#Zagreb2019

Five "Must Watch" Matches from the Zagreb Open

By Eric Olanowski

There were countless great matches that took place over the two days of wrestling at the first Greco-Roman Ranking Series event of the year, the Zageb Open, and we took the time to compile a list of the ten best matches with the most action and biggest storylines. 

82kg FINALS - Bulgaria's Daniel ALEKSANDROV erased a 7-0 opening-period deficit and scored eight unanswered points in the final period to upend returning world runner-up Emrah KUS (TUR), 8-7 in the 82kg Zagreb Open gold-medal bout. 

Aleksandrov trailed 7-0 after the first two minutes of action. He was dinged for passivity and thrown in the par terre position, where Kus grabbed four-points from a reverse lift and controlled the 5-0 advantage. Aleksandrov found himself down 7-0 after Kus grabbed another two for exposure, but got on the board with a step out point and trailed 7-1 heading into the second period. 

The Bulgarian exploded for seven unanswered points in the closing three minutes and hung on to the one-point lead, knocking off the noticeably deflated returning world runner-up, 8-7.

97kg FINALS - Ilia BORISOV (RUS) knocked off returning Budapest world runner-up Kiril MILOV (BUL) to win the 97kg Zagreb Open title. Borisov, the lone Russian finalist, tossed around the returning world finalist with ease and scored the 9-0 technical superiority victory in the opening period. 

Borisov grabbed the 1-0 lead after Milov was hit for passivity, then went to work in par terre, throwing Milov for four points and used a pair of gut wrenches to close out the 97kg gold-medal match with a 9-0 technical superiority victory. 

77kg QUARTERFINALS - Croatia's Bozo STARCEVIC stunned Olympic champion KIM Hyeonwoo (KOR), 8-2, in the quarterfinals, before ultimately winning his fifth consecutive Zagreb Open title. 

Starcevic avenged his 6-4 2016 Olympic bronze-medal bout loss to Kim, where the Korean wrestler claimed his second overall Olympic medal.

In their quarterfinals meeting on Saturday, Starcevic built a commanding 6-0 lead before Kim used an arm-spin to pick up his lone takedown, closing the deficit to 6-2. Starcevic somehow came away from Kim's arm-spin attempt with an exposure of his own and locked up his semifinals win with an 8-2 victory. 

130kg SEMIFINALS - Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) blasted U23 world silver medalist Osman YILDIRIM (TUR), 9-0, in the semifinals, picking up his second consecutive victory over a world medalist. Abdullaev's first win over a world medalist came in the quarterfinals when he knocked off 2017 world bronze medalist Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI), 2-2.

The Uzbek nearly finished the job off and captured the 130kg gold medal but lost to Norway's Oskar MARVIK in the finals, 1-0. 

87kg SEMIFINALS - This all-Hungary semifinals bout was one of the Zagreb Open's most important matches. The reason being, Viktor LORINCZ and Erik SZILVASSY are battling for Hungary's 2019 Astana World Championship spot.

In their Zagreb Open semifinal's meeting, Lorincz scored the critical 3-0 win over the U23 world champion and grabbed a leg up on his fellow Hungarian heading into the second Greco-Roman Ranking Series event, the Hungarian Grand Prix.  

Lorincz went on to beat Sweden's Kristoffer BERG, 3-1 in the 87kg finals.

#WrestleTirana

U23 European Championships 2025 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

TIRANA, Albania (February 25)  -- Soon after the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series, Tirana will shift its focus to the first continental championships of 2025.

The U23 European Championships will be held in Tirana from March 8 to 14 with 429 wrestlers entered for the competition.

Freestyle will kick off proceedings on March 8, followed by Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman will finish off things.

UWW+ (uww.org) will bring all the action live and highlights from Tirana.

Freestyle

57kg
Ersjan KASHIKU (ALB)
Norik HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Rahman IMANOV (AZE)
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
Nika ZANGALADZE (GEO)
Danny LUBRANO (ITA)
Ion BULGARU (MDA)
Stefan SHTERJOV (MKD)
Bekir KESER (TUR)
Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR)
Iunus IAVBATIROV (UWW)

61kg
Endrio AVDYLI (ALB)
Levik MIKAYELYAN (ARM)
Jeyhun ALLAHVERDIYEV (AZE)
Denis NAIM (BUL)
Omar GAZASHVILI (GEO)
Dario DITTRICH (GER)
Balazs RACZ (HUN)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Vasile MARCU (MDA)
Besir ALILI (MKD)
Ivan OKSIUK (POL)
River PERLUNGHER (SUI)
Tolga OZBEK (TUR)
Mykyta ABRAMOV (UKR)
Ivan HRAMYKA (UWW)
Akhmed ZUBAIROV (UWW)

65kg
Klevisi PRECI (ALB)
Hayk ABRAHAMYAN (ARM)
Murad HAGVERDIYEV (AZE)
Ayub MUSAEV (BEL)
Erdal GALIP (BUL)
Felipe FERRUSOLA MILLA (ESP)
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)
Marcel WAGIN (GER)
Zoltan MIZSEI (HUN)
Mattia BIENTINESI (ITA)
Artiom CVETKOV (LTU)
Fiodor CEAVDARI (MDA)
Daniel KULCZYNSKI (POL)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Mykyta HONCHAROV (UKR)
Anatoli HRAMYKA (UWW)
Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW)

70kg
Fabian KOCILERI (ALB)
Vladimir AZARYAN (ARM)
Alexander SEIWALD (AUT)
Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE)
Muhammad ABDURACHMANOV (BEL)
Kaloyan ATANASOV (BUL)
Denis KODAKOV GIL (ESP)
Abdoul NAKAEV (FRA)
Davit PATSINASHVILI (GEO)
Burak SALVIZ (GER)
Marton VARGA (HUN)
Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA)
Muhamed FERUKI (MKD)
Mateusz LUSZCZYNSKI (POL)
Umut ERDOGAN (TUR)
Narek POHOSIAN (UKR)
Mikita DZEMCHANKA (UWW)
Magomed ELTEMIROV (UWW)

74kg
Devi BARDHI (ALB)
Narek NIKOGHOSYAN (ARM)
Muhamed BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Stiliyan DZHOROV (BUL)
Luka CHKHITUNIDZE (GEO)
Manuel WAGIN (GER)
Theocharis KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Daniel KORKIN (ISR)
Raul CASO (ITA)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Fabian NIEDZWIEDZKI (POL)
Gigi SUBTIRICA (ROU)
Ismet CIFTCI (TUR)
Bohdan OLIINYK (UKR)
Nikita DMITRIJEVS MAYEUSKI (UWW)
Ismail KHANIEV (UWW)

79kg
Altin GANCI (ALB)
Farid JABBAROV (AZE)
Bogdan DJANDIGOV (BEL)
Aykan SEID (BUL)
Giorgi GOGRITCHIANI (GEO)
Gregor EIGENBRODT (GER)
Rolan ARNTASEV ARDASHEV (GRE)
Adam GAZDAG (HUN)
Raffaele RAFFAELE MATRULLO (ITA)
Marius RETCO (MDA)
Mateusz PEDZICKI (POL)
Krisztian BIRO (ROU)
Andrija IVANOVIC (SRB)
Umar MAVLAEV (SUI)
Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR)
Bohdan OLEKSIIENKO (UKR)
Aliaksandr VIARBITSKI (UWW)
Arsen BALAIAN (UWW)

86kg
Ibrahim SULA (ALB)
Razmik YEPREMYAN (ARM)
Lukas LINS (AUT)
Arsenii DZHIOEV    (AZE)
Umar VELIEV (BEL)
Radomir STOYANOV (BUL)
Gabriel IGLESIAS RAMOS (ESP)
Miko ELKALA (FIN)
Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA)
Tornike SAMKHARADZE (GEO)
Georgios KOTANIDIS (GRE)
Zeteny GANGL (HUN)
Kyrylo OHAR (ISR)
Gabriele NICCOLINI (ITA)
Paulius LESCAUSKAS (LTU)
Eugeniu MIHALCEAN (MDA)
Wiktor HASA (POL)
Alperen ATAR (TUR)
Oleksandr MAMROSH (UKR)
Arslan BAGAEV (UWW)

92kg
Albin PEPOSHI (ALB)
Knyaz IBOYAN (ARM)
Sadig MUSTAFAZADE (AZE)
Andro MARGISHVILI (GEO)
Daniel FISCHER (GER)
Krisztian ANGYAL (HUN)
Davide COSSU (ITA)
Ion DEMIAN (MDA)
Redjep HAJDARI (MKD)
Filip SZUCKI (POL)
David JAKSIK (SVK)
Alperen TOKGOZ (TUR)
Denys SAHALIUK (UKR)
Artsiom IHNATSIUK (UWW)
Mukhamed KHANIEV (UWW)

97kg
Sergey SARGSYAN (ARM)
Abduljalil SHABANOV (AZE)
Andriyan VALKANOV (BUL)
Ashab DADAEV (FRA)
Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO)
Nikolaos KARAVANOS (GRE)
Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN)
Nikita GOUBARETS (ISR)
Constantin BUZA (MDA)
Taron SHAHINYAN (POL)
Georgian TRIPON (ROU)
Adam JAKSIK (SVK)
Resul GUNE (TUR)
David MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Uladzislau KAZLOU (UWW)
Bady SAMDAN (UWW)

125kg
Khachatur KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE)
Georgi IVANOV (BUL)
Giga SHAVADZE (GEO)
Dmitrii DUSCOV (MDA)
Michal DUBOWSKI (POL)
Efe AL (TUR)
Volodymyr KOCHANOV (UKR)
Pavel DZIATLAU (UWW)
Artem PUKHOVSKII (UWW)

Iryna BONDAR (UKR)Iryna BONDAR (UKR) is one of the stars entered for U23 European Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Asmar JANKURTARAN (AZE)
Maria CAZALLA TORRES (ESP)
Vestina DANISEVICIUTE (LTU)
Natalia WALCZAK (POL)
Ana Maria PIRVU (ROU)
Svenja JUNGO (SUI)
Songul KAVAK (TUR)
Viktoriia SLOBODENIUK (UKR)
Anastasiya YANOTAVA (UWW)
Natalia PUDOVA (UWW)

53kg
Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP)
Maria FERONE (ITA)
Laura STANELYTE (LTU)
Anastasiia LEBEDIEVA (POL)
Ana ROTARU (ROU)
Ellen OESTMAN (SWE)
Remziye KARADAG (TUR)
Nataliia KLIVCHUTSKA (UKR)
Viktoryia VOLK (UWW)
Ekaterina KARPUSHKINA (UWW)

55kg
Nargiz SAMADOVA (AZE)
Irena BINKOVA (BUL)
Amory ANDRICH (GER)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
Mihaela SAMOIL (MDA)
Kamila KASPROW (POL)
Tuba DEMIR (TUR)
Albina RILLIA (UKR)
Aliaksandra BULAVA (UWW)
Anastasiia IANDUSHKINA (UWW)

57kg
Gultakin SHIRINOVA (AZE)
Fatme SHABAN (BUL)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
Inna ALIMOVA (LTU)
Patrycja STRZELCZYK (POL)
Georgiana LIRCA (ROU)
Milica SEKULOVIC (SRB)
Emine CAKMAK (TUR)
Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR)
Aryna MARTYNAVA (UWW)
Anastasiia KOZLOVA (UWW)

59kg
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Desislava IVANOVA (BUL)
Anna MICHALCOVA (CZE)
Aurora RUSSO (ITA)
Julia NOWICKA (POL)
Ana PUIU (ROU)
Jana PETROVIC (SRB)
Ebru DAGBASI (TUR)
Yuliia PAKHNIUK (UKR)
Marta HETMANAVA (UWW)
Elizaveta PETLIAKOVA (UWW)

62kg
Birgul SOLTANOVA (AZE)
Iris THIEBAUX (FRA)
Naemi LEISTNER (GER)
Anna FOTIADOU (GRE)
Yasmine SOLIMAN (HUN)
Immacolata DANISE (ITA)
Ineta DANTAITE (LTU)
Alicja NOWOSAD (POL)
JOVANA RADIVOJEVIC (SRB)
Annatina LIPPUNER (SUI)
Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR)
Iryna BONDAR (UKR)
Alesia HETMANAVA (UWW)
Amina TANDELOVA (UWW)

65kg
Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Luisa SCHEEL (GER)
Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
Bianca CONTRAFATTO (ITA)
Olha PADOSHYK (POL)
Viorica ADAM (ROU)
Emilija JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Beyza AKKUS (TUR)
Oleksandra RYBAK (UKR)
Kseniya TSIARENIA (UWW)
Ekaterina KOSHKINA (UWW)

68kg
Sophia SCHAEFLE (GER)
Nikoleta BARMPA (GRE)
Karolina POK (HUN)
Laura GODINO (ITA)
Karolina DOMASZUK (POL)
Maria PANTIRU (ROU)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Nesrin BAS (TUR)
Manola SKOBELSKA (UKR)
Viktoryia RADZKOVA (UWW)
Olesia BEZUGLOVA (UWW)

72kg
Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Jennifer ROESLER (GER)
Noemi OSVATH NAGY (HUN)
Vincenza AMENDOLA (ITA)
Daniela TKACHUK (POL)
Haticenur SARI (TUR)
Iryna ZABLOTSKA (UKR)
Alina SHAUCHUK (UWW)
Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW)

76kg
Vanesa GEORGIEVA (BUL)
Laura KUEHN (GER)
Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
Patrycja CUBER (POL)
Evelin UJHELJI (SRB)
Anna BRAUN (SWE)
Elmira YASIN (TUR)
Mariia ORLEVYCH (UKR)
Hanna PIRSKAYA (UWW)
Olga KOZYREVA (UWW)

Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) is looking for his second U23 European title. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Andi MUCA (ALB)
Arayik TOPALYAN (ARM)
Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)
Filip BARTOSIK (CZE)
Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO)
Vasileios PAPAGEORGIOU (GRE)
Peter TOTOK (HUN)
Maxim SARMANOV (MDA)
Mehmet SARP (TUR)
Danylo KORIEIEV (UKR)
Alibek AMIROV (UWW)

60kg
Mikel TROPLINI (ALB)
Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM)
Huseyn GARIBOV (AZE)
Alyosha ILIEV (BUL)
Brian SANTIAGO (DEN)
Lucas LO GRASSO (FRA)
Dimitri KHACHIDZE (GEO)
Georgios SCARPELLO (GER)
Georgios PAPAGEORGIOU (GRE)
Petro ZHYTOVOZ (HUN)
Melkamu FETENE (ISR)
Tommaso BOSI (ITA)
Olivier SKRZYPCZAK (POL)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Mert ILBARS (TUR)
Bohdan HRYSHYN (UKR)
Papik DZHAVADIAN (UWW)

63kg
Ergi UKU (ALB)
Davit JOTYAN (ARM)
Ziya BABASHOV (AZE)
Miroslav EMILOV (BUL)
Diego ESTECHE GOMEZ (ESP)
Romeo BERIDZE (GEO)
Marios KAPANTAIS (GRE)
Daniel RAFAEL (HUN)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Mairbek SALIMOV (POL)
Adrian ANTON (ROU)
Alexander VAFAI (SWE)
Furkan ERKEN (TUR)
Vsevolod SAPUN (UKR)
Aleksandr ANDREEV (UWW)

67kg
Ardit ZENELI (ALB)
Ruben MIRANYAN (ARM)
Farid KHALILOV (AZE)
Antonio HRISTOV (BUL)
William REENBERG (DEN)
Nestori MANNILA (FIN)
Yanis GUENDEZ NIFRI (FRA)
Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Janis HEINZELBECKER (GER)
Attila JOZSA (HUN)
Andrea SETTI (ITA)
Adomas GRIGALIUNAS (LTU)
Pavel DENISENCO (MDA)
Bredi SLINKERS (NED)
Arslanbek SALIMOV (POL)
Noe POC (SRB)
Azat SARIYAR (TUR)
Pavlo SOROKOLIET (UKR)
Hleb MAKARANKA (UWW)
Daniial AGAEV (UWW)

72kg
Xhorxh FRROKAJ (ALB)
Ashot KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Ruslan NURULLAYEV (AZE)
Dimitar GEORGIEV (BUL)
Luka IVANCIC (CRO)
Dalgat MAGOMEDOV (CZE)
Artur JEREMEJEV (EST)
Anri TAVARTKILADZE (GEO)
Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE)
Rokas CEPAUSKAS (LTU)
Vasile ZABICA (MDA)
Piotr STOLARCZYK (POL)
Eren ULKU (TUR)
Oleh KHALILOV (UKR)
Viachaslau ZHEHALAU (UWW)
Danil GRIGOREV (UWW)

77kg
Klodjan SHEHU (ALB)
Martik PETROSYAN (ARM)
Davud MAMMADOV (AZE)
Albert DOEV (BUL)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Junior BENITEZ ORTIZ (ESP)
Anri PUTKARADZE (GEO)
Aaron BELLSCHEIDT (GER)
Andreas VASILAKOPOULOS (GRE)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Benjamin HANSEN (NOR)
Karl BAFF (SWE)
Muslim BARGA (TUR)
Vladyslav IVANINA (UKR)
Illia VALEUSKI (UWW)
Evgenii BAIDUSOV (UWW)

82kg
Xhord GJONI (ALB)
Erik TER MATEVOSYAN (ARM)
Elmin ALIYEV (AZE)
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Martin SHISHEKOV (BUL)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
Frederik MATHIESEN (DEN)
Ekke LEITHAM (EST)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Data CHKHAIDZE (GEO)
Dominik BOTOS (HUN)
Leon RIVALTA (ITA)
Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA)
Ludvig GUNHEIM HATLAND (NOR)
Vasile COJOC (ROU)
Uros LECIC (SRB)
Alexander JOHANSSON (SWE)
Yuksel SARICICEK (TUR)
Ramazan PASHAIEV (UKR)
Dzmitry BONKA (UWW)
Gamzat GADZHIEV (UWW)

87kg
Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM)
Joju SAMADOV (AZE)
Andrey ATANASOV (BUL)
Ondrej HAVELKA (CZE)
Jesper HAERKAENEN (FIN)
Vladimeri KARCHAIDZE (FRA)
Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Evangelos BOUKIS (GRE)
Cristian RUSU (MDA)
Wojciech IWANOWSKI (POL)
Patrik GORDAN (ROU)
Milos PEROVIC (SRB)
Hamza SERTCANLI (SWE)
Alperen BERBER (TUR)
Ivan CHMYR (UKR)
Baskhan SAIDOV (UWW)

97kg
Julijan SHEHU (ALB)
Harutyun KIRAKOSYAN (ARM)
Agil MUSAEV (AZE)
Tomislav BRKAN (CRO)
Richard KARELSON (EST)
Aapo VIITALA (FIN)
Luka GABISONIA (GEO)
Connor SAMMET (GER)
Roman BALCHIVSCHII (MDA)
Sebastian WARCHOL (POL)
Ionut GOSA (ROU)
Luka KATIC (SRB)
Muhittin HELVACI (TUR)
Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR)
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (UWW)
Mukhammad EVLOEV (UWW)

130kg
Rigers KURTI (ALB)
Razmik KURDYAN (ARM)
Aykhan MARDANOV (AZE)
Alan DZABIEV (BUL)
Artur SARKISJAN (CZE)
Eerik PANK (EST)
Saba CHILASHVILI (GEO)
Achilleas CHRYSIDIS (GRE)
Koppany LASZLO (HUN)
Cemal BAKIR (TUR)
Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR)
Aleksandr MELEKHOV (UWW)