#WrestleCaorle

European U20 Championships 2025 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

CAORLE, Italy (June 27) -- The European U20 Championships will begin in Caorle, Italy from June 30 to July 6.

The seven-day competition will see more than 500 wrestlers in Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women's Wrestling.

Greco-Roman will kick off proceedings on June 30 followed by Women's Wrestling and Freestyle will be held in the end.

For full schedule of European U20 Championships, please click here.

Freestyle

57kg
Sasha PETROSYAN (ARM)
Kristian CIKEL (AUT)
Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE)
Esad BOZALI (BUL)
Nika ZANGALADZE (GEO)
Nico ALTMEYER (GER)
Karoly BARATH (HUN)
Riccardo BONANNO (ITA)
Ion BULGARU (MDA)
Mehmet USINOV (MKD)
Antoni GREGORCZYK (POL)
Nurettin KAPAL (TUR)
Orest PETRANIUK (UKR)
Matsvei SYTSEVICH (UWW)
Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW)

61kg
Ersjan KASHIKU (ALB)
Sargis BEGOYAN (ARM)
Bashir VERDIYEV (AZE)
Murad ILYAZ (BUL)
Rene TALTS (EST)
Danoush JOWKAR (GBR)
Saba GAMBASHIDZE (GEO)
Eliah LUCYGA (GER)
Marcell TOVOELGYI (HUN)
Pasquale LIUZZI (ITA)
Vasili LAZAREV (MDA)
Ivan OKSIUK (POL)
Sandro HUNGERBUEHLER (SUI)
Robert MESZAROS (SVK)
Yusuf KULALI (TUR)
Andrii SHOKALIUK (UKR)
Herbert AKAPIAN (UWW)
Adlan SAITIEV (UWW)

65kg
Arman MUSIKYAN (ARM)
Haji KARIMOV (AZE)
Erdal GALIP (BUL)
Lukas BRANDL (CZE)
Jorge RODRIGUEZ (ESP)
Janar LIPS (EST)
Lazare GUJARAIDZE (GEO)
Jannis REBHOLZ (GER)
Mozes LASZLO (HUN)
Alessandro NINI (ITA)
Maxim DIMOV (MDA)
Jakub KESY (POL)
Benjamin BOEJTHE (ROU)
Samilj DADAJEV (SRB)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Viktor BOROHAN (UKR)
Magomedkhan MAGAMEDKHANOV (UWW)
Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW)

70kg
Vladimir AZARYAN (ARM)
Ismayil RAHIMLI (AZE)
Kaloyan ATANASOV (BUL)
Denis GIL (ESP)
Rasmus JOGI (EST)
Abdoullah NAKAEV (FRA)
Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)
Justin FEDERER (GER)
Jozsef TOTH (HUN)
Tomas GORMLEY (IRL)
Daniele GUBBIOTTI (ITA)
Oleg KNISEVSKIJ (LTU)
Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA)
Trim ISMAILI (MKD)
Dominik JAGUSZ (POL)
Eduard LENARD (ROU)
Samuel SEDLAK (SVK)
Remzi TEMUR (TUR)
Mykyta SARIIEV (UKR)
Aliaksandr KAMBAYEU (UWW)
Islam KAZHAROV (UWW)

74kg
Arayik AYVAZYAN (ARM)
Omar GULMAMMADOV (AZE)
Stiliyan DZHOROV (BUL)
Nikolai TARASSOV (EST)
Abdoul NAKAEV (FRA)
Saba KOBAKHIDZE (GEO)
Manuel WAGIN (GER)
Theocharis KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Adam GAZDAG (HUN)
Declan BLIGH (IRL)
Raul CASO (ITA)
Titas PIJORAITIS (LTU)
Gabriel OJOG (MDA)
Mars DOMAJEV (NOR)
Antoni MAJCHRZAK (POL)
Alain HELLER (SUI)
Aslan OZTURK (TUR)
Bohdan OLIINYK (UKR)
Muslim MAKHMUDAU (UWW)
Ismail KHANIEV (UWW)

79kg
Narek NIKOGHOSYAN (ARM)
Mukhammad INSHAPIEV (AUT)
Muradkhan OMAROV (AZE)
Bozhidar DOBREV (BUL)
David KODAKOV GIL (ESP)
Tristan ALEKSANDROV (EST)
Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO)
Marat KARDANOV (GER)
Avraam MOUSTOPOULOS (GRE)
Mark LAPOSA (HUN)
Daniel SIMONIAN (ISR)
Riccardo DELLE CAVE (ITA)
Vlad STRATAN (MDA)
Filip KLATECKI (POL)
David SOARE (ROU)
Huseyin KABAKTAS (TUR)
Bohdan OLEKSIIENKO (UKR)
Aliaksandr VIARBITSKI (UWW)
Said SAIDULOV (UWW)

86kg
Razmik YEPREMYAN (ARM)
Mahammad ABASZADA (AZE)
Grigor CHERNAKOV (BUL)
Ondrej KOCMANEK (CZE)
Vladislav RJABTSEV (EST)
Mohammad UMKHADJIEV (FRA)
Dachi PAPINASHVILI (GEO)
Adam LEIFRIDT (GER)
Panagiotis POLYCHRONIDIS (GRE)
Zeteny GANGL (HUN)
Tomer DROZHNIAK (ISR)
Lorenzo MARCHESINI (ITA)
Alexandru BORS (MDA)
Bartlomiej NOWAKOWSKI (POL)
Darius SAS (ROU)
Nick SCHERRER (SUI)
Anton VYHIVSKYI (SVK)
Ahmet YAGAN (TUR)
Pavlo VASKOVSKYI (UKR)
Aliaksei KULAKOU (UWW)
Ali SHAMIROV (UWW)

92kg
Albin PEPOSHI (ALB)
Narek IKILIKYAN (ARM)
Anar JAFARLI (AZE)
Nikola PETROV (BUL)
Rakhman KHOUNKAEV (FRA)
Sandro KURASHVILI (GEO)
Grigorios SARIDIS (GRE)
Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN)
Brando MAGNANI (ITA)
Gheorghe MUTU (MDA)
Omer MEMEDI (MKD)
Alexandru OLTEAN (ROU)
Fabio GIANNETTO (SVK)
Eyup ONEN (TUR)
Yehor HOROKH (UKR)
Aliaksei ZHORAU (UWW)
Gadzhimurad GADZHIBATYROV (UWW)

97kg
Hrachik MKRTCHYAN (ARM)
Ravan MUSAYEV (AZE)
Andriyan VALKANOV (BUL)
Ashab DADAEV (FRA)
Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
Nikolaos KARAVANOS (GRE)
Peter ZSIVNOVSZKI (HUN)
Giuliano SPACCAVENTO (ITA)
Armanis BARSAMYAN (LTU)
David ERHAN (MDA)
Ilija ATANASOV (MKD)
Mateusz PUDLOWSKI (POL)
David METEA (ROU)
Samuel BECK (SVK)
Ibrahim BENEKLI (TUR)
Kostiantyn ZADOIANCHUK (UKR)
Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW)

125kg
Henrik HAYKYAN (ARM)
Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE)
Dian MANEV (BUL)
Levan LAGVILAVA (FRA)
Aleksandre ABRAMISHVILI (GEO)
Ahmet SEKMEN (GER)
Daniel SZILAGYI (HUN)
Martino PILIERO (ITA)
Vladimir ANGHEL (MDA)
Michal DUBOWSKI (POL)
Sertac AKSOY (TUR)
Ivan MYROSHNYCHENKO (UKR)
Yaraslau KOKHAN (UWW)
Inal GAGLOEV (UWW)

Adam SILVERIN (SWE)Adam SILVERIN (SWE) will look to defend his title in Greco-Roman 60kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Levon GHAZARYAN (ARM)
Turan DASHDAMIROV (AZE)
Kaloyan IVANOV (BUL)
Jakub SEDLAK (CZE)
Nolan PISSOCHER (FRA)
Koba KARUMIDZE (GEO)
Peter TOTOK (HUN)
Lorenzo ARBORE (ITA)
Maxim SARMANOV (MDA)
Gracjan JEDUT (POL)
Dragos DRAGA (ROU)
Denizhan OGUN (TUR)
Nazarii BABINSKYI (UKR)
Rasim IBRAHIMAU (UWW)
Ivan SOLOMIN (UWW)

60kg
Mikel TROPLINI (ALB)
Yuri KARAPETYAN (ARM)
Aykhan JAVADOV (AZE)
Galin FURNADZHIEV (BUL)
Noa LJUBIC (CRO)
Artturi REINIO (EST)
Lucas LO GRASSO (FRA)
Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO)
Levente FIGE (HUN)
Gabriele PUCHER (ITA)
Maxim CARAUS (MDA)
Martin AAK (NOR)
Kacper SOBCZYK (POL)
Ionut MEREUTA (ROU)
Levin MEIER (SUI)
Adam SILVERIN (SWE)
Omer ALTAS (TUR)
Maksut SULTANOV (UKR)
Uladzimir KASTARONAK (UWW)
Murat KHATIT (UWW)

63kg
Aleks MARGARYAN (ARM)
Daniel STRUZINJSKI (AUT)
Tural AHMADOV (AZE)
Kristiyan MILENKOV (BUL)
Tin TURKOVIC (CRO)
Al Bara CHOPALAEV (EST)
Lauri PERKKA (FIN)
Saba SURMANIDZE (GEO)
Lukas BENZING (GER)
Marios KAPANTAIS (GRE)
Bende OLASZ (HUN)
Emanuele POLLINO (ITA)
Dumitru RAPESCO (MDA)
Ilias LAAOUINA (NED)
Mateusz ALOT (POL)
Iosif ZLOTAR (ROU)
Andrej VELISAVLJEV (SRB)
William EKEROT (SWE)
Haci ALTAN (TUR)
Maksym CHUHUIEV (UKR)
Yauheni SHVED (UWW)
Igor PUNCHENKO (UWW)

67kg
Hayk KALAJYAN (ARM)
Isa BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE)
Dimitar GEORGIEV (BUL)
Marko KLARIC (CRO)
Zdenek KUBALA (CZE)
Magnus RASMUSSEN (DEN)
Ilian DOUBACH (FRA)
Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Kevin KARL (GER)
Stavros NTOUNIAS (GRE)
Attila JOZSA (HUN)
Alessio ARANCIO (ITA)
Eimantas ANDRIUSKA (LTU)
Octavian CERNETCHI (MDA)
Bers TIMIRBIEV (NOR)
Jakub SUCHECKI (POL)
Pavel ALEXE (ROU)
Dejan BERKEC (SRB)
Saya BRUNNER (SUI)
Carl SANDIN (SWE)
Abdullah KESKIN (TUR)
Vladyslav POKOTYLO (UKR)
Mikhail MARKOUSKI (UWW)
Mingiian GORIAEV (UWW)

72kg
Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM)
Seymur GASIMOV (AZE)
Sergey STOEV (BUL)
Jure RAJKOVIC (CRO)
Gonzalo CAPARROS (ESP)
Andreas VAELJA (EST)
Oliver PADA (FIN)
Aleksandre RUSITASHVILI (GEO)
Maik GREIF (GER)
Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE)
Bendeguz FELKAI (HUN)
Federico CANIGLIA (ITA)
Aleksandrs TUMAREVICS (LAT)
Kipras PUIKIS (LTU)
Vladimir PASCARI (MDA)
Lars LETVIK (NOR)
Hubert SIDORUK (POL)
Mitja CENER (SLO)
Jovan MIOLSKI (SRB)
Axel BAFF (SWE)
Ibrahim OZDEMIR (TUR)
Anatolii PASNAK (UKR)
Yan ZIANKO (UWW)
TAMERLAN TARANUKHA (UWW)

77kg
Samvel TERTERYAN (ARM)
Lars MATT (AUT)
Davud MAMMADOV (AZE)
Hristo VALENTINOV (BUL)
Janno ILJAS (EST)
Vikke TARKKIO (FIN)
Anri PUTKARADZE (GEO)
Matti STOLT (GER)
Dimitrios ROMANIDIS (GRE)
Dominik BOTOS (HUN)
Nilo VIRGILII (ITA)
Constantin TASCA (MDA)
Igor DABROWSKI (POL)
Mihajlo ALEMPIJEVIC (SRB)
Yusuf TOSUN (TUR)
Petro SHAFRANSKYI (UKR)
Kiryl VALEUSKI (UWW)
Gamzat GADZHIEV (UWW)

82kg
Martik PETROSYAN (ARM)
Noah WALDER (AUT)
Elmin ALIYEV (AZE)
Martin SHISHEKOV (BUL)
Mihael LUKAC (CRO)
Petr ZAK (CZE)
Uku ESKEL (EST)
Severi MAEENPAEAE (FIN)
Haik SARGSYAN (FRA)
Tornike CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Dominic ARNOLD (GER)
Emmanouil NIKOLAIDIS (GRE)
Szabolcs SZINAY (HUN)
Luigi COMINI (ITA)
Marius STIHARU (MDA)
Alexander AEMAES (NOR)
Oskar LUBERA (POL)
Ognjen JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Bunyamin OZCAN (TUR)
Kyrylo SHNYROV (UKR)
Abdulmasih ABDULMASIH (UWW)
Mikhail SHKARIN (UWW)

87kg
Abraham MURADYAN (ARM)
Paul MAIER (AUT)
Orkhan HAJIYEV (AZE)
Petyo ANGELOV (BUL)
Antonio LUKAC (CRO)
Josef CERNY (CZE)
Marcus UHTJAERV (EST)
Elias LYYSKI (FIN)
Luka KOCHALIDZE (GEO)
Eleftherios PAPPAS (GRE)
Vilmos SCHEURING (HUN)
Elia CAIANIELLO (ITA)
Toms IRKLIS (LAT)
Cristian RUSU (MDA)
Martin LJOSAAK (NOR)
Wojciech IWANOWSKI (POL)
Gabriel STAN (ROU)
Branko DUKIC (SRB)
Yasin CAKIR (TUR)
Pavlo TORIANYK (UKR)
Ivan BIALIAYEU (UWW)
Abdurakhman ABDULKADYROV (UWW)

97kg
Lyova SHUKHYAN (ARM)
Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE)
Affan SMAJIC (BIH)
Jachym ZAJACIK (CZE)
Villas CHRISTENSEN (DEN)
Gor AYVAZYAN (GEO)
Darius KIEFER (GER)
Dimitrios PAPPAS (GRE)
Vendel VITAI (HUN)
Riccardo BUFIS (ITA)
Sebastian WARCHOL (POL)
Ozkan METE (TUR)
Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR)
Pavel SAVITSKI (UWW)
Saipula GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (UWW)

130kg
Seyran KIRAKOSYAN (ARM)
Leonhard JUNGER (AUT)
Mazaim MARDANOV (AZE)
Tomas RUSI (FIN)
Saba PURTSELADZE (GEO)
Ole STERNING (GER)
Dionysios ZOUGRIS (GRE)
Laszlo DARABOS (HUN)
Loris TUCCI (ITA)
Mateusz BIENCZAK (POL)
Marko SUPIC (SRB)
Yusuf BAKIR (TUR)
Ivan YANKOVSKYI (UKR)
Viachaslau FEDARYNA (UWW)
Ali ILIASOV (UWW)

Tuba DEMIR (TUR)Tuba DEMIR (TUR) will look to defend her 55kg gold medal at the European U20 Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Elvina KARIMZADA (AZE)
Juliette LESCURE (FRA)
Josephine WRENSCH (GER)
Laura FATH (HUN)
Alice FACCIO (ITA)
Lonisa REKA (KOS)
Adriana DANISEVICIUTE (LTU)
Eliza GONTA (MDA)
Olivia VAN KLEUNEN (NED)
Karolina ZIEN (POL)
Reka HEGEDUS (SVK)
Viktoria JOHANSSON (SWE)
Nil AKTAS (TUR)
Mariia NEMISH (UKR)
Kseniya KOSTSENICH (UWW)
Violetta BIRIUKOVA (UWW)

53kg
Nikol ALEKSANDROVA (BUL)
Lisette BOETTKER (EST)
Maelyss ROUSSELET (FRA)
Sofia MICHAILIDOU (GRE)
Liliana KAPUVARI (HUN)
Angela CRAPIO CASAROLA (ITA)
Dorentina NEZAJ (KOS)
Corina BOSTAN (MDA)
Ilona VALCHUK (POL)
Ana ROTARU (ROU)
Jinhwi OLSSON (SWE)
Sevval CAYIR (TUR)
Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR)
Valeryia TSITOVA (UWW)
Ekaterina CHIKANOVA (UWW)

55kg
Nesrin SYULEYMANOVA (BUL)
Pau GIMENO FRANCO (ESP)
Sara RANTONEN (FIN)
Lilya COHEN (FRA)
Katharina KRUPNA (GER)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
Fabiana RINELLA (ITA)
Amelia TOMALA (POL)
Alexandra VOICULESCU (ROU)
Ivana GAJIC (SRB)
Anja EPP (SUI)
Tuba DEMIR (TUR)
Diana KOTVYTSKA (UKR)
Valeryia MIKITSICH (UWW)
Natalia GORLOVA (UWW)

57kg
Gular HABIBOVA (AZE)
Filis KYAMIL (BUL)
Anna KOEBLO (HUN)
Maria PIRA (ITA)
Inna ALIMOVA (LTU)
Ecaterina LAPINA (MDA)
Csilla VAN OS (NED)
Felicitas DOMAJEVA (NOR)
Nicola WASILEWSKA (POL)
Jana PETROVIC (SRB)
Tindra DALMYR (SWE)
Ozlem GURSOY (TUR)
Albina KLIEFAS (UKR)
Darya ILYASEVICH (UWW)
Dolzhon TSYNGUEVA (UWW)

59kg
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Desislava IVANOVA (BUL)
Petra MRACKOVA (CZE)
Frida CHRISTIANSEN (DEN)
Rosa MOLINA (ESP)
Franziska BLAUMEISER (GER)
Eda BALAZS (HUN)
Denise PIRODDU (ITA)
Anna TIELIEGINA (LTU)
Madalina PRISACARI (MDA)
Nikola PIECHOCKA (POL)
Amelia SAMUELSSON (SWE)
Sevim AKBAS (TUR)
Mariia MIZIURKO (UKR)
Marta HETMANAVA (UWW)
Elena KUROVA (UWW)

62kg
Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Ivena BLIZNAKOVA (BUL)
Marijana SUMSKI (CRO)
Tereza MRACKOVA (CZE)
Nella HONKANIEMI (FIN)
Leonie STEIGERT (GER)
Foteini NALMPANTI (GRE)
Sophie RITTER (ITA)
Gabriela RUDOI (MDA)
Marija CVETANOVA (MKD)
Maja NOWAKOWSKA (POL)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Anna NORD (SWE)
Dilan TAN (TUR)
Anna KARBOVSKA (UKR)
Karyna FISHCHUK (UWW)
Ekaterina RADYSHEVA (UWW)

65kg
Sara AHMEDOVA (BUL)
Jolana RATAJOVA (CZE)
Annalena POHL (GER)
Viktoria PUPP (HUN)
Manuela CERVONI (ITA)
Melani MITEVSKA (MKD)
Mirijam HANSEN (NOR)
Natalia ZAREBA (POL)
Sabina PETRACHE (ROU)
Emilija JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Viktoria FOELDESIOVA (SVK)
Linnea SVENSSON (SWE)
Beyza AKKUS (TUR)
Iryna BORYSIUK (UKR)
Karalina PAPOVA (UWW)
Margarita SALNAZARIAN (UWW)

68kg
Ilinka STEFANOVA (BUL)
Laura KOEHLER (GER)
Nikoleta BARMPA (GRE)
Maja MUNK (HUN)
Juliana CATANZARO (ITA)
Lorena DURAJ (KOS)
Alexandra MOISEI (MDA)
Stefani NIKOLOVA (MKD)
Leah SAMSONSEN (NOR)
Dominika POCHOWSKA (POL)
Maria PANTIRU (ROU)
Michaela SEBOEKOVA (SVK)
Wilma HOFFMAN (SWE)
Ayse ERKAN (TUR)
Oleksandra RYBAK (UKR)
Krystsina KURKINA (UWW)
Evangeliia BEREZHNOVA (UWW)

72kg
Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE)
Emili APOSTOLOVA (BUL)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Petra MUELLER (HUN)
Anna IODICE (ITA)
Karolina JAWORSKA (POL)
Ana MARIOARA (ROU)
Elvira ERSSON (SWE)
Eylem ENGIN (TUR)
Daria KONSTANTYNOVA (UKR)
Alina SHAUCHUK (UWW)
Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW)

76kg
Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
Auguste GENDVILAITE (LTU)
Evelin UJHELJI (SRB)
Elmira YASIN (TUR)
Nadiia SOKOLOVSKA (UKR)
Hanna PIRSKAYA (UWW)
Diana TITOVA (UWW)

#WrestleBudapest

Takahashi marks return from injury with Ranking Series gold

By Vinay Siwach

BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 18) -- The last memories of Kota TAKHASHI (JPN) on the mat were painful. He had a heavily strapped right knee and was wrestling at the Non-Olympic World Championships in Tirana last year. He was torn.

A surgery and nine months later, Takahashi returned to international wrestling at the Budapest Ranking Series on Friday and captured the 74kg gold medal.

The world U23 champion was the third gold medalist from Japan in Budapest after Takara SUDA (JPN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) won at 61kg and 70kg, respectively.

In the other two weight classes that were in action on Friday, Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) and Trent HIDLAY (USA) captured the gold medal at 86kg and 92kg as Freestyle came to a close at the Ranking Series.

Takahashi, who won the Asian Championships gold in 2024, made himself a gold-medal threat for the World Championships in Zagreb with an impressive performance that saw him score wins over Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) and David CARR (USA).

"This was my first international competition since my right knee surgery, and I wanted to show my true abilities," Takahashi said. "I'm very happy that I was able to win by thoroughly executing my tackles and aggressive wrestling style."

Takahashi was up against Salkazanov in his first match and began by blasting two double-leg attacks to race to a 4-0 lead. But the second period was not the same as he was put on the activity clock and Salkazanov cut the lead with a takedown during that.

Just when it seemed that Salkazanov can take the lead, Takahashi hit a low leg-attack and converted it into takedown to make the gap 6-3. Salkazanov did not let it go and scored a stepout with nine seconds left.

Takahashi was happy to not engage in those nine seconds, and happily gave a stepout and a caution. He won 6-6 and set up a quarterfinal against Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN). He did not need any of those attacks as he managed a 3-0 win.

The semifinal against Carr was a challenging one as Takahashi struggled to keep his conditioning for six minutes. He opened with a stepout and Carr was called for fleeing. As Carr used a chest wrap to stop Takahashi's double-leg attack, he fell on his back with hand opens. Only Takahashi was awarded two points which made his lead 4-0. Two stepouts later, it was 6-0.

Carr got going in the final two minutes as he scored two takedowns inside 20 seconds to make it 6-4. So far, Takahashi had remained low in his stance and cancelled Carr's long reach. However, his defense began to break up.

As Carr tried to turn Takahashi after the second takedown, Takahashi blocked the turn and got two points. Carr scored a reversal to make it 8-5. He then made it 8-7 with 10 seconds remaining but that was the final scoring action of the bout.

"Car is very aggressive, and I am also good at aggressive wrestling, but in the second half, my opponent's attacks were superior to mine. I ended up conceding points," he said. "I think that was my mistake. In the second period, I tried to attack, but the opponent kept attacking repeatedly. I ended up just defending, and that was the reason I lost points. I need to be more aggressive and attack more."

Takahashi's aggressive wrestling was once again on show in the final against another former world U23 champion Magomed KHANIEV (AZE). He scored two takedowns and defending so well that Khaniev was not able to score a point and Takahashi won gold medal, 4-0.

But the Japanese accepted the chinks in his armor and has decided to work on them before the World Championships where he knows that the competition will be even tougher.

"Similar story against Salkazanov. I want to review my stamina to maintain an aggressive attack throughout the six minutes without breaking my stance, and keep solid stance," he said. "In the second half, my desire to attack weakened, and I ended up being attacked by the opponent, leading to them scoring points. I need to improve on that."

Carr returned for the bronze medal bout and defeated Salkazanov 4-4, avenging his previous to the Slovak from Zagreb.

Trent HIDLAY (USA)Trent HIDLAY (USA) defeated Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) 7-2 in the 92kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Trent HIDLAY (USA), a 86kg silver medalist last year in Budapest, upgraded to gold medal after beating world silver medalist Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO), 7-4, in the 92kg final.

Hidlay was in red-hot form the whole day as he began with a win over Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE)  and then posted a 10-0 win over Krizstian ANGYAL (HUN) in the quarterfinal. He began the semifinal against Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE) with a powerful double-leg takedown.

As Kurugliev fell, he landed on his knee and suffered an injury so bad that he was unable to walk off the mat. Hidlay reached the final after the injury forced Kurugliev to stop.

It was Maisuradze who opened the scoring in the final with a snapdown to takedown for two points but Hidlay answered with two stepouts and the Georgian led 2-2 on criteria at the break.

Hidlay opened the second period with a takedown to take a 4-2 lead and then continued to put pressure on Maisuradze. It paid off as he scored another takedown on the edge to lead 6-2. Georgia challenged that both wrestlers were already out of the zone and it should be one point. But the challenge was lost, making it 7-2 for Hidlay with 1:47 left on the clock.

That was all in the bout as Hidlay captured the gold and put his name in contention for the gold medal at the upcoming World Championships.

At 86kg, Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) was the gold medalist after European silver medalist Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW) pulled out of the final injured.

Kadzimahamedau suffered a knee injury in the semifinal against Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) as the Iranian did not let go off his knee despite it turning more than 90 degrees.

RESULTS

74kg
GOLD: Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) df. Magomed KHANIEV (AZE), 4-0

BRONZE: David CARR (USA) df. Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), 4-4
BRONZE: Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) df. Yeldos KUANYSHBAY (KAZ), 8-2

86kg
GOLD:  Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) df. Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW), via inj. def.

BRONZE: Osman GOCEN (TUR) df. Boris MAKOEV (SVK), 3-2
BRONZE: Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) df. Nurzhan ISSAGALIYEV (KAZ), 3-0 

92kg
GOLD: Trent HIDLAY (USA) df. Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO), 7-4

BRONZE: Benjamin HONIS (ITA) df. Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN), via fall (5-5)
BRONZE: Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) df. Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE), via inj. def.