#WrestleBucharest

Kayaalp Wins Historic Ninth European Title; Russia Leads Azerbaijan by 34 Points

Saturday, April 13, 2019 - 20:40 By Eric Olanowski

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BUCHAREST, Romania (April 13) – Turkey’s Riza KAYAALP authored a new page in the Turkish wrestling history books on Saturday night by winning his ninth European title. Kayaalp entered the night tied with Hamza YERLIKAYA, who also had eight European titles, but surpassed Yerlikaya with his Day 6 win at the Polyvalent Hall in Bucharest, Romania.

In his 130kg gold-medal bout, Kayaalp scored three points from a stepout and a takedown to defeat Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO), 3-0. 

Meanwhile, Vitalii KABALOEV, Stepan MARYANYAN, and Roman VLASOV circled the mat with the Russian flag draped above their head after wrapping up their Greco-Roman gold-medals matches early. Their trio of Saturday night gold medals gave the Russian Federation the 34 point lead over Azerbaijan heading into the final day of wrestling. 

Kabaloev and Vlasov both ended their matches with opening period falls, while Maryanyan picked up the technical superior win in his gold-medal match.  

In the 55kg finals, Kabaloev poured it on Romania’s Florin TITA and picked up the fall in the opening period. Before the throw that ended the match, the Russian scored a takedown, inactivity point, followed by a pair of two-point gut wrenches, and commanded the 7-0 lead before throwing his Romanian opponent to his back for the fall to win his first continental title. 

Roman Vlasov also ended his finals match by a fall in the opening period. In the 77kg gold-medal bout, Vlasov scored two four-point throws, then planted Germany’s Roland SCHWARZ on his back and won his fourth European title. 

In the 63kg finals, defending world champion Maryanyan blew through Rio Olympic bronze medalist Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR), 9-1, and won his second European title, but first since 2015. 

Maryanyan scored an inactivity point and a pair of gut wrenches and held onto the 5-1 lead before capping off his run to a gold medal with a four-point throw. 

The final gold medal of the night went to Ukraine’s Zhan BELENIUK. The second-ranked wrestler in the world at 87kg was the second non-Russian wrestler to reach the top of the podium and claim a gold medal on Day 6. In the finals, Beleniuk picked up a stepout and exposed Islam ABBASOV (AZE) using a four-point head pinch to grab his third European title with the 5-1 victory. 

The finals day of wrestling at the 2019 European Championships begins at 18:00 local time, and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

RESULTS 
Team Scores
GOLD - Russia (92 points) 
SILVER - Azerbaijan (58 points)
BRONZE -  Germany (50 points)
Fourth -Turkey (47 points)
Fifth - Georgia (41 points)

55kg
GOLD - Vitalii KABALOEV (RUS) df. Florin TITA (ROU), via fall
BRONZE - Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) df. Serif KILIC (TUR), 8-0 
BRONZE - Fabian SCHMITT (GER) df. Anders ROENNINGEN (NOR), 2-1

63kg
GOLD - Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) df. Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR), 9-0 
BRONZE - Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE) df. Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM), 6-2
BRONZE - Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO) df. Michal Jacek TRACZ (POL), 5-2

77kg
GOLD - Roman VLASOV (RUS) df. Roland SCHWARZ (GER), via fall
BRONZE - Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM) df. Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL), 5-1 
BRONZE - Viktor NEMES (SRB) df. Fatih CENGIZ (TUR), 3-1 

87kg
GOLD - Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) df. Islam ABBASOV (AZE), 5-1 
BRONZE - Denis KUDLA (GER) df. Mikalai STADUB (BLR), 3-1 
BRONZE - Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) df. Eividas STANKEVICIUS (LTU), 2-1 

130kg 
GOLD - Riza KAYAALP (TUR) df. Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO), 3-0 
BRONZE - Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU) df. Heiki NABI (EST), 1-1 
BRONZE - Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) df. Tuomas LAHTI (FIN), 4-0 

#WrestleTirana

Friday's U23 World Championships semifinals set

Friday, October 27, 2023 - 08:58 By Eric Olanowski

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TIRANA, Albania (October 27) --- Welcome back to Albania for Day Five of the 2023 U23 World Championships. Today, we’ll pass the baton to the Greco-Roman wrestlers at 60kg, 67kg, 72kg, 82kg and 97kg.

Top Stars in Action:
60kg: Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) – U23 world silver
60kg: Melkamu FETENE (ISR) – U23 world bronze
67kg: Gagik Mishai SNJOYAN (FRA) - U23 world silver
72kg: Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO) – U23 world bronze
82kg - Karlo KODRIC (CRO) – U23 world silver
97kg - Alex Gergo SZOKE (HUN) – U23 world gold
97kg - Nitesh NITESH (UWW) – U23 world bronze

Semifinal matches (As they come in): 

60kg
Sumit SUMIT (UWW) vs. Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (AIN)
Mert ILBARS (TUR) vs. Romeo BERIDZE (GEO)

67kg
Hasan MAMMADLI (AZE) vs. Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ)
HARUTO YABE (JPN) vs. Mustafa Safa YILDIRIM (TUR)

72kg
Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR) vs. Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Shant KHACHATRYAN (ARM) vs. Dmitrii ADAMOV (AIN)

82kg
Aues GONIBOV (AIN) vs. Ruslan ABDIIEV (UKR)
Alperen BERBER (TUR) vs. Emad Ashraf Mohamed ABOUELATTA (EGY)

97kg
Hayk KHLOYAN (ARM) vs. Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN)
Mustafa OLGUN (TUR) vs. Yuri NAKAZATO (JPN)

13:43: I'm still waiting for the system to update to post tonight's semifinal matches. Once everything is updated, I'll put the matches above.

13:23: Yabe upsets U23 world bronze medalist Snjoyan and moves into tonight's 67kg semifinals against Mustafa Safa YILDIRIM (TUR).

13:17: Reigning U23 world bronze medalist Gagik Mishai SNJOYAN (FRA) is in a tight match on Mat C with Japan's HARUTO YABE (JPN). Yabe leads 4-4 on criteria with a minute to go.

13:09: Emad Ashraf Mohamed ABOUELATTA (EGY) just doubled up on four-pointers, punching his ticket to the 82kg semifinals with a 9-0 win over Tyler Adam EISCHENS (USA).

12:55: We're going to start the quarterfinals now on all mats so I'll post the semifinal matches as they come in. 

12:35: There's your upset of the day. Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER) just took out reigning U23 world champion Alex Gergo SZOKE (HUN). Lazogianis was down 3-0 but ended up scoring four points to win 4-4 on criteria.

13:13: You hate to see it against a hometown athlete, but  Hasan MAMMADLI (AZE) just made Albania's Ardit ZENELI (ALB) back bend in a way that should be illegal. I'll post the video above.

13:06: It looks like they are going to give Muslim IMADAEV (AIN) the fall over returning U23 world bronze medalist Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO). Imadaev was behind 2-1 with :50 left when he went to a four-point head pinch. After a failed challenge that gave the Neutral Athlete the 6-2 advantage, Imadaev stopped a flying squirrel attempt by planting Chkhikvade on his back for the fall.

I'll work on getting up the video of the final slam because it was pretty impressive.

12:54: World medalists Nitesh, Chkhikvadze and Guluzade are all coming up now on Mat A. That's three world medalists coming up in the next four matches.

12:38: We're getting closer on the Szoke watch. He's five matches out on Mat B. 

12:23: Tetsuto KANUKA (JPN) just launched Anil ANIL (UWW) twice in 15 seconds to pick up the 11-2 win. The match was tied 2-2 before Kanuka went four, then five on Anil. I'll work on getting the clip up right now so you can see how beautiful the two throws were.

12:12: The noise you hear from the crowd is coming from Mat C, where Dmitrii ADAMOV (AIN) just took out hometown boy Klodjan SHEHU (ALB), 9-0, in the 72kg 1/8 round.

12:08: That match was crazy! It was a rollercoaster of emotions for Abuladze, but he stayed strapped in and picked up the 9-8 victory. At one point of the match, Abuladze went for a pushout and was so successful that he pushed Olsson off the mat and the stage, planting him on his rear end on the floor of the arena.

12:04: The current match on Mat A between Miru Jerry OLSSON (SWE) and Otar ABULADZE (GEO) has been action-packed thus far. Olsson went down 3-0 but gave up eight unanswered points and is currently leading 8-3 with a minute left.

11:45: It's been a slow morning thus far. We're still waiting for a chunk of these stars to have their first matches. We still have at least seven matches before Gagik Mishai SNJOYAN (FRA), Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO), Nitesh NITESH (UWW) and Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) come up on Mat A.

But once we get to Snjoyan, the stars will be rolling through match after match.

11:22: After bout 492 wraps up on Mat C, we'll welcome Karlo KODRIC (CRO) to Albania. Last year, Kodric fell to Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) in the finals, becoming the fourth Croatian Greco-Roman wrestler to reach the finals but settle for U23 world silver. 

11:15: The biggest storyline we're following today is the return of Alex SZOKE (HUN) after nearly eight months off the mat. Earlier this year, Szoke, the reigning U23 world champion, underwent surgery on his back after the Thor Masters in March.