After five legs of brilliant Beach Wrestling across three continents, the 2023 Kings and Queens of the sand were coronated on the stunning Sarigerme Beach in Mugla, Turkey, capping off another season of the greatest show on sand. Also, the individual winners from this leg of the Beach Wrestling World Series were too crowned as the athletes pushed themselves to the limit one last time.

WOMEN

The Princess of Power Stefania PRICEPUTU (ROU) has had the women’s 50kg division locked down for the past couple of seasons, but an injury suffered before the leg in Constanta has kept her out of this year’s season finale as well, which gave the chance for her main rival for the title, Emine CATALOGLU (TUR), to claim her first ever Beach Wrestling World Series overall crown on home sand.

The ‘Turkish Tornado’ missed out on gold in Romania, but she made no mistake this time round as she scooped up not only the overall gold medal, but also picked up the gold for the leg itself as she beat Ukrainian Yuliia ZASULSKA in the final, having lost to the same opponent in the group stages.

The Ukrainian women’s team have dominated the 60kg division, with either Anastasiya KRAVCHENKO and Daria MEDVETSKA level on points in the rankings going into this final leg. Kravchenko lost out on a place in the knockout stages after losing out to Mehlika OZTURK in the groups.

30-year-old Medvetska took full advantage of this to take home both the gold from this event, where she beat Ozturk in the final with a 4-0 win, but more importantly, saw herself crowned as overall Queen of the 60kg division. Medvestka’s compatriot Sofiia KUSHNIR took home the event bronze with victory over Merve KARADENIZ in the bronze medal match.

Oksana HERHEL (UKR) was in third place in the overall rankings going into the final event despite missing Constanta. The impressive Ukrainian more than made up for missing out last time with two days of solid performances in the sandy circle that saw her take home the gold for the Turkish leg of the Series as she defeated defending champion Adina Ionela IRIMIA (ROU) in the final.

With four times the points on offer for victory in Turkey, this meant that Herhel would be crowned as overall Beach Wrestling World Series champion for 2023 and Queen of the 70kg sand. Olena NIKITINSKA, who had been leading the rankings until Sunday morning, took home the event bronze with a win over Manon KURY, who herself had occupied 2nd place in the rankings before the sand started to fly on Sarigerme Beach.

Eliana BOMMARTIO (USA) became the first ever American to take home gold from a Senior international Beach Wrestling event, and ‘The Bomm’ made sure Team USA’s wait for a second gold wasn’t anywhere near as long as the wait for their first. Dismantling the women’s +70kg division for the second leg in a row, she took gold with a victory over Liudmyla PAVLOVETS TYCHYNA (UKR) in a close final that finished 3-2 to the American. This result meant that not only was she America’s first ever event gold medallist but became the first ever Beach Wrestling World Champion of the US, just pipping defending champion Catalina AXENTE (ROU), who took home the event bronze with a victory over Aikaterini Eirini PITSIAVA in the 3-4 match, but she had to settle for bronze overall.

MEN

Levan KELEKSISHVILI (GEO) has dominated the men’s 70kg division since the series started, winning the last three Beach Wrestling World Series overall titles, but his reign as King of the 70kg division was ended in Turkey as his absence in legs 3 and 4 saw him needing to win the event to have any chance of making it four in a row. He came up agonisingly close as he reached the final, but Yunus COSKUN (TUR), inspired by his home crowd, turned in a great performance to edge out the glorious Georgian 2-1 and take home both the gold for the event. More importantly though, he also secured the title of Beach Wrestling World Champion 2023, with the 4x points seeing him top the rankings.

Oleksii BORUTA (UKR) would have to make do with the event bronze and an overall silver medal as he beat Azerbaijan’s Ramiz HASANOV in the 3-4 match, but it wasn’t enough to claim the overall title.

The men’s 80kg division was wide open, with ranking leader Nika KENTCHADZE (GEO) not competing in this leg, having also missed out in Romania, so all eyes were on who would emerge as the King of the 80kg sand. Hugo CUENOT (FRA) came into today 5th in the overall rankings, but after a sensational two days of wrestling, returns home to France a World Champion despite losing out in the final to Iran’s Hossein Ali ABBASPOURREIKANDEH. Muhammed AKDENİZ picked up the bronze for the event as he defeated Mehmet Can DASDEMIR in the 3-4 matchup.

Cuenot pipped the Iranian to the title by only 2200 points, with popular American Tyler LOETHEN taking overall bronze for the division.

Defending men’s 90kg Champion Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE) has been exemplary so far this season and once again reached the event final as he looked to make it back-to-back overall Beach Wrestling World Series titles. He faced off against Hadi Bakhtiar VAFAEIPOUR (IRI), knowing already that he was the world champion, but it was still somewhat of a shock as the Iranian took the event gold with a stunning 4-0 victory that saw him claim the 40000 ranking points on offer and take bronze overall.

Mahmut Seyfi OZKAYA (TUR) lost to Hamidreza Mohammad ZARINPEYKAR (IRI) in the 3-4 place match, but this was enough to see him claim bronze overall.

Another Turkish title winner was crowned in the men’s +90kg division as defending champion Fatih YASARLI made it back-to-back World titles as well as taking home the gold from his home sand event. He knew the title was already secured after beating closest rival Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO), in the semi-final but showed why he’s the man to beat in the division with a 3-0 victory in the event final over Mohammad Ebrahim ALITABARFIROUZJAH (IRI). Kordzaia would take home a bronze for the event as he beat The Big Gun Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE) in the 3-4 match.

This event was ‘The Big Gun’s’ last as an athlete as he retires to concentrate fully on his role as head coach of the Azerbaijani team, and as well as some sand from his last ever bout in the sandy circle, he takes home overall bronze for the division.

It’s been the biggest and best Beach Wrestling World Series to date, and already we are looking forward to the 2024 edition. Join us again next year for the greatest show on sand as the Beach Wrestling World Series continues to grow in size and popularity around the globe.

Results Beach Wrestling World Series Turkey
WOMEN

50kg

1. Emine CATALOGLU (TUR)
2. Yuliia ZASULSKA (UKR)
3. Maia Abigail CABRERA (AZE)

60kg

1. Daria MEDVETSKA (UKR)
2. Mehlika OZTURK (TUR)
3. Sofiia KUSHNIR (UKR)

70kg

1. Oksana HERHEL (UKR)
2. Adina Ionela IRIMIA (ROU)
3. Olena NIKITINSKA (UKR)

+70kg

1. Eliana Rose BOMMARITO (USA)
2. Liudmyla PAVLOVETS TYCHYNA (UKR)
3. Catalina AXENTE (ROU)

MEN

70kg

1. Yunus COSKUN (TUR)
2. Levan KELEKHSASHVILI (GEO)
3. Oleksii BORUTA (UKR)

80kg

1. Hossein Ali ABBASPOURREIKANDEH (IRI)
2. Hugo CUENOT (FRA)
3. Muhammed AKDENIZ (TUR)

90kg

1. Hadi Bakhtiar VAFAEIPOUR (IRI)
2. Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE)
3. Hamidreza Mohammad ZARINPEYKAR (IRI)

+90kg

1. Fatih YASARLI (TUR)
2. Mohammad Ebrahim ALITABARFIROUZJAH (IRI)
3. Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO)

Top Technique Winners

WOMEN: Olena NIKITINSKA, UKR, 70kg

MEN: Fatih YASARLI, TUR, +90kg

Results Beach Wrestling World Championships
WOMEN

50kg

1. Emine CATALOGLU (TUR)
2. Yuliia ZASULSKA (UKR)
3. Maia Abigail CABRERA (ARG)

60kg

1. Daria MEDVETSKA (UKR)
2. Anastasiya KRAVCHENKO (UKR)
3. Sofiia KUSHNIR (UKR)

70kg

1. Oksana HERHEL (UKR)
2. Adina Ionela IRIMIA (ROU)
3. Olena NIKITINSKA (UKR)

+70kg

1. Eliana Rose BOMMARITO (USA)
2. Liudmyla PAVLOVETS TYCHYNA (UKR)
3. Catalina AXENTE (ROU)

MEN

70kg

1. Yunus COSKUN (TUR)
2. Oleksii BORUTA (UKR)
3. Levan KELEKHSASHVILI (GEO)

80kg

1. Hugo CUENOT (FRA)
2. Hossein Ali ABBASPOURREIKANDEH (IRI)
3. Tyler Mackenzie LOETHEN (USA)

90kg

1. Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE)
2. Mahmut Seyfi OZKAYA (TUR)
3. Hadi Bakhtiar VAFAEIPOUR (IRI)

+90kg

1. Fatih YASARLI (TUR)
2. Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO)
3. Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE)

Find the complete results here.