#Zagreb2018

Gold Medal Wealth Spread Among Five Nations on First Night of #Zagreb2018 Greco Finals

Saturday, July 7, 2018 - 17:56 By Taylor Miller

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ZAGREB, Croatia – Five different national anthems rang on Saturday night as five countries collected gold medals in the first night of the Greco-Roman finals at the Cadet World Championships in  Zagreb, Croatia.

At 48 kg, Abror ATABAEV (UZB), who took bronze at this year’s Asian Championships, came out on top, defeating Asian gold medalist Sajjad ABBASPOURRAGANI (IRI), 4-4.

Put down for passivity, Atabaev maneuvered his way to a front headlock for a four-point throw, which ultimately gave the Uzbek the win on criteria.

Atabaev became only the third wrestler from Uzbekistan to win a Cadet Greco World title.

2018 Asian bronze medalist Amirhossein KHOUNSARI (IRI) scored seven points in his shutout win over Giorgi PERTAIA (GEO) in the 55 kg finals.

Khounsari only led 2-0 at the break but separated himself in the last minute with a takedown and also capitalizing on an attempted throw by Pertaia for exposure en route to his first World title.

Russia won a World title at 65 kg when 2018 European champion Muslim IMADAEV (RUS) defeated 2016 European champion Shant KHACHATRYAN (ARM) in a 3-0 match.

Imadaev scored on a gut when Khachatryan was put down in par terre. It was an early lead that the Russian held on to for the gold.

At 80 kg, Karen KHACHATRYAN (ARM) got behind European champion Giorgi TSOPURASHVILI (GEO) in the first 30 seconds for a takedown, which would be all he needed to win a Cadet World title.

Khachatryan redeems a fifth-place finish from Euros earlier this year.

To close out the night, European champion Muhammet BAKIR (TUR) dominated in the 110 kg final over two-time European bronze medalist Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE).

En route to his 9-0 tech fall, Bakir scored on two takedowns and a gutwrench.

The 2018 Cadet World Championships wrap up tomorrow, starting with repechage action at 10 a.m. ET, followed by medal matches at 12 p.m. ET live on unitedworldwrestling.org.

Greco-Roman team scores going into final day (top 10)
1. Iran – 75
2. Georgia - 54
3. Russia - 51
4. Uzbekistan - 50
5. Armenia - 45
6. Turkey - 33
7. Azerbaijan - 32
8. Kazakhstan - 32
9. Belarus - 25
10. Moldova - 20

Finals results

48 kg
GOLD - Abror ATABAEV (UZB)
SILVER - Sajjad ABBASPOURRAGANI (IRI)
BRONZE - Arshad ARSHAD (IND)
BRONZE – Iskhar KURBAYEV (KAZ)

1st - Abror Atabaev (Uzbekistan) dec. Sajjad Abbaspourragani (Iran),4-4
3rd - Arshad Arshad (India) fall Leonid Moroz (Moldova), 1:09
3rd - Iskhar Kurbayev (Kazakhstan) dec. Islam Aliev (Russia), 4-2

55 kg
GOLD - Amirhossein KHOUNSARI (IRI)
SILVER - Giorgi PERTAIA (GEO)
BRONZE - Amirbek SULTONOV (UZB)
BRONZE – Din KOSHKAR (KAZ)

1st - Amirhossein Khounsari (Iran) dec. Giorgi Pertaia (Georgia), 7-0
3rd - Amirbek Sultonov (Uzbekistan) dec. Manuel Stoica (Romania), 8-7
3rd - Din Koshkar (Kazakhstan) dec. Niklas Oehlen (Sweden), 6-0

65 kg
GOLD - Muslim IMADAEV (RUS)
SILVER - Shant KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
BRONZE - Samuel BELLSCHEIDT (GER)
BRONZE – Hossein GHASEMI (IRI)

1st - Muslim Imadaev (Russia) dec. Shant Khachatryan (Armenia), 3-0
3rd - Samuel Bellscheidt (Germany) dec. Bin Xu (China), 8-2
3rd - Hossein Ghasemi (Iran) dec. Khvicha Ananidze (Georgia), 7-0

80 kg
GOLD - Karen KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
SILVER - Giorgi TSOPURASHVILI (GEO)
BRONZE - Mohammad NAGHOUSI (IRI)
BRONZE – Turpan BISULTANOV (DEN)

1st - Karen Khachatryan (Armenia) dec. Giorgi Tsopurashvili (Georgia), 2-1
3rd - Mohammad Naghousi (Iran) dec. Bekzod Akhmedov (Uzbekistan), 6-1
3rd - Turpan Bisultanov (Denmark) dec. David Zhytomyrsky (Israel), 7-1

110 kg
GOLD - Muhammet BAKIR (TUR)
SILVER - Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE)
BRONZE - Tomasz WAWRZYNCZYK (POL)
BRONZE – Mikita KAVALSKI (BLR)

1st - Muhammet Bakir (Turkey) TF Sarkhan Mammadov (Azerbaijan), 9-0
3rd - Tomasz Wawrzynczyk (Poland) dec. Marcel Albini (Czech Republic), 7-1
3rd - Mikita Kavalski (Belarus) dec. Aleksandr Shaposhnikov (Russia), 3-1

 

#WrestleZagreb

Chung puts Korea in World C'ships final

Saturday, September 20, 2025 - 16:49 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 20) -- Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) has long been the training partner of former world champion Hansyu RYU (KOR) at national camps in Korea as both hail from Busan and wrestled at the Kyungsung University.

Eight years after Ryu became a world champion in Paris, Korea's last gold at World Championships, Chung would try to emulate his role model after he made the 63kg final at the World Championships in Zagreb on Saturday.

In his previous two trips to the World Championships, Chung finished eight and 25th but has now assured himself at least a silver medal in 2025. This is also Korea's first medal since Min Seok KIM (KOR) won bronze in 2018.

Chung opened his campaign with a 7-1 victory over Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO) before picking up a fall over Manato NAKAMURA (JPN). Tokyo bronze medalist Sergey EMELIN (UWW) was next but Chung defended from par terre and posted a 1-1 criteria win.

In the semifinals, Chung had Asian silver medalist Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI) but he stepped up. Keshtkar got the first par terre position but was not able to score any points, going to the break leading 1-0.

The second period saw Chung go for the reverse throw for two points and Keshtkar was docked two points for a leg foul, giving a 5-1 lead to Chung. Keshtkar tried making a comeback and got a takedown to cut the lead to 5-3 but that was all he had as Chung claimed the victory in the semifinals.

But to win his country's first gold since 2017, Chung will have to go through Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) who looks unbeatable. A month after winning the gold medal at the U20 World Championships, the Uzbek star is now in the World Championships final with a dominant 8-0 win over Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA).

Khalmakhanov needed only 37 seconds to finish his semifinals against Erimenco as he used an over-under grip to slam him on the mat for two points. He continued the same sequence for two more points and lead 6-0. A trap arm gut was enough to get him two more points and the win.

Iran managed two more wrestlers in the final at the World Championships with Olympic champion Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) and Olympic silver medalist Alireza MOHAMADI (IRI) a win away from winning their first world titles at 67kg and 87kg respectively.

Esmaeili particularly looked in the form of his life as he blanked his 36-0 in four bouts with none going the full distance of the six minutes. He began with a 9-0 win over 2022 world champion Sebastian NAD (SRB) before two 8-0 wins against Shermukhammad SHARIBJANOV (UZB) and Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR), 8-0.

In the semifinals, he used a five-point throw to beat Daniial AGAEV (UWW). Using a bodylock, he scored his first takedown and then turned Agaev for a 4-0 lead. He then got the par terre position and reverse lifted Agaev and slammed him for five points.

For the gold medal, he will have to get past Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JARAFOV (AZE), a returning silver medalist. Jafarov faced Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) in the semifinal and used a correct throw from par terre to beat the Kyrgyzstan wrestlers 3-1.

Mohamadi had a very contrasting semifinal against David LOSONCZI (HUN) at 87kg. He seemed to be sailing to victory with 5-1 lead and under a minute left but Losonczi locked his waist and threw him for a takedown for two points. Hungary challenged the call asking for four points but it was awarded only two on review and Hungary lost the challenge to give one more point to Mohamadi.

With a 6-3 win, Mohamadi, a silver medalist at 82kg from 2023, will now try to win the gold medal against former European champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB).

Trusting his defense in the semifinal against Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW), Komarov held on to his 1-1 criteria lead to win the bout. Komarov was the beneficiary of the new Greco-Roman rule which states that the criteria will remain with the wrestler who got the first point in a 1-1 finish.

Irrespective of what happens in the final on Sunday, Iran has already won the Greco-Roman team title. This is the first time in the country's history that Iran has won both Freestyle and Greco-Roman team title at the same World Championships.

RESULTS

63kg
GOLD: Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) vs. Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB)

SF 1: Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) df. Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI), 5-3
SF 2: Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) df. Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA), 8-0

67kg
GOLD: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) vs. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)

SF 1: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) df. Daniial AGAEV (UWW), 10-0
SF 2: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) df. Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ), 3-1

87kg
GOLD: Alireza MOHMADI (IRI) vs. Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)

SF 1: Alireza MOHMADI (IRI) df. David LOSONCZI (HUN), 6-3
SF 2: Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) df. Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW), 1-1