#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.

#WrestleZagreb

Thursday's night women's wrestling semifinals set

By Eric Olanowski

ZAGREB, Croatia (April 20) -- The fourth day of the European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Women's wrestling will start off with 53kg, 57kg, 62kg, 65kg and 72kg wrestlers taking the mat.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

FULL EUROPEAN C'SHIP SCHEDULE:
- 11:30 - 
Qualification rounds
- 16:45 - Semifinals
- 18:00 - Finals

1:20: That's a quick morning session. We wrapped up the early session in just under two hours. We'll be back for tonight's semifinals at 16:45.

1:10: Here are the semifinals matches (as they come in): 
53kg
Stalvira ORSHUSH (HUN) vs. Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE) 
Emma Jonna Denise MALMGREN (SWE) vs. Turkan NASIROVA (AZE)

57kg
Jowita Maria WRZESIEN (POL) vs. Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE) 
Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) vs. Evelina Georgieva NIKOLOVA (BUL) 

62kg
Grace Jacob BULLEN (NOR) vs. Bilyana Zhivkova DUDOVA (BUL) 
Johanna LINDBORG (SWE) vs. Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) 

65kg
Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO (UKR) vs. Irina RINGACI (MDA) 
Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL) vs. Kriszta Tunde INCZE (ROU) 

72lkg
Dalma CANEVA (ITA)  vs. Buse CAVUSOGLU TOSUN (TUR) 
Alexandra Nicoleta ANGHEL (ROU) vs. Liudmyla PAVLOVETS TYCHYNA (UKR) 


12:58: Malmgren was up 11-6 and then picked up a fall to move into the semifinals against Turkan NASIROVA (AZE).

12:55: Olympic bronze medalist Evelina Georgieva NIKOLOVA (BUL) grabs a 10-0 win and moved into the semifinals. She'll face the winner of Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) and Mathilde Hélène RIVIERE (FRA)

If Hrushyna wins, it'd be a rematch of last years European finals, which was won by the Ukrainian.

12:49: Big matchup going on over on Mat C.  Emma Jonna Denise MALMGREN (SWE) and Zeynep YETGIL (TUR) are in a 7-4 battle right now as we head into the second period.

12:30: Grace Bullen picked up her second quick 10-0 win. She tech'd Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR) and Amina Roxana CAPEZAN (ROU) and punched her ticket to the 62kg semifinals.

12:18: There are good and bad parts to having seeded athletes. One of the bad parts is having to wait a few hours before we get to see our superstars compete. Either way, they stars are starting to show up on the match board. Here are a few high-profile athletes coming up soon:

Mat A | Bout 258: Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) 
Mat B | Bout 275: Grace Jacob BULLEN (NOR) 
Mat B | Bout 277: Evelina Georgieva NIKOLOVA (BUL) 
Mat C | Bout 289: Irina RINGACI (MDA) 
Mat C |Bout 292: Bilyana Zhivkova DUDOVA (BUL) 
Mat C |Bout 293  Emma Jonna Denise MALMGREN (SWE) 

11:47: Our first qualification match of the morning will take place on Mat A. It'll be Olympic bronze medalist  Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) taking on Mariana CHERDIVARA ESANU (MDA) in the first bout of the day.

11:37: Welcome back to the Arena Zagreb for the second day women's wrestling and the fourth overall day of action at the European Championships.We'll start today with a few repechage bouts for those who fell to eventual finalists.