Popular Bulgarian National Team representative Daniel Aleksandrov formally announced his retirement from competition on Friday, nearly 15 months since his last tournament.
Aleksandrov, 30, found the brunt of his Senior success at the “World weight” of 82 kilograms (formerly 80). Just prior to the onset of the pandemic, Aleksandrov advanced to the finals of the 2020 European Championships, falling to reigning World gold/Olympic bronze Rafiq Husyenov (AZE). That silver earned at the ’20 Euros was the Bulgarian’s third career medal from the event to go along with two bronze. In addition, Aleksandrov twice took top honors at his home country’s Nikola Petrov Memorial and participated in the ’16 Rio Olympics.
Aleksandrov’s most recent appearance came in the World Olympic Games Qualifier last May (which was also hosted in BUL). Competing at 87 kilograms, he was downed early on by Zakarias Berg (SWE). The loss to Berg represented his swan song; but he had beforehand nodded towards potential plans for his future. In ’20, Aleksandrov helped launch an initiative local to his hometown of Dupnitsa that is intended to encourage youths to become physically engaged in a variety of sports. Upon declaring his “walk away” from active competition less than a week ago, he went a step further by unveiling his brand new wrestling club named Marek.
“I am replacing my wrestling career with the coaching one,” Aleksandrov said last week. “This is a new beginning, a new competition that I am embarking on. There is no loss when we talk about the future of young people in Bulgaria and the development of the sport.”
’22 Ion Corneanu & Ladislau Simon Memorial
The latest in what has been a string of summer pre-Worlds tournaments came and went over the weekend in Bucharest. The annual Ion Corneanu & Ladislau Simon was contested featuring a barely-respectable number of entrants (70).
Another medal for Datunashvili
Zurabi Datunashvili (SRB), who last season earned bronze in Tokyo before winning it all in Oslo, prevailed over Hungarian Patrick Mezei for the top spot at 87.
Datunashvili, who turned 31 in June, has been on a tear since moving to Serbia two years ago. In ’21, he triumphed at the European Championships, qualified 87 kg for the Olympics, subsequently grabbed bronze in Tokyo, and won World gold; this season, he placed second at Vehbi Emre and had a downer at the Euros before running the table in Bucharest. Of the 11 events in which Datunashvili has thus far repped Serbia, he owns eight medals.
’22 Ion Corneanu & Ladislau Simon Placewinners
55 kg
GOLD: Artiom Deleanu (MDA)
SILVER: Denis Demirov (BUL)
BRONZE: Leonid Moroz (MDA)
60 kg
GOLD: Aidos Sultangali (KAZ)
SILVER: Liguo Cao (CHN)
BRONZE: Haodong Tan (CHN)
63 kg
GOLD: Yernur Fidakhmetov (KAZ)
SILVER: Gaylm Kabdunassarov (KAZ)
BRONZE: Tuoerbatu Tuoerbatu (CHN)
67 kg
GOLD: Joni Khetsuriani (GEO)
SILVER: Ramaz Zoidze (GEO)
BRONZE: Donior Islamov (MDA)
BRONZE: Sebastian Nadj (SRB)
72 kg
GOLD: Ibragim Magomedov (KAZ)
SILVER: Valentin Petic (MDA)
BRONZE: Alexandru Ionescu (ROU)
77 kg
GOLD: Tamerlan Shadukayev (KAZ)
SILVER: Rui Liu (CHN)
BRONZE: Viktor Nemes (SRB)
BRONZE: Iuri Lomadze (GEO)
82 kg
GOLD: Miras Barshylykov (KAZ)
SILVER: Chengwu Wang (CHN)
BRONZE: Shamil Batyrov (KAZ)
87 kg
GOLD: Zurabi Datunashvili (SRB)
SILVER: Patrik Mezei (HUN)
BRONZE: Gurami Khetsuriani (GEO)
97 kg
GOLD: Giorgi Melia (GEO)
SILVER: Yerulan Isakov (KAZ)
BRONZE: Mihail Kajaia (SRB)
BRONZE: Yiming Li (CHN)
130 kg
GOLD: Lingzhe Meng (CHN)
SILVER: Alimkhan Syzdykov (KAZ)
BRONZE: Petrusic Boris (SRB)
Pytlasinski Camp
Last week saw the ’22 Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Memorial unfold in Spala, Poland with hardly a whisper, due in large part to the U17 Worlds then about to commandeer the landscape. After the tournament, as is custom, a large multi-national training camp got underway with 100+ athletes from ten countries. Camp began on July 25 and will run until August 5 (this coming Friday).
For Japan, it has been an especially nice change of scenery. Although the Japanese federation did send athletes to the past few major World-level events, travel for training and competition midseason was otherwise capped for the squad due to various COVID-related reasons. The ongoing camp in Spala therefore represents JPN’s first international training excursion in three years.
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