#Rome2018

Russian Women Collect Five European Golds

By Eric Olanowski

ROME, Italy (August 3) - Russia closed out women’s wrestling on the fifth day of competition at the 2018 Junior European Championships with two gold medals, bringing their overall gold medal total to five. This is an improvement from their three gold medal performance at last year’s Dortmund European Championships.  

Coming into the final day of women’s wrestling, Russia had two finalists and commanded a 26-point lead over second place Turkey who had a solo day five finalist. Russia remained in the lead throughout the day, claiming the team title 26 points ahead of Ukraine, who surpassed Turkey for the second place spot with their pair of day five champions. 

Viktoriia VAULINA (RUS) and Evgeniia ZAKHARCHENKO (RUS) each wrapped up their gold medal bouts early, squashing their opponents 10-0 on their way to the top of the podium. 

Viktoriia Vauline, the 2014 cadet world champion finally got her age-level European gold medal after closing out the past two years with second and third place finishes. 

In the 57kg finals, Vauline shutout Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE), 10-0, giving Russia their fourth women’s wrestling gold medal. 

Evgeniia Zakharchenko was the second Russian women and fifth overall to win a gold medal. Zakharchenko only needed one minute to lock up a takedown and four trap-arm gut-wrenches, grabbing the 10-0 technical superiority victory over Enrica RINALDI (ITA). 

Wrestling resumes tomorrow with freestyle’s qualification rounds beginning at 10:30 AM (local time). The semifinals start at 5:15 PM and will be followed by the medal matches at 6:00 PM. 

RESULTS

Team Scores
GOLD – Russia (186 points)
SILVER – Ukraine (160 points)

BRONZE – Turkey (136 points)
Fourth – Italy (93 points)
Fifth – Germany (77 points)

53kg
GOLD - Zeynep YETGIL (TUR) df. Tatyana VARANSOVA (AZE), 10-0 

BRONZE -  Andreea Beatrice ANA (ROU) df. Yevgeniya PAVLOVA (UKR), 12-5
BRONZE -  Ekaterina VERBINA (RUS) df. Kremena Krasimirova PETROVA (BUL),11-0 

57kg
GOLD -  Viktoriia VAULINA (RUS) df. Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE), 10-0 

BRONZE -  Alina AKOBIIA (UKR) df. Aleksandrina Nikolaeva KASHINOVA (BUL), 4-0 
BRONZE - Serena BOELKE (GER) df. Magdalena Urszula GLODEK (POL), 8-4

62kg
GOLD - Anhelina LYSAK (UKR) df. Yuliana Vasileva YANEVA (BUL), 5-1

BRONZE -  Daria BOBRULKO (RUS) df. Krystsina SAZYKINA (BLR), 2-2 
BRONZE -  Linnea Antonia SVENSSON (SWE) df. Viktoria FELHO (HUN), 8-0 

65kg
GOLD - Oksana CHUDYK (UKR) df. Eyleen SEWINA (GER), 10-0 

BRONZE - Elena ESPOSITO (ITA) df. Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL), 1-0 
BRONZE -  Asli DEMIR (TUR) df. Noémi SZABADOS (HUN), 5-3 

72kg
GOLD -  Evgeniia ZAKHARCHENKO (RUS) df. Enrica RINALDI (ITA), 10-0 

BRONZE - Maria larisa NITU (ROU) df. Kamila Czeslawa KULWICKA (POL), 3-2 
BRONZE -  Romana VOVCHAK (UKR) df. Tugba KILIC (TUR), 12-2 

#development

ISF Gymnasiade in Zlatibor adds coaching seminar for Serbian coaches

By United World Wrestling Press

ZLATIBOR, Serbia (April 24) -- United World Wrestling partnered with the International School Sports Federation (ISF) to provide a coaching education seminar for Serbian coaches at the ISF Gymnasiade, which was held in Zlatibor, Serbia, from April 4-12, with the wrestling competition being held from April 6-8.

Wrestling has been a part of each of the Gymnasiade events, and the previous edition was held in Bahrain last October.

As part of the Gymnasiade events, ISF focuses on providing education to coaches and PE teachers. UWW was fortunate to give a training session for Serbian coaches at this event.

The training was led by UWW Educators Georgi SREDKOV (BUL), Neven ZUGAJ (CRO and Nenad ZUGAJ (CRO).

The seminar was attended by 23 coaches over the two sessions. The morning session focused on sound strategies for coaching and better understanding wrestling rules. The afternoon session was a practical session on the mats that focused on sharing wrestling techniques and implementing interactive games. 

Sredkov also participated in the ISF Forum on Beyond the Events: How School Sports Shape Future Leaders, which was held on April 9.

During the Forum, Sredkov discussed how wrestling helps athletes learn to find solutions to problems, how competing helps handle pressure and remain calm and focused, and the importance of collaboration for success. 

The wrestling competition was held in Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women's Wrestling, and 303 athletes from 16 countries participated. The results can be found here.