#WrestleNoviSad

Russia Leads Georgia Heading into Final Day of Freestyle Competition

By Eric Olanowski

NOVI SAD, Serbia (March 9) – Razambek ZHAMALOV and Radik VALIEV claimed Day 6 freestyle gold medals and helped the Russian Federation carry a 25 points lead over Georgia into the final day of wrestling at the U23 European Championships. 

Zhamalov barreled past Poland’s Patryk OLENCZYN and scored the 13-0 technical superiority victory in the 70kg finals. The Russian pocketed his impressive 13 points from a five-point fireman’s carry, a four-point throw, and a pair of takedowns, and claimed his first-ever continental medal. 

Radik Valiev didn’t have much trouble with Turkey's Ramazan SARI in the 79kg finals, where he scored the 7-2 victory and won his second consecutive U23 European title.

Russia also collected 20 points from their pair of Day 6 silver medalists Amirkhan GUVAZHOKOV and Shamil MUSAEV. 

Guvazhokov fell short to Ukraine’s Andrii YATSENKO in the 57kg gold-medal bout. Yatsenko was behind in the closing minute but scored a takedown and a leg lace to gain the 8-8 lead on criteria with under a minute to go in the match. The Ukrainian wrestler tacked on an exposure and another point for a failed Russian challenge and won the 57kg title, 11-8.

Yatsenko’s win on Saturday night gave him his first European title since he won the 2013 Cadet European Championships. 

The second Russian who dropped his finals match was Shamil Musaev, who fell to Turkey’s Ibrahim CIFTCI, 7-4 in the 97kg finals. 

The fifth gold medal of the day came at the only weight that did not feature a Russian competitor, 65kg. Armenia’s Vazgen TEVANYAN scored a late downtown in the first period, which ultimately turned out to be the match-deciding scoring sequence, as he defeated Edemi BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-1. 

RESULTS 
Team Scores 
GOLD - Russia (94 points)
SILVER – Georgia  (69 points)
BRONZE - Turkey (66 points)
Fourth – Ukraine  (52 points)
Fifth – Moldova (36 points)

57kg 
GOLD - Andrii YATSENKO (UKR) df. Amirkhan GUVAZHOKOV (RUS), 11-8 
BRONZE - Saban KIZILTAS (TUR) df. Razvan KOVACS (ROU), 7-5
BRONZE - Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO) df. Mikyay Salim NAIM (BUL), 5-4

65kg 
GOLD - Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) df. Edemi BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-1 
BRONZE - Ilman MUKHTAROV (FRA) df. Maxim SACULTAN (MDA), 3-1
BRONZE - Roman ASHARIN (HUN) df. Fati VEJSELI (MKD), 14-2

70kg
GOLD - Razambek ZHAMALOV (RUS) df. Patryk OLENCZYN (POL), 11-0 
BRONZE - Daud IBRAGIMOV (AZE) df. Vasile DIACON (MDA), 6-5 
BRONZE - Mihail Iliev GEORGIEV (BUL) df. Daniel CHOMANIC (SVK), 5-0

79kg 
GOLD - Radik VALIEV (RUS) df. Ramazan Ishak SARI (TUR), 7-2 
BRONZE - Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO) df. Uladzislau YELISEYEU (BLR), 4-0 
BRONZE - Adlan BATAIEV (UKR) df. Simon Christian HARTMANN (AUT), 10-0 

97kg
GOLD -  Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR) df. Shamil Alievitch MUSAEV (RUS), 7-4 
BRONZE - Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (BLR) df. Simone IANNATTONI (ITA), 11-0 
BRONZE - Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO) df. Aleksandar PANTELIC (SRB), 10-0 

LIVE BLOG: Pan-American Championships (DAY FOUR)

By Eric Olanowski

CORALVILLE, United States (May 10) -- We just kicked off the final day of wrestling, not only at the Pan-American Championships, but of the continental championship season. Today, we'll had out the final seven freestyle golds at 57kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg, 92kg, 97kg and 125kg.

Stars in Action:
Levi David HAINES (USA) - World silver medalist 
Real Marshall Ray WOODS (USA) - World bronze medalist 
Darian Toi CRUZ (PUR) - Paris 2024 Olympian 
Wyatt Avery HENDRICKSON (USA) - Pan-Am champion

12:15: Once we finish these matches on Mat A, we'll be taking a quick five-minute break then head right into the semfinals.  

11:56: Not much to say about Wyatt Avery HENDRICKSON (USA). He hit a snap down to a cradle and pinned Brandon Eloin ANGUIANO FLORES (MEX) in 31 seconds. He'll wrestle the winner of  Gabriel DE SOUSA SILVA (BRA) and Aaron Anthony JOHNSON (JAM) in today's semifinals.

11:38: We have not talk much about the reinging world silver medalist, Levi David HAINES (USA), but he's coming up next on Mat A. He's already had a pair of matches that have both ended in 10-0 wins. He'll try to make it three-for-three, as he'll wrestle Patrik LEDER (CAN) next.

11:36: We're back to action on Mat A. The issue has been fixed and Jose Daniel DIAZ ROBERTTI (VEN) and  Jorawar Singh DHINSA (CAN) are finally wrestling.

11:28: We're having technical issues on Mat A. We apologize for the delay but we'll be back to wrestling once the IT issues get solved.

11:16: Impotant note for tonight's final session. We'll start at 16:00, an hour earlier than normally scheduled. The start time has been updated from 17:00 to 16:00,

11:10: We're doing a mini doc on Hidlay so we just ran back to do a quick interivew and also ran the Question of the Day: "Which Olympic champion has the best shot to win 97kg world gold in Bahrain? Sadulaev, Snyder, Tazhudinov or Yazdani?" That'll be up on our IG tomorrow, so stay tuned.  

10:41: Hidlay who won 10-0  about 15 minutes ago is already coming up again shortly. He'll be up in three matches on Mat A against AMBROCIO GREIFO Pool Edinson (PER).

10:26: It'll be very USA heavy today. They have a lot of firepower taking the mat and are favored in nearly every weight today. But on a non-USA note: reigning Pan-Am runner-up from Puerto Rico Shane Christopher JONES (PUR) scored four takedowns in his opening round match against Andrew Terry Musey JOHNSON (CAN), picking up the 8-2 win. 

10:20: Reigning world champion Trent HIDLAY (USA) is the biggest star in action today. He's making his way to Mat A as we speak for his opening round match. I actually just spoke to his coach Jamil KELLY (USA) and this is the match that they circled coming into the competition as the toughest that Trent will face here in Iowa.