#WrestleDortmund

Bayramov Bulldozes Way to Second Junior Euro Title

Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 22:53 By Eric Olanowski

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DORTMUND, Germany (June 29) --- Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) bulldozed his way to a second junior European title, while Polat POLATCI (TUR) ascended to the top of the junior European podium by pinning Ali ALIEV (RUS) after trailing by nine points in the 97kg finals.

Bayramov, the ’19 U23 world champion, blanked all of his opponents en route to the 70kg title. Heading into Tuesday’s finals, he outscored his three opponents 26-0, and after shutting out Stanislav NOVAC (MDA) 7-0 in the finals, stretched that clean sheet to 35-0.

Bayramov’s win in Dortmund on Tuesday marked the third time the Azeri claimed European gold. He also won a cadet title in ’18 and a junior title in ’19.

Turkey’s Polatci closed out the day with an unbelievable comeback performance. He trailed 13-4 against Ali Aliev in the second period of the 97kg finals when he stopped a lazy Russian gut wrench attempt and scored the fall.

Meanwhile, Russia reeled in three gold medals and a silver medal and lead Turkey by 26 points heading into the final day of freestyle wrestling at the Junior European Championships.

Ukraine (53 points), Georgia (52 points) and Azerbaijan (47 points) round of the top five in the team score after Tuesday’s action.

Thanks to gold-medal performances by Said KHUNKEROV (RUS), Turpal Ali KHATUEV (RUS) and Rasul ASLUEV (RUS), and Aliev winning silver, Russia has a comfortable lead heading into Wednesday’s final day of freestyle action.

At 57kg, Khunkerov muscled his way to an 8-2 win over Khndzrtsyan in the finals. The Russian capitalized on two takedowns in each period and won gold, 8-2.

Khatuev walked his way to the 65kg gold medal. After the first period, he led 6-0 from a pair of takedowns and a leg lace. A right-sided sweep single leg put the Russian up 8-0 late in the second period. He conceded a late step out, but ultimately picked up a second gold of the night for Russia with the 8-1 victory.

Although it was lackluster, Asluev won Russia’s third gold of the day with a 3-1 win over Greece’s Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE). He scored an inactivity point, step out and failed challenge as time expired and bagged 79kg gold.

Wrestling at the Junior European Championships resumes on Wednesday at 11:30 (local time) and can be followed on www.uww.org.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD - Said KHUNKEROV (RUS) vs. Manvel KHNDZRTSYAN (ARM), 8-2
BRONZE - Giorgi GEGELASHVILI (GEO) vs. Ahmet KARAVUS (TUR), 11-0
BRONZE - Thomas EPP (SUI) df. Ioannis MARTIDIS (GRE), 1-1

65kg
GOLD - Turpal Ali KHATUEV (RUS) df. Mykyta HONCHAROV (UKR), 8-1
BRONZE - Giorgi TCHOLADZE (GEO) df. Sabir JAFAROV (AZE), 7-4
BRONZE - Ayub Muratovitch MUSAEV (BEL) df. Marcell BUDAI KOVACS (HUN), 12-8

70kg
GOLD - Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) vs. Stanislav NOVAC (MDA), 7-0
BRONZE - Narek HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) df. Davit PATSINASHVILI (GEO), 7-6
BRONZE - Mevlut OZDEMIR (TUR) df. Viktor VOINOVIC (SRB), 8-4

79kg
GOLD - Rasul ASLUEV (RUS) df. Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), 3-1
BRONZE - smail KUCUKSOLAK (TUR) df. Otari ADEISHVILI (GEO), 10-7
BRONZE - Richard SCHROEDER (GER) vdf Viktor KRUPA (UKR), 2-1

97kg
GOLD - Polat POLATCI (TUR) df. Ali ALIEV (RUS), via fall
BRONZE - Danylo STASIUK (UKR) df. Yusuf SENYIGIT (GER), 10-0
BRONZE - Milan Andras KORCSOG (HUN) df. Alexandru BESLIU (ROU), 11-0

#UWWAwards

UWW Top Ranked Wrestlers of 2025: Verbina, Komarov, Aoyagi

Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 19:03 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 17) -- United World Wrestling has announced the three Best Ranked Wrestlers in 2025. The three wrestlers earned the most ranking points in the year 2025.

The most ranking points in the year 2025 were earned by world champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) in Greco-Roman as he scored 83,500 points. In Women's Wrestling, world silver medalist Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW) was the highest ranked wrestler as she earned 64,200 points.

In Freestyle, world champion Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) earned 76,900 points, the best among all wrestlers.

Verbina: Women's 55kg

Verbina may not have won the gold medal at the World Championships but she had a busy year, wrestling more often than others. That earned her more ranking points than many as she finished at the top of the rankings in Women's Wrestling.

Her first competition was the Zagreb Open Ranking Series in which she finished fifth for just 4,000 points. In the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Tirana, Albania where she finished with a bronze medal that earned her 5,2000 points. She added 10,000 points for her gold medal at the European Championships. Another gold, at the Budapest Ranking Series, added 8,000 points.

Verbina entered the World Championships with 27,200 points. She jumped ahead of many with 37,000 points for her silver medal at 55kg. Her total went up to 64,200 points, taking her past the likes of world champions Sakura ONISHI (JPN) and Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN). Both finished 1,200 points less than Verbina.

Komarov: Greco 87kg

Komarov began his season with the Zagreb Open Ranking Series and finished fifth, giving him 9,000 points. A similar result at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series gave him 9,000 points.

A big boost came at the European Championships in which Komarov won a bronze medal at 87kg to earn 11,500 points. In June, another fifth place finish at the Budapest Ranking Series added 9,000 points to his name to take the total to 38,500 points before the World Championships.

In Zagreb at the Worlds, Komarov won the gold medal and earned a stunning 45,000 points to 83,500 points, the most among all wrestlers and 13,780 points more than second most -- Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB).

Aoyagi: Freestyle 70kg

World champion was the top ranked freestyle wrestler with 76,900 points, 9,600 points more than the second place wrestler.

His first competition was the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in which he bagged the gold medal to earn 11,000 points. He then added a bronze medal at the Asian Championships and earned 9,500 points for the same.

The Budapest Ranking Series gold gave him another 11,000 points, taking his total to 31,500 points before the World Championships. He became a world champion in Zagreb and that gold medal was worth 45,000 points, sending his total to 76,500 points.

Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), with 66,900 points, is the second-best wrestler, 9,600 points less than Aoyagi.