#WrestleNoviSad

Georgia Wins Quartet of Golds at U23 Euros

By Eric Olanowski

NOVI SAD, Serbia (March 6) – Georgia (115 points) went 5-0 in medal matches on the second day of wrestling at the U23 European Championships, grabbing four golds and a bronze and took the commanding 38 point lead over second-place Russia (77 points) into the third day of wrestling in Novi Sad, Serbia. 


Georgia’s quartet of champions were Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO), Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO), Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO), and Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO). 

At 55kg, Nugzari Tsurtsumia shutout Romania’s Florin TITA, 9-0, and won his second straight U23 European title. 

The returning U23 world champion earned two early step-outs and a takedown before the first period ended and took the 4-0 lead into the closing frame. A second takedown, followed by a right side gut wrench gave Tsurtsumia the 8-0 advantage and his second consecutive 55kg U23 European title. 

In the 63kg finals, Levani Kavjaradze gassed Armenia’s Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) and scored the 10-8 come-from-behind win in a match that saw four different lead changes. 

After a back and forth first period, Kavjaradze trailed 8-4 heading into the final three minutes of the gold-medal bout. The Georgian stayed offensive early in the second period and wore down the noticeably taller Armenian. Kavjaradze scored a takedown and a pair of step outs and controlled the 8-8 lead on criteria. With under a minute left, Kavjaradze scored the match-deciding takedown and won his first U23 European title. 

In the 87kg finals, Gurami Khetsuriani used his four-point lateral drop to break the 1-1 tie with Gazi KHALILOV (RUS), giving Georgia their third gold medal of the day. 

Georgia’s fourth and final gold medalist came at 130kg when six-time age-group world champion Zviadi Pataridze defeated Lenard BEREI (ROU), 5-0, and won his second consecutive U23 European title. 

The lone non-Georgia champion was Russia’s 2018 junior world champion Islam OPIEV (RUS), who trailed 3-0 with under two minutes to go, in the 77kg gold-medal bout, but scored a passivity point and a correct throw to defeat Serkan AKKOYUN (TUR), 3-2. 

Georgia owns the commanding 38 point lead over Russia into the third day of competition. Turkey (65 points), Romania (65 points), and Hungary (40 points) round out the top five respectively. 


The third day of wrestling in Novi Sad resumes tomorrow morning at 11:30 and can be watched live on www.unitdworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS 

Team Scores 
GOLD - Georgia (115 points)
SILVER - Russia (77 points)
BRONZE - Turkey (65 points)
Fourth - Romania (48 points)
Fifth - Hungary (40 points)
 

55kg 
GOLD - Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) df. Florin TITA (ROU), 9-0 
BRONZE - Viktor VEDERNIKOV (RUS) df. Ziyad ZEYNALOV (AZE), 11-2  
BRONZE - Artium DELEANU (MDA) df. Bence KOVACS (HUN), 12-4 

63kg
GOLD - Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO) df. Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM), 10-8
BRONZE - Erik TORBA (HUN) df. Nikalas Petrov SULEV (BUL), 9-0
BRONZE - Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) df. Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR), 6-3

77kg 
GOLD - Islam OPIEV (RUS) df. Serkan AKKOYUN (TUR), 3-2 
BRONZE - Beka MAMUKASHVILI (GEO) df. Nasir HASANOV (AZE), 3-0 
BRONZE - Tamas LEVAI (HUN) df. Paulius GALKINAS (LTU), 5-1

87kg 
GOLD - Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO) df. Gazi KHALILOV (RUS), 5-1
BRONZE - Ivan HUKLEK (CRO) df. Toni METSOMAEKI (FIN), 6-2
BRONZE - Ali CENGIZ (TUR) df. Martynas NEMSEVICIUS (LTU), 10-0 

130kg 
GOLD - Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO) vs. Lenard Istvan BEREI (ROU), 5-0 
BRONZE - Osman YILDIRIM (TUR) df. Artur VITITIN (EST), via fall 
BRONZE - Oleg Kahaberovitch AGAKHANOV (RUS) df. Boban ZIVANOVIC (SRB), 6-4 

#Grappling

Gold rush for Individual Neutral Athletes at European Grappling

By Vinay Siwach

BAKU, Azerbaijan (May 28) -- Baku was expecting a grand show of grappling at the European Grappling Championships. But it was not ready for the Individual Neutral Athlete storm that hit.

Sweeping all 10 weight classes, Individual Neutral Athletes won 10 gold medals, making up for the previous championships they missed. Not only that, out of the 10 wins in the final, six of them were via submission.

The first day of the European Championships began with Akhmednabi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) winning the 58kg gold medal over Ilia ABRAMENKO (AIN). The gold medal rush continued with Magomed SHAKHBANOV (AIN) submitting Magomedbek TEMEEV (AIN) in the 62kg final. This was his third victory by submission in three matches.

Khabiob ATLUEV (AIN) at 66kg and Apandi AMAGAEV (AIN) at 71kg also won their gold medal via submission continuing the trend of one-sided finals in Baku.

It took Jakob NAJDEK (POL) to finally stop that trend. But that’s all he did. Ivan LISOGOROV (AIN) may not have gotten the submission but he dominated the 77kg final, beating Najdek 7-0 for the gold medal.

Pawel JAWORSKI (POL) took a step closer by scoring points on Murad ABDULATIPOV (AIN) but failed to go all the way, dropping the 84kg final 4-2. Mukhamed URUSOV (AIN) found it difficult to negate Piotr FRECHOWICZ (POL) but managed to hang on for a 2-2 win and claimed the 92kg gold medal.

100kg world champion Andrzej IWAT (POL) dropped a close semifinal against Shamil MAZHIDKHANOV (AIN) who went on to win the gold medal with a 6-3 win over Manuel PILATO (ITA) in the final.

In the 130kg weight, renamed from the 100+ kg, Daudgadzhi IBRAGIMOV (AIN) managed to hold off Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA) 5-3 to win the gold medal.

Olesia ZHURAVLEVA (AIN)Olesia ZHURAVLEVA (AIN) won all four of her bouts via submission. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

In the women’s grappling competition, Carlota PRENEDES (ESP) recovered from an early loss to Alicja STYPULKOWSKA (POL) in a round-robin to beat the Pole via submission in the 53kg final.

At 58kg, Olesia ZHURAVLEVA (AIN) showed her class, winning four bouts via submission to win the gold with no troubles. She defeated Victoria SHERHIIENKO (UKR) twice, once in round 3 and then in the final, to finish at the top of the podium. In another AIN vs Ukraine final, Irina CHERNYSHOVA (AIN) won the 64kg gold medal over Daria CHIBISOVA (UKR) 10-2.

Alsu IANSHINA (AIN) also dominated her weight class, winning the 71kg gold medal over Alycia QUENEE (FRA) via submission, her third in four bouts.

Justyna SITKO (POL) managed to clinch the 90kg gold medal with a victory by submission over Paula MARTINEZ (ESP).

RESULTS

Men's Grappling

58kg
GOLD: Akhmednabi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) df. Ilia ABRAMENKO (AIN), via submission

BRONZE: Illia SVIATUN (UKR) df. Alejandro REYES (ESP), via submission
BRONZE: Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL) df. Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR), 5-2

62kg
GOLD: Magomed SHAKHBANOV (AIN) df. Magomedbek TEMEEV (AIN), via submission

BRONZE: Loris ZANOLINI (ITA) df. Farhad BAGIROV (AZE), 10-0
BRONZE: Andrii TSVYK (UKR) df. Guillermo GUTIERREZ (ESP), 5-2

66kg
GOLD: Khabib ATLUEV (AIN) df. Artur AGASHIRINOV (AIN), via submission

BRONZE: Giorgi RAZMADZE (GEO) df. Abdulla ABSHAROV (AZE), via submission
BRONZE: Anthony DE OLIVEIRA (FRA) df. Adam VERES KOVACS (HUN), via submission

71kg
GOLD: Apandi AMAGAEV (AIN) df. Ihor DMYTRASH (UKR), via submission

BRONZE: Dzhimsher RAZMADZE (GEO) df. Arsen IBRAGIMOV (AIN), via submission (3-3)
BRONZE: Samuel CHAGNY (FRA) df. Samik RAMAZANOV (AZE), 3-2

77kg
GOLD: Ivan LISOGOROV (AIN) df. Jakub NAJDEK (POL), 7-0

BRONZE: Nikolaos POLYDOROS (GRE) df. Arthur LEROY (FRA), 3-1
BRONZE: Iker CAMARA (ESP) df. Serhii KUZMYCHOV (UKR), via submission

84kg
GOLD: Murad ABDULATIPOV (AIN) df. Pawel JAWORSKI (POL), 4-2

BRONZE: Pierre MANZO (FRA) df. Davud MAGOMEDOV (AIN), 4-4
BRONZE: Samy MEZACHE (FRA) df. Pavlo MAKSYMCHUK (UKR), via submission

92kg
GOLD: Mukhamed URUSOV (AIN) df. Piotr FRECHOWICZ (POL), 2-2

BRONZE: Mateusz MAZUR (POL) df. Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU), 5-3
BRONZE: Levente LAKY (HUN) df. Wilfried EDMUND (FRA), 8-3

100kg
GOLD: Shamil MAZHIDKHANOV (AIN) df. Manuel PILATO (ITA), 6-3

BRONZE: Andrzej IWAT (POL) df. Gamzat GAMZATOV (AIN), via submission (4-4)
BRONZE: Danielius GREBLIUNAS (LTU) df. Tural AZAYEV (AZE), 2-2 in overtime

130kg
GOLD: Daudgadzhi IBRAGIMOV (AIN) df. Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA), 5-3

BRONZE: Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE) df. Lukasz OLECH (POL), 8-3
BRONZE: Nizami GAFAROV (AZE) df. Mykola MATSEIKO (UKR), 5-3

Women's Grappling

53kg
GOLD: Carlota PRENDES (ESP) df. Alicja IRENA (POL), via submission

BRONZE: Zuzanna KOWALSKA (POL) df. Kristina RAU (GER), 9-7

58kg
GOLD: Olesia ZHURAVLEVA (AIN) df. Viktoriia SERHIIENKO (UKR), via submission

BRONZE: Irina KUPRINA (AIN) df. Jazmin ARJONA (ESP), 11-6

64kg
GOLD: Irina CHERNYSHOVA (AIN) df. Daria CHIBISOVA (UKR), 10-2

BRONZE: Julija STOLIARENKO (LTU) df. Veronika KARAKHONOVA (AIN), via submission
BRONZE: Giulia RODIO (ITA) df. Laila OHLHOFF (GER), 8-2

71kg
GOLD: Alsu IANSHINA (AIN) df. Alycia QUENEE (FRA), via submission

BRONZE: Emily GUENZLER (GER) df. Daniella SANTANA FABELO (ESP), via submission

90kg
GOLD: Justyna SITKO (POL) df. Paula MARTINEZ BORREGUERO (ESP), via submission

BRONZE: Alena VLASOVA (AIN) df. Janina CZYCZYN (POL), 6-2