#WrestleBaku

European Paris 2024 Freestyle Qualification Bouts Set

Sunday, April 7, 2024 - 06:00 By United World Wrestling Press

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BAKU, Azerbaijan (April 7) -- The final day of the European OG Qualifier in Baku, Azerbaijan with 12 Freestyle quotas to be won for the Paris Olympics. Wrestlers who finish top two in the six weight classes will qualify their countries for the the Games.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 2 REPORT

Paris Olympic Qualification Bout Set

 

57kg
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD) vs. Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE)
Georgi VANGELOV (BUL) vs. Aryan TSIUTRYN (AIN)

65kg
Maxim SACULTAN (MDA) vs. Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Haji ALIYEV (AZE) vs. Islam DUDAEV (ALB)

74kg
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) vs. Frank CHAMIZO (ITA)
Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (AIN) vs. Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)

86kg
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) vs. Artur NAIFONOV (AIN)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR) vs. Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)

97kg
Alikhan ZHABRAILOV (AIN) vs. Illia ARCHAIA (UKR)
Radoslaw BARAN (POL) vs. Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (AIN)

125kg
Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL) vs. Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (AIN)
Alen KHUBULOV (BUL) vs. Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)

14:15: Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE) puts himself in the 86kg semifinal with a 6-2 win over Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL). Nurmagomedov led 4-0 when Ramazanov scored a takedown and tried to turn Nurmagomedov who blocked Ramazanov during the turn and got two more points.

14:05: Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE) fails to break Artur NAIFONOV (AIN) defense and suffers a 2-1 loss against Naifonov who has dominated Kurugliev. Naifonov will wrestle for the Paris Olympic quota while Kurguliev will have to fight it out in Istanbul.

13:55: Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (AIN) and Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR) put on a show. The two wrestlers scrambled for the lead and on the mat but it was Kadimagomedov who managed to beat Demirtas 6-1. He will take on Salkazanov for a place in Paris Olympics

13:50: Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) survives an attempted pin from Miroslav KIROV (BUL) as the clock expires for the break. Kirov leads 3-1 with two minutes remaining. A stepout for Salkazanov to cut the lead to 3-2. Another one makes it 3-3 with Kirov holding criteria. With 25 seconds remaining, Salkazanov manages to push Kirov out and takes a 4-3 lead and the win at 74kg.

13:40: Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) with a 2-0 victory to enter the semifinals at 74kg. He will take on Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) to win a spot for the Paris Olympics.

13:15: Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE) with a solid 6-0 win over Suleyman ATLI (TUR) at 57kg to move into the semifinals. Tokyo Olympian Georgi VANGELOV (BUL) pins Kamil KERYMOV (UKR)

13:00: Haji ALIYEV (AZE) hangs on! He moves into the 65kg semifinals with a 4-2 win over Niurgun SKRIABIN (AIN). The National Gymnastics Arena here in Baku is overjoyed with that.

12:45: Artur NAIFONOV (AIN) and Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE) post contrasting wins in their 1/8 finals at 86kg. Naifonov beats  Ivars SAMUSONOKS (LAT) 10-0 while Kurguliev wins 2-0 against Sebastian JEZIERZANSKI (POL). Naifonov and Kurguliev will clash in the quarterfinals.

12:30: Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA) wins 11-0 over Aron CANEVA (ITA) at 86kg. On Mat C, Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) beats Osman GOCEN (TUR) 9-3 at 86kg. A big win for the Georgian wrestler who is moving up from 79kg.

12:10: Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) continues the winning start for Azerbaijan wrestlers by winning 10-0 at 74kg. Bayramov took only two minutes and 10 seconds to beat Tobias PORTMANN (SUI).

12:00: Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) marches on at 74kg. He beats Simon MARCHL (AUT) 7-1 to make his place in the quarterfinal.

11:40: Alikhan ZHABRAILOV (AIN), who replaced Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN), for Baku, starts with a 12-2 win over Benjamin HONIS (HUN) at 97kg.

11:35: Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE) entertains the home crowd with a technical superiority 11-0 win over Simone PIRODDU (ITA) at 57kg. Azerbaijan wrestlers are unbeaten so far in Baku

11:25: European champion Islam DUDAEV (ALB) begins his 65kg campaign with a 10-0 win over Dominik JAGUSZ (POL). He will wrestle Joshua FINESILVER (ISR) next

11:10: Two-time Olympic medalist Haji ALIYEV (AZE) felt the burn in the final minute but he does well to keep Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) at bay and win 5-2 at 65kg. On Mat A, Erik ARUSHUNIAN (UKR) beats Andre CLARKE (GER) 7-1 at 65kg. 

11:00: Artur NAIFONOV (AIN), wrestling internationally for the first time since the 2021 World Championships, gets going with a technical superiority 10-0 win over Aimar ANDRUSE (EST).

10:45: Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (AIN) uses a big throw for four in an 11-0 win over Stas David WOLF (GER) to move into the quarterfinals at 74kg.

10:40: In the first bout of the day, Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) is up on Mat C facing Patryk OLENCZYN (POL). He leads 6-0 at the break, scoring three takedowns in counters. He adds two more in the second period and gives up three points to win 10-3 and advance at 74kg.

10:30: Day three of the European OG Qualifier in Baku with Freestyle weight classes competing for 12 Paris 2024 spots.

#WrestleAthens

Iran survives Uzbekistan scare to win Greco title at U17 Worlds

Wednesday, July 30, 2025 - 16:59 By Vinay Siwach

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ATHENS, Greece (July 30) -- Four gold medals were not enough for Uzbekistan as they fell short in what could have been a generational team title in Greco-Roman at the World U17 Championships.

Iran, which won one gold medal out of 10, was crowned team champions as it performed well in placing their wrestlers in the weight classes. It finished with 125 points while Uzbekistan finished seven short at 118 points. Kazakhstan finished third with 113 points.

Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan were not far behind and finished fourth and fifth respectively, tied on 100 points. Both countries had one gold medal each but Kyrgyzstan had two silver medals to Azerbaijan's one to finish ahead of them.

Read More: Uzbekistan closer to Women's Wrestling history in Athens

Iran had eight wrestlers in the medal-bouts and six of them returned with one. Iran finished with one gold, one silver and four bronze medals. Uzbekistan, on the other side, had only those four golds to show. Four of its wrestlers did not contribute points to the team race.

In one head-to-head bout on Wednesday, Abolfazl ZARE (IRI) secured a 7-5 win over Humoyun ERKINOV (UZB) in 60kg bronze-medal bout which proved crucial. A win for Erkinov would have seen Uzbekistan win the title.

Then it was the gold medal of Amirsam MOHAMMADI (IRI) at 92kg which helped Iran jump from fourth place to first. He wrestled Kanstantsin KASYAN (UWW) for the gold medal and began with three stepouts. Kasyan was called passive and put in par terre. Mohammadi turned him twice and won the final 8-0 in 1 minute and 12 seconds.

Uzbekistan's two gold medals came at 51kg and 71kg.

Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB)Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB) won the gold medal at 51kg in Athens. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Asian U17 bronze medalist Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB) added a third Greco gold of the World U17 Championships for Uzbekistan after he defeated Hikmat HAGVERDIYEV (AZE), 4-1, in the 51kg.

Hagverdiyev was about to be called passive and put in par terre but he scored a stepout to avoid that call and lead 1-0. Tursunov answered with a stepout of his own and made 1-1. However, the criteria remained with Hagverdiyev as United World Wrestling is testing a new rule, where in Greco-Roman, if the score is 1-1, the criteria will be with the wrestler who got the first point.

Tursunov, however, got the par terre position in the second period and a 2-1 lead over Hagverdiyev. He defended his lead for the final minute and as the Azerbaijan wrestler tried a throw, he blocked him and landed on top, earning two more points.

Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB)Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB) upgraded his bronze from 2024 to gold in 2025. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

At 71kg, Asian U17 champion Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB) denied the hosts a gold after he defeated Dimitrios SOULIS (GRE), 3-1, in the final.

Valiev seemed to have taken the burnt from a few tough bouts from Tuesday as he struggled with his attacks against Soulis, who was egged on by vocal home fans.

However, he found enough inside him to turn from par terre and defend from that position in the second period to win the fourth gold medal of the tournament for Uzbekistan.

Ali NAZAROV (AZE)Ali NAZAROV (AZE) scored a 6-1 victory over Amangeldi YSAKBAEV (KGZ) in the 60kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Ali NAZAROV (AZE) showed why gut-wrench is still one of the best techniques to score points in wrestling as he rolled Amangeldi YSAKBAEV (KGZ) two times from par terre using gut wrench and win the world title at 60kg.

He later defended his par terre position, winning the final 6-1 and handing Azerbaijan the first gold medal for the World U17 Championships in Athens.

An action-packed match kicked off the medal bouts with Kuanyshbek ZHANGAZHOL (KAZ) and Nurkerim KUMARBEKOV (KGZ) did not hold back their attacks as soon as the final began.

Zhangazhol did not waste much time to get going in the final against Kumarbekov as he used an arm throw to score the first four points but it was removed after he was warned for using his leg.

But he scored a takedown for a 2-0 and then hit a front headlock throw to make it 6-0. Kumarbekov answered with a four-pointer as well and both wrestlers used arm-rolls in the same sequence to score points. When they broke off at the break, Zhangazhol led 8-6.

After the blazing first half, both wrestlers had a subdued second and no more points were scored despite desperate attempts from Kumarbekov. Zhangazhol celebrated his win a split-second early but there was no harm done.

Kyrgyzstan challenged for fleeing in the final five seconds and on review, Zhangazhol was it with a caution for defensive foul, it only got Kumarbekov a point, making Zhangazhol's winning score 8-7.

RESULTS

45kg
GOLD: Kuanyshbek ZHANGAZHOL (KAZ) df. Nurkerim KUMARBEKOV (KGZ), 9-6

BRONZE: Abdurrahman HUSEYNLI (AZE) df. Tymur MAHARRAMOV (UKR), 9-0
BRONZE: Vadim TARELUNGA (MDA) vs. Benyamin KHEZLI (IRI), 8-3

51kg
GOLD: Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB) df. Hikmat HAGVERDIYEV (AZE), 4-1

BRONZE: Marat ATSHEMYAN (ARM) df. Polat KARADENIZ (TUR), 11-0
BRONZE: Abu Bakar SAGA (NOR) df. Islam KURBANOV (KGZ), 5-3

60kg
GOLD: Ali NAZAROV (AZE) df. Amangeldi YSAKBAEV (KGZ), 6-1

BRONZE: Abolfazl ZARE (IRI) df. Humoyun ERKINOV (UZB), 7-5
BRONZE: Zaven MEZHLUMYAN (ARM) df. Denys SEREDIN (UKR), 5-2

71kg
GOLD: Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB) df. Dimitrios SOULIS (GRE), 3-1

BRONZE: Hossein KAZEMI (IRI) df. Yusif AHMADLI (AZE), 4-3
BRONZE: Marlen MEIRBEKULY (KAZ) df. Imre KOLOMPAR (HUN), 7-1

92kg
GOLD: Amirsam MOHAMMADI (IRI) df. Kanstantsin KASYAN (UWW), 8-0

BRONZE: Ahmet UZUN (TUR) df. Said PASHAYEV (AZE), 5-0
BRONZE: David CALKINS (USA) df. Ionut PATRU (ROU), 4-0