Greco News

Monday Roundup: Junior & U23 Trials Week; Turkey National Results

By 5PM Staff

Posted on May 29, 2023

2023 u20 & u23 world team trials schedule, turkish nationals

Photo: Turkey Wrestling Federation

The 2023 U20 World Team Trials and U23 Nationals begin this coming Friday from the Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio. Both age divisions are observing the one-day format, and FLOWrestling will carry the live broadcast. This platform will provide recaps and results, as well.

2023 U20 World Team Trials & U23 Nationals

June 3 — Geneva, Ohio

FULL SCHEDULE

10:00am-2:15pm — Preliminaries through Challenge Tournament finals; consolation rounds
4:00pm-7:00pm — Best-of-three finals (U20); medal rounds

Turkish National Results

It is not that you would refer to any domestic tournament inside of Turkey as “B level”, considering the potency of their depth charts in most weight categories along with the country’s long-running ledger of World-level success — but their national event this year was comprised mainly of athletes who will not gain starts in Belgrade.

That is because Turkey’s scope of work throughout the season revolves around training for their top competitors. Few countries have as many “National Team” type of camps as Turkey does; and with their program-wide adherence to periodization concerns, as well as the fact that the European Championships have now come and gone, those who are deemed most eligible for entry into the ’23 Worlds were spared from competing this past weekend in Ordu. It also didn’t help that this very week is the third United World Wrestling “Ranking Series” event of the year in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

However, there were several winners with whom general Greco-Roman fans might be familiar. Turkey’s very good #2 at heavyweight, ’19 U23 World bronze Osman Yildirim, went over Ali Arslan in the final, which is nice for Yildirim even though he sits behind future Hall of Famer Riza Kayaalp. At 72 kilograms, Murat Dag eased past Abdullah Toprak to claim gold, though that was not a surprise. One result that might catch some off-guard came at the next highest non-Olympic weight category, where Dogan Goktas downed ’18 World silver Emrah Kus. Neither athlete had been active this season prior to the meeting; nor do they have to worry about the implications of the outcome. Barring injury, reigning World Champion/’21 silver Burhan Akbudak has this weight already locked up for when the Worlds begin in September.