KUORTANE – On October 2nd Kuortane Sports Institute became a theater scene for the 10th World University Wrestling Championship. The Opening Ceremony fired away the 10th World University Championship at the Kuortane Arena. The formality began traditionally with the playing of the Finnish national anthem and with the arrival of the national flag.
All the participating countries were introduced at the beginning of the ceremony. Originally 25 countries were supposed to participate in the tournament, however, Norway cancelled their participation the day before the beginning of event due to a low number of athletes being able to attend.
The President of the Organizing Committee Mr. Kimmo Yli-Jaskari gave a warm welcome speech to all the athletes and participants of the tournament and was shortly followed by FISU Executive Committee member Mr. Isato Igarashi’s words for the audience. After Mr Jukka Rauhala declared the championship open, the ceremony was finished with a creative Hiphop and Bollywood dance performances by the students of Kuortane Education Centre.
Right after the Opening Ceremony had ended, the first finals of the week started off with Men’s Free-style categories under 55 – 60 – 66 and 74 kg at the Kuortane Arena.
In the under 55 kg category Khuresh-Ool Donduk-Ool (RUS) grabbed gold and proved to be most efficient by beating Zachary Sanders (USA) in the final match. Sanders experienced some injuries to the head in the preliminary round but fought hard until the end. The two bronze medalists for this category were Mude Qi (CHN) and Batbold Sodnomdash (MGL) who both went their way to the podium after hard bouts.
In the final of the under 60 kg men, Ukrainian Vasyl Shuptar ended up winning over Antoine Massidda (FRA). The bronze medals were handed to Munir Recep Aktas (TUR) and to Stefan Ivanov (BUL) after squeezing victories from the last matches.
The under 66 kg category final was a struggle between Turkey and Moldova where the Turkish powerhouse Mustafa Kaya eventually defeated Semen Radulov. Ilya Abelev (CAN) and Vladimir Gotisan (MDA) both fought their ways to bronze medals.
Last, Reza Afzalipaemami (IRI) competed against Kohei Kitamura (JPN) in the under 74 kg category and finished off with a gold medal on his neck after having dominated the whole tournament. Kamal Malikov (RUS) and Colton Sponseller (USA) also rose above their opponents and ended the day with the bronze medals.
Today the last contests for men’s freestyle (84, 96 and 120kg categories) and the first women’s competitions (48kg and 51kg) will be held.
(Source: Janika Sundström, communication manager OC & Julien Buhajezuk, WUC Ex. Asst.)