#WrestleBucharest

Pair of World Final Rematches Highlight Day Seven Gold-Medal Bouts

By Eric Olanowski

BUCHAREST, Romania (April 13) – The final five Greco-Roman gold-medal bouts are settled, and it was the Russian Federation, who again placed three wrestlers into the finals. Russia leads second-place Azerbaijan by 34 points heading into the final session of wrestling at Bucharest’s Polyvalent Hall. 

The three Russian Day 7 finalists are Sergey EMELIN, Abuiazid MANTSIGOV, and Musa EVLOEV, who’ll wrestle for gold at 60kg, 72kg, and 97kg respectively.

Emelin and Evloev will both wrestle the men they defeated in Budapest to capture their world titles last October. Tonight, Emelin will wrestle Moldova’s Victor CIOBANU in the 60kg finals, and Evloev will wrestle Bulgaria's Kiril MILOV in the finals at 97kg. 

The third Russian gold-medal hopeful is Abduiazid Mantsigov. He’ll wrestle Turkey’s reigning U23 world champion Cengiz ARSLAN for the 72kg European title.

The two weights not featuring a wrestler from the Russian Federation are 67kg and 82kg. 

Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) inserted himself into the 67kg finals with a 5-3 semifinals win over Mate NEMES (SRB). Sahakyan trailed 3-0, but closed out the first period with a takedown and trailed 3-2. In the final period, the Polish wrestled scored an inactivity point and an exposure to seal up his spot in the  67kg finals.

Sahakyan will meet Turkey’s Atakan YUKSEL (TUR), who scored the 3-1 semifinals win over Georgia’s Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO). 

At 82kg, Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) put away Finland's Vili Tapio ROPPONEN with a pair of highlight reel five-point moves and will take on Denmark's Rajbek BISULTANOV, who shocked reigning world runner-up Emrah KUS (TUR), 5-5, in the semifinals. Bisultanov led 5-0, but gave up five straight points (an inactivity point, and two exposures), and held on to win on criteria. 

If Bisultanov reaches the top of the podium tonight in Bucharest, he'll become Denmark’s first European champion since Johannes JACOBSEN won the Riga European title in 1926. 

The Day 7 finals begin at 18:00 (local time) and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

RESULTS
60kg 
GOLD - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) vs. Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
SEMIFNIAL - Victor CIOBANU (MDA) df. Lenur TEMIROV (UKR), 6-4
SEMIFNIAL -  Sergey EMELIN (RUS) vs. Kerem KAMAL (TUR), 7-0 

67kg 
GOLD - Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) vs. Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) 
SEMIFINAL - Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) df. Mate NEMES (SRB), 5-3 
SEMIFINAL - Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) df. Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO), 3-1

72kg
GOLD - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) vs. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)
SEMIFINAL - Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR) df. Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL), 2-1 
SEMIFINAL - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) df. Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), 9-0 

82kg
GOLD - Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) vs. Rajbek BISULTANOV (DEN)
SEMIFINAL -. Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) df. Vili Tapio ROPPONEN (FIN) df 11-0 
SEMIFINAL - Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN) df. Emrah KUS (TUR), 5-5 

97kg 
GOLD - Musa EVLOEV (RUS) vs. Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL)
SEMIFINAL - Musa EVLOEV (RUS) df. Daigoro TIMONCINI (ITA), 3-1
SEMIFINAL - Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL) df. Matti Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN), 4-1 

#development

Finland looking for head coaching candidates

By United World Wrestling Press

HELSINKI, Finland (September 23) --- The Finnish Wrestling Federation is looking for a head coach and national team coaches for results-responsible positions for the 2025–2028 Olympics. We require the coach to have competence and commitment to the level of requirements of international top sports/youth coaching activities aimed at the top.

Duties and responsibilities of the Head Coach

  • Acts as the head of coaching and leads coaching activities (all forms of wrestling)
  • Responsible for LA2028 federation-led coaching of elite athletes (plans, daily coaching, competitions, camps, follow-up)
  • Responsible for success according to the goals, works closely with HUY, coaching centers and other important stakeholders
  • Responsible for the implementation of the national team activities of all forms of wrestling according to the budget (monitoring)
  • Developer of top coaching and participates in coach training.


The national team coach works full-time in contract-led coaching positions (e.g. top-level coach, youth national team coach) and in daily coaching. In addition to his own job, the OTO national team coach works in the coaching positions of the federation management according to the contract. The tasks and responsibilities of the national team coaches in question become clearer when the whole of the coaching is clear.

Responsibilities, tasks and other working conditions related to the content of the work are agreed upon in negotiations between the parties. The tasks, their fulfillment and the duration of the fixed-term contract depend on the commitments of the Olympic Committee's elite sports unit and other sponsors of the salary. An entity other than Painiliitto can also act as an employer. The work includes travel and evening and weekend work, and no separate compensation is paid for it.

If you are interested in the above-mentioned positions, please send a free-form application and a concise summary of your skills, education and experience by email to info@painiliitto.net by Friday, October 4, 2024.

Also, tell us your salary expectations and which positions you are interested in ( wrestling form, age group, full-time job, or working alongside your own job, etc. ). You can apply for several different positions with one application, as long as you tell us which positions you are interested in. Employment begins on January 1, 2025 or later, when case-specific salary funding has been confirmed.

Inquiries: Pekka Paavola, Chairman of the Wrestling Association (044 977 5287)