#WrestleZagreb

Friday's European Championships Greco-Roman semifinals set

Friday, April 21, 2023 - 09:45 By Eric Olanowski

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ZAGREB, Croatia (April 20) -- The fifth day of the European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia bring Greco-Roman action to the mat. We will start off with 55kg, 63kg, 77kg, 87kg and 130kg.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

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

Semifinal match (as they come in):
55kg
Adem Burak UZUN (TUR) vs. Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) 
Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) vs. Denis Florin MIHAI (ROU) 

63kg
Hrachya POGHOSYAN (ARM) vs. Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE) 
Leri ABULADZE (GEO) vs. Abu Muslim Aptievitch AMAEV (BUL) 

77kg
LÉVAI Zoltán (HUN) vs. Viktor NEMES (SRB) 
Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) vs. Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR) 

87kg
Istvan TAKACS (HUN) vs. Damian VON EUW (SUI) 
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) vs. Ali CENGIZ (TUR) 

130kg
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU) vs. Riza KAYAALP (TUR) 
Sabah Saleh SHARIATI (AZE) vs. Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) 


14:38:  Istvan TAKACS (HUN) takes out Semen Novikov, knocking the reigning European champion Bisultanov from the competition.

14:31: Returning champion Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) has built a 4-0 first-period lead over Oliver Marco KRUEGER (DEN). Meanwhile, Kayaalp rolled through Marvik, 8-0, to punch his ticket to the semifinals at 130kg.

14:27: Von Euw gives Switerland a semifinals as he defeats Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM), 8-3.

14:25: Kayaalp is coming is coming up next on Mat B. He'll take on 2021 world bronze medalist Oskar MARVIK (NOR).

14:15: Damian VON EUW (SUI) is a guy to pay attention to. He's dropped from 97kg to 87kg and has been making waves at his new weight. He tech'd two-time world champion Zurabi Datunashvili a few weeks ago and is now in the wrestling in the quarterfinals in one of the deepest weights of the competition.

13:56: Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR) just survived a near upset against Samuel BELLSCHEIDT (GER). The German had Basar up in par terre with :20 left but failed to capitalize on his opportunity, losing the match, 3-1.

13:50: We're going to be heading directly in quarterfinals across all three mats after these matches wrap up. The semifinals will be listed above (as they come in).

13:40: LÉVAI Zoltán (HUN) got his revenge on Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE). If you recall the Greco-Roman World Cup, Azerbaijan was pushed to the finals because Suleymanov pinned Levei. In Croatia, Levai picked up a one-sided 9-0 win to advance to the quarterfinals, where he'll meet  Iuri LOMADZE (GEO).

13:38: What a showing by Novikov. The Bulgarian took down reigning European champion Bisultanov, 12-3, and set up a meeting an 87kg quarterfinal match with Istvan TAKACS (HUN).  

13:32: I'm back to my seat after shooting the Question of the Day. 

12:55: I'm going to take a quick break from the live blog to shoot the Question of the Day video. The question for today is, "Who is the strongest person you ever wrestled?"

12:37: Two of the brightest young stars in the game Turpal Ali Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN) and Semen Sergeevich NOVIKOV (BUL) will wrestle in six matches on Mat C. 

Bisultanov is the reigning European Championships, while Novikov, who transferred from Ukraine, was a U23 world champion a few years ago.

12:31: As expected for the European Championships, the Greco-Roman fans showed up in large numbers. The loudest fans in the Arena Zagreb are from Croatia, Sweden and Denmark thus far.

12:20: Something to note: Serbia's reigning two-time world champion Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (SRB) was a late scratch on the entries and was replaced by Zarko DICKOV (SRB). 

12:10: The biggest storyline that we'll be following is Riza KAYAALP (TUR) beginning his quest to tie Alexander KARELIN's (RUS) 12 European title mark. He'll be up in seven matches on Mat A, where he'll wrestle Boris PETRUSIC (SRB).

11:50: We're through with our women's wrestling repechage matches for the day and the opening-round Greco-Roman matches are being call to the mats. As always, the starts won't be up for a while if they are seeded in the top four.

Development

Croatia continues to Train and Develop their Coaches and Referees

Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - 11:05 By United World Wrestling Press

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POREC, Croatia (June 3) – The Croatian Wrestling Federation continues to add educational activities for their coaches and referees. The previous year, they hosted a Level 2 course on the Introduction to Practice Planning. This year they organized a Level 3 coaching course on Periodization and Coaching Philosophy.  They also organized a Level 1 – Introduction to Referee course for their younger national referees. This year’s courses were conducted on 21-24 May in the beautiful city of Porec and was done in conjunction with Olympic Solidarity and United World Wrestling. 

The coaching course was led by UWW Educator Mr. Nenad Žugaj (CRO).  During the course, the 26 participants developed a better understanding of how periodization works when designing training sessions.  They were able to integrate those concepts and design their own plans.  The participants also focused on developing a coaching philosophy that they can use with their teams.

“The participants were active, I think they relaxed more and more every day and thus became more creative in their answers. I am pleased with the energy that prevailed and the positivity of the participants through jokes but also more serious topics.” said Mr. Žugaj  Eric, one of the coach participants said, “’I really liked the course and I would like to see such educations held more often. I especially liked how we, the coaches and referees, had joint lectures and assignments and were able to give opinions and views from different perspectives. I am looking forward to the next Level 4 course.”

CROParticipants look on doing the education courses held in Croaita during the final week of May. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

The referee course was led by UWW Educator Ms. Edit Dozsa (ITA). The course had 13 participants who focused on the fundamentals of being a good referee.  They focused on the evaluation of holds, how to properly start and end matches, proper referee mechanics, and keeping the athletes safe during bouts.  The referee participants were able to practice their skills through simulated matches and practical assessments. 

Both the coaches and referees had some working sessions together. They were able to analyze the roles of the coaches and of the referees. This helps give them a better understanding of the jobs that they do. They also discussed the importance of athlete safeguarding in wrestling.

“The cooperation with the educators Edit and Nenad was very good and successful. I visited the lectures on a couple of occasions and found them to be educational and interesting. The feedback from our coaches and judges was positive.” said Tin Bregović.

The Croatian Wrestling Federation also hosted a competition at the end of the courses. This competition allowed the coaches and referees to practice some of the skills that they had just learned during the course.