tricia Saunders … but Burroughs will wrestler later this week and could catch up.

Gray dominated her division, winning 10-0, 10-0, 10-0 to reach the semifinals, where she defeated Aline Rotter Focken (GER), 5-1. In the final vs. Suzuki, a two-time Worlds bronze medalist, Gray went down 1-0, but scored a takedown and scored again for a 4-1 lead at the end of the first period. She held Suzuki without scoring until three seconds left in the match, when she stepped out for a point and the final was 4-2.

“Heading into the Olympics in Tokyo, beating Japan; man, that country is so good at women’s wrestling. It’s pretty awesome. Sara McMann, Kristie Davis, Trish Saunders, they reach out to me every once in a while just to let me know they’re watching and excited about women’s wrestling, and it’s pretty special.”

Gray, 28, owns World titles in 2012-14-15-18-19, and has also won bronze medals in 2011 and 2013.

This is not the last U.S. women’s medal at the Worlds, as Tamyra Mensah cruised through the 68 kg division with 10-0, 6-1, 10-1 and 10-0 wins to reach the final and will wrestle Sweden’s Ana Fransson for the title on Friday.

Forrest Molinari was in contention for a medal at 65 kg, but lost in her bronze-medal match, 10-1, to China’s Xiaoquan Wang.

Powerful Japan continued to lead the women’s team scoring and got a gold-medal performance from Risako Kawai at 57 kg. Canada’s Linda Morais won the 59 kg class, pinning Lyubov Ovcharova (RUS) in 2:15. Russia did get a gold on Thursday, with Inna Trazhukova defeating Iryna Koliadenko at 65 kg.

The World Championships continue through the weekend in Nur-Sultan. The men’s Freestyle competition will begin on Friday. Summaries so far:

United World Wrestling World Championships
Nur-Sultan (KAZ) ~ 14-22 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men/Greco-Roman

55 kg: Gold: Nugzari Tsurtsumia (GEO) d. Khorlan Zhakansha (KAZ), 9 – 0; Bronze: Shota Ogawa (JPN) d. Liguo Cao (CHN), 11-2; Eldaniz Azizli (AZE) d. Max Nowry (USA), 8-0.

60 kg: Gold: Kenichiro Fumita (JPN) d. Sergey Emelin (RUS), 10-5; Bronze: Ali Reza Nejati (IRI) d. Elmurat Tasmuradov (UZB), 7-5; Mirambek Ainagulov (KAZ) d. Lenur Temirov (UKR), 10-0.

63 kg: Gold: Shinobu Ota (JPN) d. Stepan Maryanyan (RUS), 10-4; Bronze: Almat Kebispayev (KAZ) d. Tynar Sharshenbekov (KGZ), 9-0; Slavik Galstyan (ARM) d. Meysam Karamali Dalkhani (IRI), 7-5.

67 kg: Gold: Ismael Borrero Molina (CUB) d. Artem Surkov (RUS), 3-1; Bronze: Frank Staebler (GER) d. Mohamed El Sayed (EGY), 6-5; Mate Nemes (SRB) d. Fredrik Bjerrehuus (DEN), 10-0.

72 kg: Gold: Abuiazid Mantsigov (RUS) d. Aram Vardanyan (UZB), 9-0. Bronze: Balint Korpasi (HUN) d. Jiyeon Lee (KOR), 9-0; Aik Mnatsakanian (BUL) d. Michael Widmayer (GER), 3-3 (criteria).

77 kg: Gold: Tamas Lorincz (HUN) d. Alex Bjurberg Kessidis (SWE), 8-0; Bronze: Jalgasbay Berdimuratov (UZB) d. Askhat Dilmukhamedov (KAZ), 3-1; Mohammadali Geraei (IRI) d. Karapet Chalyan (ARM), 9-6.

82 kg: Gold: Lasha Gobadze (GEO) d. Rafig Huseynov (AZE), 5-3; Bronze: Saeid Morad Abdvali (IRI) d. Iurii Shkriuba (UKR), 7-0; Haitao Qian (CHN) d. Nurbek Khashimbekov (UZB), 4-4.

87 kg: Gold: Zhan Beleniuk (UKR) d. Viktor Lorincz (HUN), 2-1. Bronze: Rustam Assakalov (UZB) d. Atabek Azisbekov (KGZ), 6-2; Denis Kudle (GER) d. Mikalai Stadub (BLR), 2-1.

97 kg: Gold: Musa Evloev (RUS) d. Artur Aleksanyan (ARM), 0-0 (criteria); Bronze: Cenk Ildem (TUR) d. Giorgi Melia (GEO), 4-1; Mihail Kajaia (SRB) d. Tadeusz Michalik (POL), 9-1.

130 kg: Gold: Riza Kayaalp (TUR) d. Oscar Pino Hinds (CUB), 3-1. Bronze: Iakobi Kajaia (GEO) d. Eduard Popp (GER), 5-0; Heiki Nabi (EST) d. Amir Ghasemimonjezi (IRI), 8-0.

Team Leaders: 1. Russia, 132; 2. Uzbekistan, 80; 3. Georgia, 79; 4. Iran, 75; 5. Kazakhstan. 72. Also: 20. United States, 18.

Women/Freestyle

50 kg: Gold: Mariya Stadnik (AZE) d. Emilia Vuc (ROU), 13-0. Bronze: Ekaterina Poleshchuk (RUS) d. Yanan Sun(CHN), 9-9 (criteria); Valentina Islamova Brik (KAZ) d. Oksana Livach (UKR), 5-0.

53 kg: Gold: Yong Mi Pak (PRK) d. Mayu Mukaida (JPN), 12-1. Bronze: Qianyu Pang (CHN) d. Roksana Marta Zasina (POL), 0-0 (criteria); Vinesh Vinesh (IND) d. Maria Prevolaraki (GRE), 4-1.

55 kg: Gold: Jacarra Winchester (USA) d. Nanami Irie (JPN), 5-3. Bronze: Bolortuya Bat Ochir (MGL) d. Bediha Gun (TUR), 12-9; Olga Khoroshavtseva (RUS) d. Marina Sedneva (KAZ), 13-0.

57 kg: Gold: Risako Kawai (JPN) d. Ningning Rong (CHN), 9-6. Bronze: Odunayo Adekuoroye (NGR) d. Anastasia Nichita (MDA), 10-0; Iryna Kurachkina (BLR) d. Jowita Wrzesien (POL), 4-0.

59 kg: Gold: Linda Morais (CAN) d. Liubov Ovcharova (RUS), 6-3; Bronze: Shoovdor Baatarjav (MGL) d. Anhelina Lysak (UKR), 8-0; Xingru Pei (CHN) d. Pooja Dhanda (IND), 5-3.

65 kg: Gold: Inna Trazhukova (RUS) d. Iryna Koliadenko (UKR), 13-0. Bronze: Elis Manolova (AZE) d. Yuliana Yaneva (BUL), 3-1; Xiaoqian Wang (CHN) d. Forrest Molinari (USA), 10-0.

72 kg: Gold: Natalia Vorobeva (RUS) d. Alina Berezhna Stadnik Makhynia (UKR), 4-2. Bronze: Paliha Paliha (CHN) d. Victoria Francis (USA), 2-1; Masako Furuichi (JPN) d. Zhamila Bakbergenova (KAZ), 2-0.

76 kg: Gold: Adeline Gray (USA) d. Hiroe Minagawa (JPN), 4-2. Bronze: Aline Rotter Focken (GER) d. Elmira Syzdykova (KAZ), 3-0; Epp Maee (EST) d. Qian Zhou (CHN), 6-4.