#WrestleCoralville

Georgia announces Freestyle World Cup team

By Gary Abbott

CORALVILLE, Iowa (November 21) --- The lineups for Georgia, which will compete in Freestyle World Cup, has been released.

The Freestyle and Women’s Wrestling World Cup will be held at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, Dec. 10-11. It is the first time that  freestyle and women’s wrestling will be held together side-by-side at the World Cup.

The World Cup is the annual international dual meet championships, conducted by United World Wrestling. The top five teams in freestyle and the top five teams in women’s wrestling from the 2022 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in September have confirmed their participation. There is also an All World Team in each discipline, featuring the top available athlete from the World Championships in each weight class that were not from a nation which qualified for the World Cup.

The Georgia World Cup team will feature five senior world medalists and three others who have been age-group World medalists.

The team is led by three-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist Geno PETRIASHVILI at 125kg. Petriashvili won Senior World titles in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He was a 2020 Olympic silver medalist and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist. Add in a 2021 world silver medal and three world bronze medals (2013, 2015, 2022) and you have one of the best wrestlers in the world today. He also boasts world titles at the U23 and U20 levels.

2017 world champion Zurabi IAKOBIASHVILI will compete at 70kg. Iakobishvili also won three world bronze medals (2018, 2021 and 2022). He was 10th in the 2016 Olympic Games.

Other senior world medalists on the Georgia team include 2016 world silver medalist Beka LOMTADZE  (65kg) and a pair of 2022 world bronze medalists, Miriani MAISURADZE (92kg) and Givi MATCHARASHVILI (97kg). Maisuradze was a 2016 U17 World champion and a 2022 U23 World bronze medalist. Matcharashvili won a U23 World title in 2018 and a U17 World title in 2014, plus two other age-group World medals.

Age-group World medalists on the Georgia roster includes 2022 U23 World champion Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (79kg), plus 2019 U23 world bronze medalist Giorgi SULAVA (74kg) and 2015 U20 world bronze medalist Tarzan MAISURADZE (86kg).

Georgia, which placed fifth at the 2022 World Championships in men’s freestyle, will be joined in the World Cup by first place United States, second place Iran, third place Japan and fourth place Mongolia, in addition to the All-World Team.

The rosters of the World Cup teams for the other nations will be announced over the next week by USA Wrestling.

Ticket packages for the 2022 Men’s and Women’s Wrestling World Cup are currently on sale. The seating capacity for Xtream Arena for the World Cup will be approximately 5,300. Ticket packages include a Gold package for $275, Silver package for $200 and All-Session tickets for $90.

A special Presentation of Teams and Team USA Meet & Greet will also be held on Friday, December 9 at 6:45 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Men’s and Women’s Wrestling World Cup tickets -> https://worldcupiowacity.com/tickets/

Georgia Freestyle World Cup team
57 kg – Beka Bujiashvili
61 kg – Teimuraz VANISHVILI
65 kg – Beka LOMTADZE 
70 kg – Zurabi IAKOBIASHVILI
74 kg – Giorgi SULAVA
79 kg – Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE
86 kg – Tarzan MAISURADZE
92 kg – Miriani MAISURADZE
97 kg – Givi MATCHARASHVILI
125 kg – Geno PETRIASHVILI

2026 U23 European Championships

Three Golds Power Belarus to First U23 Euro Women's Team Title

By Vinay Siwach

ZRENJANIN, Serbia (March 13) -- Three golds medals on Friday propelled Belarus to win its first-ever Women's Wrestling team title at the U23 European Championships. Belarus finished with 171 points to claim the top spot while Russia was second with 141 points. Ukraine finished third with 140 points.

After winning one gold medal on Thursday, Belarus added three through Aryna DZEMCHANKA MARTYNAVA (BLR), Kseniya TSIARENIA (BLR) and Viktoryia RADZKOVA (BLR). It also won one silver and one bronze while all 10 wrestlers contributed points to the team score.

European champion Alina SHAUCHUK (BLR) claimed the 68kg gold medal on Thursday and the gold rush on Friday began with Martynava scoring a tough win over Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR) in the 57kg final, a repeat from last year's edition.

In what turned out to be one-move match, Martynava scored a double-leg head-outside takedown in the first 10 seconds of the bout. She then sat on her two-point lead for five minutes and 50 seconds. In the second period, Martynava was called passive and Filipovych was given a point.

But the Ukrainian failed to score two more points that were needed for a win that would have avenged her loss from last year's final which Martynava won 8-2.

The Belarus wrestler now has two U23 European gold medals to go with her silver at the U23 World Championships and gold medal at the U20 World Championships.

The second gold for Belarus was won by Kseniya TSIARENIA (BLR) after she defeated Ekaterina KOSHKINA (RUS), 4-2, in the 65kg final. Tsiarenia controlled the match giving little chance to Koshkina to score.

It was only in the dying seconds of the match that Koshkina managed to score a harmless takedown for two points.

The third gold medal for Belarus was won by Viktoryia RADZKOVA (BLR) who denied Veronika VILK (CRO) a chance of winning a historical gold medal at 72kg. Radzkova opened the scoring when Vilk was called passive. Vilk then tried an arm-throw but Radzkova blocked her and scored two points to lead 3-0 at the break.

Vilk tried a headlock in the second period but Radzkova was ready for it and again blocked Vilk's attempt to score two points. A turn for exposure added two more points for Radzkova that extended her lead to 7-0.

Perhaps ready for another throw from Vilk, Radzkova stood up and when Vilk tried the throw, she once again blocked and landed on top. The two points plus two more points for the turn gave Radzkova an 11-0 win with a minute nine seconds left.

Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP) was also trying to achieve a historic gold for Spain but was denied as Anastasiia POLSKA (POL) used a fireman's carry to secure a fall in just a minute and 17 seconds and win gold at 53kg.

Senior world bronze medalist Amina TANDELOVA (RUS) claimed the 62kg gold medal after beating Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE), 5-3, in the final.

Tandelova, who won silver at U23 Europeans in 2023, used a beautiful arm-throw to score the first four-pointer. The first point for Tandelova was from the activity period of Mammadova in which the Azerbaijan wrestler failed to score.

Mammadova scored a takedown and activity clock point to cut the lead but it was still not enough to overturn the result.

Photo

RESULTS

53kg
GOLD: Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR) df. Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP), via fall (4-0)

BRONZE: Sevval CAYIR (TUR) vs. Nargiz SAMADOVA (AZE)
BRONZE: Ekaterina KARPUSHKINA (RUS) df. Kseniya KOSTSENICH (BLR), via inj. def.

57kg
GOLD: Aryna DZEMCHANKA MARTYNAVA (BLR) df. Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR), 2-1

BRONZE: Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN) df. Amory ANDRICH (GER), 7-5
BRONZE: Felicitas DOMAJEVA (NOR) df. Romaissa EL KHARROUBI (FRA), 5-0

62kg
GOLD: Amina TANDELOVA (RUS) df. Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE), 5-3

BRONZE: Iris THIEBAUX (FRA) df. Gulsum BINGOL (TUR), 4-0
BRONZE: Alicja WOJEWODZKA NOWOSAD (POL) df. Naemi LEISTNER (GER), 5-1

65kg
GOLD: Kseniya TSIARENIA (BLR) df. Ekaterina KOSHKINA (RUS), 4-2

BRONZE: Maria PANTIRU (ROU) df. Bianca CONTRAFATTO (ITA), via fall (8-0)
BRONZE: Oleksandra RYBAK (UKR) df. Saga SVENSSON (SWE), 11-1

72kg
GOLD: Viktoryia RADZKOVA (BLR) df. Veronika VILK (CRO), 11-0

BRONZE: Karolina JAWORSKA (POL) df. Daniela BRASNAROVA (BUL), 5-0
BRONZE: Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (RUS) df. Greta TVERSKYTE (LTU), 3-3