The international governing body of wrestling, known as United World Wrestling, has created new structure in the sport over the past few years by designating specific tournaments for its world rankings, and drawing more interest to those events.
One of those was the Hungarian Grand Prix in Gyor, a tournament only for Greco-Roman wrestling. The home fans were cheering 2018 Worlds silver medalist Tomas Lorincz, competing at 87 kg and who won the event with a 6-0 whitewash of Algeria’s Bachir Sid Azara.
The U.S. received a terrific performance from G’Angelo Hancock at 97 kg, who win his division with a tight, 3-3 win on criteria against Turkey’s Fatih Baskoy. Hancock was actually down, 3-1 in the third period, but scored a late takedown, and as the last one to score points, was declared the winner.
Hancock’s win was only the third ever by an American Greco wrestler in a Ranking Series event.
Hungary won the team title with 91 points, ahead of Iran (86) and Ukraine (83). Summaries:
UWW Ranking Tournament/Hungarian Grand Prix
(Greco-Roman only)
Gyor (HUN) ~ 23-24 February 2019
(Full results here)
55 kg: 1. Ilkhom Bakhromov (UZB); 2. Reza Kheirollah Khedri (IRI); 3. Javokhir Mirakhmedov (UZB). Round-robin; no medal matches.
60 kg: 1. Seunghak Kim (KOR); 2. Firuz Tukhtaev (UZB); 3. Ivan Lizatovic (CRO) and Shirzad Ali Beheshtitala (IRI). Third: Lizatovic d. Di Hu (CHN), 6-0; Beheshtitala d. Liguo Cao (CHN), 8-1. Final: Kim d. Tukhtaev, due to injury default.
63 kg: 1. Shinobu Ota (JPN); 2. Erbatu Tuo (CHN); 3. Meysam Karamali Dalkhani (IRI) and Sailike Walihan (CHN). Third: Daljhani d. Stig-Andre Berge (NOR), 5-2; Walihan d. Travis Rice (USA), 9-0. Final: Ota d. Tuo, 6-0.
67 kg: 1. Hansu Ryu (KOR); 2. Ruslan Kudrynets (UKR); 3. Tsuchika Shimoyamada (JPN) and Mate Nemes (SRB). Third: Shimoyamada pinned Shogo Takahashi (JPN); Nemes d. Soslan Daurov (BLR), 4-1. Final: Ryu d. Kudryets, 8-1.
72 kg: Shmagi Bolkvadze (GEO); 2. Sachino Davitaia (GEO); 3. Selcuk Can (TUR) and Martin Toth (HUN). Third: Can d. Michael Felix Widmayer (GER), 4-2; Toth d. Istvan Kozak (HUN), 4-1. Final: Bolkvadze d. Davitaia, due to injury default.
77 kg: 1. Viktor Nemes (SRB) 2. Dmytro Pyshkov (UKR); 3. Volodymyr Yakovliev (UKR) and Hyeonwoo Kim (KOR). Third: Yakovliev d. Pavel Liakh (BLR), 4-1; Kim d. Laszlo Szabo (HUN), 3-3 (criteria). Final: Nemes d. Pyshkov, 2-1.
82 kg: 1. Gela Bolkvadze (GEO); 2. Rajbek Bisultanov (DEN); 3. Yaroslav Filchakov (UKR) and Burhan Akbudak (TUR). Third: Filchakov d. Jamal Yadollah Esmaeilikhatoonabad (IRI), 3-1; Akbudak d. Jalgasbay Berdimuratov (UZB), 7-6. Final: Bolkvadze d. Bisultanov, 7-1.
87 kg: 1. Viktor Lorincz (HUN); 2. Bachir Sid Azara (ALG); 3. Radzik Kuliyeu (BLR) and Erik Szilvassy (HUN). Third: Kuliyeu d. Fabio Parisi (ITA), 3-2; Szilvassy d. Mikalai Stadub (BLR), 6-3. Final: Lorincz d. Azara, 6-0.
97 kg: 1. G’Angelo Hancock (USA); 2. Fatih Baskoy (TUR), 3-3; 3. Nikoloz Kakhelashvili (ITA) and Alimujiang (CHN). Third: Kakhelashvili d. Pontus Johan Lund (SWE), tech. fall (10-0 ); Alimujiang d. Hassan Ali Aryanezhad (IRI), 6-3. Final: Hancock d. Baskoy, 3-3 (criteria).
130 kg: 1. Heiki Nabi (EST); 2. Georgi Chugoshvili (BLR); 3. Marko Koscevic (CRO) and Balint Lam (HUN). Third: Koscevic d. Ciurariu (ROU), 2-1; Lam d. Mykola Kuchmii (UKR), 1-1 (criteria). Final: Nabi d. Chugohvili, 2-0.
