#WrestleWarsaw

Evloev Captures Gold as Russia Clean Sweeps Euros

By Vinay Siwach

WARSAW, Poland (April 25) -- Musa EVLOEV (RUS) is quickly establishing himself as one of the Greco-Roman greats around the world.

Ever since he captured the World title in 2018, he continues to rise to the top and on Sunday, he took another step in that direction, winning his second European title at 97kg as the senior continental Championships came to a close in Warsaw, Poland.

The 28-year-old wrestled in the final bout of the day and it wasn't even a match. Veteran Balazs KISS (HUN) tried to give a fight but Evloev was in no mood to waste time. With a series of par terre rolls, Evloev captured the gold medal with a 10-0 win in just one minute and 33 seconds.

His gold confirmed the team title for Russia as it clean swept the Championships, winning the freestyle, women's and the Greco-Roman team titles over the past seven days at the Sportowa COS Torwar stadium which is out-of-bounds for spectators.

As Evloev ascends to the top, he will be the favorite to win the gold medal in Tokyo Olympics, a title he will have to take from Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM), just like the World title in 2018.

Aleksanyan captured the World and Olympic titles from 2014 to 2017 until Evloev defeated him in the semifinal at the 2018 World Championships in Budapest. Since then, Evloev has two more wins over the Armenian, one at the 2019 World Championships and the other at the Individual World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia last year.

Meanwhile, two-time junior world champion Kerem KAMAL (TUR) will have to wait for his first senior European Championships title. For the second consecutive year, he went home with a silver medal after he lost Sunday's final against Sergey EMELIN (RUS) 1-4.

Despite the aggression of Kamal, former world champion Emelin kept his composure throughout the 60kg final to reclaim his European title which he had lost to Victor CIOBANU (MDA) in 2019.

Sergey EMELIN (RUS) European Championships 2021

Emelin, who won a silver medal at the 2019 World Championships, was trailing 0-1 to Kamal at the break as he was warned for passivity. Kamal had a 5-0 lead after a big throw just before the break but a successful challenge from Russia showed there was no exposure, reversing the score to 1-0.

A minute and a half into the second period, Kamal was warned for passivity and Emelin scored on par terre, claiming a 3-1 lead. Kamal did try to score but was unsuccessful and with just two seconds left, he challenged for a point for stepout which was denied, giving the Russian the win and the first gold medal of the day.

The hopes of the home gold for Mateusz BERNATEK (POL) were dashed as Mate NEMES (SRB) dominated the final at 67kg to win the gold medal. Nemes gave his country the second gold medal in Warsaw after Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (SRB) won the gold at 87kg on Saturday.

Just 30 seconds into the final, Nemes came up with a big over the shoulder four-point throw to take the lead. With 30 seconds left for the break Bernatek was warned for passivity but he successfully defended his par terre position.

As Nemes closed-in on victory, he was warned for passivity and gave up two points for it. But as Bernatek tried desperate attempts, he was warned for using his head and penalized for two points. Nemes won the gold medal 7-2.

By winning the title, the 2019 bronze medalist from the Nursultan World Championships did what his twin brother Viktor NEMES (SRB), a former world champion, could not in three attempts.

Georgia also put its name on the title list with a gold medal at 72kg. Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) put on a defensive show to capture the gold by defeating junior world and European champion Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) 4-1.

The Georgian Olympic bronze medalist rode on his luck in the final as he was awarded two points on a lost challenge from Armenia. After being called passive a minute and 17 seconds into the bout, Bolkvadze defended the par terre position. Amoyan almost got the exposure but it was given clean by the referee, prompting Amoyan to challenge the call.

Not only he lost the challenge, the jury decided to give two points to Bolkvadze for exposing Amoyan to his back, leading 3-1. A passivity against Amoyan increased the lead to 4-1 and Bolkvadze defended it till the end to win the gold medal for his country.

Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) European Championships 2021
Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) won the gold medal at 72kg in Warsaw. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Participating in the European Championships after a gap of four years, Adlan AKIEV (RUS) made a golden return as he became the champion of the 82kg category, giving Russia their second gold medal of the night.

After reaching his first-ever European final, Akiev finished things in style by winning the gold medal 11-1 against Radzik KULIYEU (BLR).

The deadlock was broken at 1:28 when Kuliyeu was given passive and Akiev got the exposure for two from a throw. A minute later, the Russian produced an over the shoulder throw to get two more and lead 5-0 at the break.

One minute and 20 seconds into the second period, Akiev was called passive but Kuliyev failed to get in correct position and the referee called for center, leaving the score 5-1 for Akiev.

A two-point exposure and a four-point move finished the bout with an 11-1 win for Akiev, which more or less confirmed the team title for Russia with one Evloev's gold medal bout yet to be played.

Adlan AKIEV (RUS) European Championships 2021

Greco-Roman Medal Results Day 7

60kg
GOLD - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) df. Kerem KAMAL (TUR), 4-1

BRONZE - Grzegorz KUNKEL (POL) df. Razvan ARNAUT (ROU), 6-0
BRONZE - Viktor PETRYK (UKR) df. MAKARANKA Bread (BLR), 5-1

67kg
GOLD - Mate NEMES (SRB) df. Mateusz BERNATEK (POL), 7-2

BRONZE - Murat FIRAT (TUR) df. Zaur KABALOEV (ITA), 3-1
BRONZE - Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) df. Donior ISLAMOV (MDA), 9-0

72kg
GOLD - Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) df. Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM), 4-1

BRONZE - Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN) df. Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS), 3-0
BRONZE - Maksym YEVTUSHENKO (UKR) df. Roman PACURKOWSKI (POL), 11-0

82kg
GOLD - Adlan AKIEV (RUS) df. Radzik KULIYEU (BLR), 11-0

BRONZE - Aivengo RIKADZE (GEO) df. Karapet CHALYAN (ARM), 3-2
BRONZE - Hannes WAGNER (GER) vs. Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN), 3-1

97kg
GOLD - Musa EVLOEV (RUS) df. Balazs KISS (HUN), 8-0

BRONZE - Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA) df. Markus RAGGINGER (AUT), 4-0
BRONZE - Mikalai STADUB (BLR) df. Zamir MAGOMEDOV (AZE), 3-1

Obituary

Georgia's Nugzari Tsurtsumia, 2019 world champion, dies at 27

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (July 3) -- Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO), a 2019 world champion, passed away Wednesday at the age of 27 years in his hometown Khobi, Georgia. The young star's death has left United World Wrestling and the entire wrestling community saddened.

The 27-year-old recently competed at the Budapest Ranking Series in June and won a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 55kg weight class, the same weight he has won two silver and two bronze medals at the World Championships. Apart from the five medals at the World Championships, Tsurtsumia also won four at the European Championships -- a silver and three bronzes.

At the age group level, Tsurtsumia accomplished much. He completed the set of medals at the European Championships, winning bronze at the U17 level, gold and two bronzes at the U20 and two golds at the U23 level.

In the age-group World Championships, Tsurtsumia was the U23 world champion in 2018 and a silver and bronze medalist at the U20 level.

His remarkable achievement came in Nursultan at the 2019 World Championships when he rocked the field to become the world champion. He outscored his opponents 34-3 in four bouts to win the gold, Georgia's first at the World Championships in 12 years.

United World Wrestling, Georgian Wrestling Federation and the wrestling community mourns the death of an incredible talent. Their thoughts are with the Tsurtsumia family in their time of grief.