#WrestleSofia

Russia has three Greco-Roman finalists for last day of #WrestleSofia

By Taylor Miller

SOFIA, Bulgaria – The final five gold-medal matches of the 2019 Cadet World Championships have been set for Sunday evening in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Leading the field is 2018 Youth Olympic Games silver medalist and 2018 Cadet European champion Stepan STARODUBTSEV (RUS), who will wrestle for 71 kg gold in Greco-Roman.

Looking to challenge Starodubtsev is 2019 Cadet Asian runner-up Reza SAKI (IRI), who knocked off reigning World champion and 208 Youth Olympic champ Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) in the semifinals with a 6-6 win on criteria.

In addition to Starodubtsev, Russia put two other athletes into the gold-medal matches.

Also representing Russia in the gold-medal bout is Muhammed EVLOEV (RUS), who will make his second appearance in the Cadet World finals. In 2017, he finished with a World silver medal.

For gold, Evloev will face 2019 European silver and 2018 European bronze medalist Lachin VALIYEV (AZE).

At 60 kg, 2019 Cadet European champion Maksim SKURATOV (RUS) outlasted 2019 Cadet Asian silver winner Seyed SOHRABI (IRI), 3-0, in the semifinals.

Skuratov will go up against two-time European medalist Mert ILBARS (TUR) for the title.

Wrestling for the crown at 51 kg is Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) and Elmir ALIYEV (AZE).

Esmaeili Leivesi advanced to the finals with a 9-0 win, taking out hometown favorite and returning World bronze medalist and 2018 Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist Edmond NAZARYAN (BUL), son of legendary Armen Nazarian, a two-time Olympic champion and three-time World champion.

2019 Cadet Asian champion Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ) will compete for the gold medal at 45 kg. Looking to challenge him is Asadbek BAKHRAMAOV (UZB), who was eighth at Cadet Asian Championships earlier this year.

The finals will take place Sunday at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) live on unitedworldwrestling.org.

Finals matchups
45 kg: Asadbek BAKHRAMAOV (UZB) vs. Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ)
51 kg: Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) vs. Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)
60 kg: Mert ILBARS (TUR) vs. Maksim SKURATOV (RUS)
71 kg: Stepan STARODUBTSEV (RUS) vs. Reza SThe fAKI (IRI)
92 kg: Muhammed EVLOEV (RUS) vs. Lachin VALIYEV (AZE)

#WrestleSofia

#WrestleSofia Weight-to-Watch: 74kg

By Eric Olanowski

SOFIA, Bulgaria (April 30) --- One of the biggest questions coming into next week's (May 6-9) World Olympic Qualifier: Can Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) keep his hot streak alive and punch Slovakia’s ticket to the Olympic Games?

To do so, Salkazanov will have to reach the finals in one of the must-watch weight classes in Bulgaria, 74kg.

Last weekend, Salkazanov became the third Slovakian wrestler to win a European gold medal, and he did so by scoring improbable come-from-behind-wins against a two-time world champion, a world silver medalist and a U23 world champion.

Salkazanov ran through Switzerland’s Marc DIETSCHE in the opening round, then threw two-time world champion Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) to his back with less than 10 seconds left and won, 6-2. That set up a quarterfinals match against ’18 world silver medalist Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO). With a spot in the semifinals on the line, Salkazanov trailed Kentchadze, 5-0, but scored six unanswered points in the second period and upset the Georgian Tokyo Olympian, 6-5. He then erased a five-point deficit for a second consecutive match and moved into the finals with a surprising 6-5 win over tournament-favorite and Individual World Cup champion Razambek ZHAMALOV (RUS). In the finals, the Slovakian only needed five minutes to uproot Miroslav KIROV (BUL), 10-0 in the finals.

Salkazanov highlights the loaded 36-man bracket in Sofia that features a slew of world and Olympic medalists, including Olympic bronze medalist Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR) and world champion Hetik CABOLOV (SRB).

Rio bronze medalist Demirtas will be tasked with trying to book Turkey their fifth Olympic berth. He’s no stranger to being in this position. Demirtas was here in ’12 and ’16. He fell short in ’12 but got the job done and won gold at the Ulaan-Baatar Last Change Qualifier before running to a podium finish in Brazil.

On Wednesday, the IOC Executive Board accepted the application for a change of nationality for Hetik CABOLOV (SRB) -- formally known as Khetik TSABALOV (RUS).

Cabolov defeated two-time world champion Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) in the ’20 Russian National semifinals but fell to Razambek Zhamalov in the finals – ending his hopes of representing Russia at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Shortly after that loss, he transferred to Serbia and competed for them at the ’21 European Championships. Cabolov had a wild back and forth match with Kentchadze but fell, 10-6, and dropped to a 14th-place finish.

Continental champions Ogbonna JOHN (NGR) (Africa), Arsalan BUDAZHAPOV (KGZ) (Asia) and Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (BLR) (Europe) are also entered at the weight.

Two other dark horses to keep an eye on are Ali UMARPASHAEV (BUL) and Mitchell FINESILVER (ISR).

In his last showing, Ali UMARPASHAEV (BUL) reached the semifinals European Olympic Qualifier and was four minutes away from punching Bulgaria’s ticket to the Olympic Games. He led Avtantil Kentchazde 6-0 but got caught in a cradle and surrendered the fall.

Finsilver is coming off a bronze-medal finish at the European Championships. He won three matches and became Israel’s first European medalist since ’91.

74kg
Francisco de Deus KADIMA (ANG)
Jorge Ivan LLANO (ARG)
Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM)
Elias Lauofo VAOIFI (ASA)
Simon MARCHL (AUT)
Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (BLR)
Ali Pasha Ruslanovich UMARPASHAEV (BUL)
Jasmit Singh PHULKA (CAN)
Leon Juan Carlos PERALTA LANAS (CHI)
Nestor Joaquin TAFUR BARRIOS (COL)|
Julio Rafael RODRIGUEZ ROMERO (DOM)
Jonatan ALVAREZ DIAZ (ESP)
Aimar ANDRUSE (EST)
Nicolae COJOCARU (GBR)|
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
Amit Kumar DHANKHAR (IND)
Mitchell Louis FINESILVER (ISR)
Mathayo Matonya MAHABILA (KEN)
Arsalan BUDAZHAPOV (KGZ)
Byungmin GONG (KOR)
Evgheni NEDEALCO (MDA)
Byambadorj BAT ERDENE (MGL)
Ogbonna Emmanuel JOHN (NGR)
Abdullrahman Ibrahim A IBRAHIM (QAT)
Zurab KAPRAEV (ROU)
Mohamed SESAY (SLE)
Malik Michael AMINE (SMR)
Hetik CABOLOV (SRB)
Marc DIETSCHE (SUI)
Tajmuraz Mairbekovic SALKAZANOV (SVK)
Alymuhammet OVEZMYRADOV (TKM)
Ayoub BARRAJ (TUN)
Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)