#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 

#WrestleBelgrade

Micic beats Olympic, world champs to set up Higuchi final; Dake takes on Sidakov

Sunday, September 17, 2023 - 15:55 By Vinay Siwach

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BELGRADE, Serbia (September 17) -- All eyes were on the Olympic and world champions at 57kg with Zavur UGUEV (AIN), Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB) and Rei HIGUCHI (JPN).

But Stevan MICIC (SRB) defeated two of the three, Uguev and Abakarov, in back-to-back matches and will face the third, Higuchi, for the gold medal at the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

Micic, a bronze medalist at 61kg from 2022, stunned Uguev 9-7 in the quarterfinals and then took out Abakarov 6-2 in the semifinals not only booking a place in the final but also earning a Paris Olympic quota for Serbia at 57kg.

Higuchi, the world champion at 61kg in 2022, returned to the World Championships final, this year at 57kg, an Olympic weight class as he continues his journey towards the Olympic gold medal he missed in 2016 after finishing second to Vladimir KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO).

He will now have to return Monday to wrestle Micic, who will undoubtedly be backed by the fans present in the Stark Arena.

At 74kg, two-time defending world champion Kyle DAKE (USA) set up a dream final against Olympic champion Zaurbek SIDAKOV (AIN) and both wrestlers received a Paris Olympic spot.

However, both took the tough road to the gold-medal bout.

Dake opened his day against Magomet EVLOEV (TJK) and won 12-2 before Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ) tested him in the 9-4 win. Dake looked a little uncomfortable and Daichi TAKATANI (JPN) confirmed it as he pushed Dake, who won 6-4 but had to dig deep to avoid some tough attacks from the Japanese.

In the semifinals, Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) chest-wrapped Dake on multiple occasions but failed to score. Dake came out on top 4-1 to reach the final.

Sidakov, returning to the World Championships for the first time since winning his second title in 2019, opened the day with a thrilling 8-7 win over Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), a wrestler Sidakov beat to win his first world title in 2018.

Kentchadze hit a four-pointer but Sidakov managed to come back with two takedowns in the second period to win the bout. He then went on to beat Bekzod ABDURAKHAMANOV (UZB) 3-0 in the quarterfinals. Returning bronze medalist Yones EMAMI (IRI) was blanked 6-0 and Hetik CABOLOV (SRB) lost 6-4.

In the semifinals, Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) was no match for Sidakov as the AIN wrestler won 4-1 and booked his place against Dake.

A long-awaited bout between Dake and Sidakov has been looked at as the contender for the real dominant wrestler at 74kg.

The loss of Takatani means that Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) will have to earn a quota from other qualifiers while the loss of Kougioumtsidis meant that Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (AIN) and Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) will have to find another tournament to earn a quota for Paris.

Micic, however, will in all likelihood be Serbia's representative in Paris after booking the ticket.

He gave the first glimpse of how the day would look like with an 11-0 win over Gukhyeon KIM (KOR) and then a 7-2 win over Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) put him against Uguev in the quarterfinals. Both went back-and-forth with Uguev opening the scoring with a takedown. But Micic came back with a takedown. His 2-2 criteria live was short-lived as Uguev made it 5-2 and later 7-2.

Micic, however, did not give up, mounting an incredible comeback with two takedowns. The Serbian, trailing 7-6 with 40 seconds remaining, got Uguev for two points with seven seconds remaining to get the win.

If that was not enough, Abakarov was his next victim in the semifinal. Micic was trailing 2-1 and Abakarov was happy to hold the lead but Micic managed to hit a four-pointer and take a 5-2 lead. Abakarov challenged the call but the four points were upheld, giving Micic the win and Olympic quota.

To crown Serbia's first-ever Freestyle world champion, Micic will have to beat Higuchi who survived a barn burner against Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM).

The European champion at 61kg, Harutyunyan hit a four-pointer to start the match. But Higuchi used his arm-bar offense and leg lace to win 16-14 in the quarterfinals. He blanked Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ) 11-0 in the semifinals.

Higuchi missed the Tokyo Olympics after his bid to return to 57kg was cut short, first by a missed weight at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers and later by Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN), who won a playoff against Higuchi to represent Japan at the home Olympics.

In the non-Olympic weight classes, In the non-Olympic weight classes, Akhmed USMANOV (AIN) defeated two-time returning silver medalist Mohamad NOKHODI (IRI) in the semifinal and will face U23 world champion Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) for the gold at 79kg.

At 92kg, returning bronze medalist Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE) made short work of Asian champion and 19-year-old Arash YOSHIDA (JPN) by beating him 11-0 in the semifinal. Yoshida had earlier defeated Vladislav VALIEV (AIN) in the opening bout of his debut World Championships.

He will face another 19-year-old, Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ), for the gold medal. Aitmukhan defeated returning bronze medalist Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) to enter his first World Championships final. Aitmukhan was second to Yoshida in the Asian Championships final in April.