Georgian Men’s Wrestlers triumph at the first stage of the 2021 Beach Wrestling World Series as Romania claims two Women’s titles
Saint-Laurent-du-Var in France hosted the first stage of the 2021 Beach Wrestling World Series on 16 and 17 July. Wrestlers from 13 nations took to the sand over two days of competition and 132 fights in eight weight classes, four each for the men and women to successfully start the second season of the Beach Wrestling World Series. The French Wrestling Federation organised in record time the event of United World Wrestling’s fasted growing discipline, highlighting the practice of wrestling on the sand. Georgia and Romania dominated the season opener, as they combined to win 6 out of 8 available gold medals in the men’s and women’s wrestling.
Men’s
The Georgian squad was led by the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Dato Marsagishvili who dominated the -90kg competition throughout the two-day tournament to take gold. Marsagishvili was also awarded the ‘Top Throw’ after a variation of a hip-throw defeating his later gold medal match opponent during the group phase.
Levan Kelekhsashvili (-70kg) and Davit Khutsishvili (-80kg) also took home gold medals for their efforts, winning their final’s bouts by 2-1 and 1-0. Despite an apparent 1-4 defeat in the opening round against Turkey’s Hidayet Kurt, Mamuka Kordzaiacompleted the Georgians triumphant success with his final match win over Romania’s Vasile Vlad Caras.
Women’s
The -50kg megastar Stefania Claudia Priceputu (ROU) used a combination of intensity, heavy hand pressure and snap downs to earn the gold ahead of Julie Martine Sabatie from the host country France and Ukraine’s Tetiana Profatilova. In the -70kg category, Ukraine’s Alina Berezhna Stadnik Makhynia undertook a similar path to the top of the podium. Fighting for the hosting federation and in her first-ever wrestling attempt on the beach, Manon Kury held the French hopes high until she faced the Ukrainian powerhouse in the gold medal match. The Ukrainian powerhouse Berezhna topped her weekend on the beach by winning the ‘Top Throw’ cash prize in the women’s.
The women’s -60kg category saw a new face on the top podium with Turkey’s Mehlika Ozturk, who had a great start into the season opener by not just winning once against Francesca Indelicato from Italy, but twice, including the final match. Within the three-minute margin, both fights ended in a 1-0 win in favour of Ozturk due to the rule that the lighter athlete wins in case of a tie.
Catalina Axente completed the Romanian success with her victory in the +70kg class, bullying her way to a 2-1 gold medal against the Italian Enrica Rinaldi.
Results
Women -50kg
- Stefania Claudia PRICEPUTU (ROU)
- Julie Martine SABATIE (FRA)
- Tetiana PROFATILOVA (UKR)
Women -60kg
- Mehlika OZTURK (TUR)
- Francesca INDELICATO (ITA)
- Maria Victoria BAEZ DILONE (ESP)
Women -70kg
- Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR)
- Manon KURY (FRA)
- Adina Ionela IRIMIA (ROU)
Women +70kg
- Catalina AXENTE (ROU)
- Enrica RINALDI (ITA)
- Beste CIVELEK ALTUG (TUR)
Men -70kg
- Levan Kelekhsashvili (GEO)
- George BUCUR (ROU)
- Oleksii BORUTA (UKR)
Men -80kg
- Davit Khutsishvili (GEO)
- Semen RADULOV (UKR)
- Vasile Madalin MINZALA (ROU)
Men -90kg
- Dato Marsagishvili (GEO)
- Mahmut Seyfi OZKAYA (TUR)
- Oleksii YAKOVCHUK (UKR)
Men +90kg
- Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO)
- Vasile Vlad CARAS (ROU)
- Ivan MALIN (UKR)
All results are available here.
The next 2021 Beach Wrestling World Series stages will take place in Rome, Katerini and Constanta. Find out about all other Beach Wrestling events on our Beach Sports calendar
Source: https://beachwrestling.org
Photo credit: Beach Wrestling World Series (UWW) / Dean Treml
