#WrestleWarsaw

LIVE BLOG: European C'ships (Day Three)

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 09:35 By Eric Olanowski

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WARSAW, Poland (April 21) -- We've made it to the third day of wrestling at the European Championships. Women's wrestling action takes center stage today with the freestyle medal matches starting at 18:00 (local time).

Wednesday's Schedule:
11:30 - Qualification round
16: 45 - Semifinals
18:00 - Finals

Returning women's wrestling European champions in action today:
50kg - Miglena SELISHKA (BUL)
59kg - Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
59kg - Grace Jacob BULLEN (NOR)
68kg - Khanum VELIEVA (RUS)
76kg - Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS)

WATCH: European Championships 

14:40: That wraps up our coverage of the morning session. We'll see you back here at 16:45 for the women's wrestling semifinals. The freestyle finals will start at 18:00.

Semifinal Matches (As they come in): 
50kg
SEMIFINAL - Winner 174 vs. Oksana LIVACH (UKR)
SEMIFINAL - Miglena Georgieva SELISHKA (BUL) vs. Winner 207

55kg
SEMIFINAL - Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) vs. Jessica Cornelia Francisca BLASZKA (NED)
SEMIFINAL - Andreea Beatrice ANA (ROU) vs. Roksana Marta ZASINA (POL)

59kg
SEMIFINAL -  Veronika CHUMIKOVA (RUS) vs. Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
SEMIFINAL - Yuliya PISARENKA (BLR) vs. Bilyana Zhivkova DUDOVA (BUL) 

68kg
SEMIFINAL - Khanum VELIEVA (RUS) vs. Nesrin BAS (TUR)
SEMIFINAL - Koumba Selene Fanta LARROQUE (FRA) vs. Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)

76kg
SEMIFINAL - Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) vs. Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR)
SEMIFINAL - Epp MAEE (EST) vs. Cynthia Vanessa VESCAN (FRA)

13:36: Defending European champions Grace BULLEN (NOR) and Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) are wrestling now on Mat A.

13:13: Returning European silver medalist Jessica BLASZKA (NED) is wrestling on Mat A.

13:02: Both wrestlers collect inactivity points in the second period, but it's Vorobeva who comes out on top, 3-1. She take on Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR) in a rematch of the European Olympic Games Qualifier finals. 

12:54 Vorobeva leads Focken, 1-0, after the first three minutes.

12:53: There's an upset brewing on Mat A. World runner-up Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR) trails Anastasiia OSNIACH SHUSTOVA (UKR) by two points heading into the final two minutes of the match. 

12:40: World champion  Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) and Aline ROTTER FOCKEN (GER) will clash on Mat C (Bout 203) shortly. 

12:26: That's the match of the morning thus far! Livach wins the battle of world bronze medalists and takes down Demirhan, 12-8. She'll face the winner of Emilia VUC (ROU) and Natallia VARAKINA (BLR).

12:21: Two-time world champion Mariya STADNIK (AZE) will make her long-awaited return against world bronze medalist Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS) in five matches on Mat A. She hasn't wrestled since the '19 World Championships. 

12:16: World bronze medalists Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) and Oksana LIVACH (UKR) are wrestling over on Mat B. We're less than two minutes into the match and there are already 14 points on the board!

12:08: You know the dump is coming, but it's nearly impossible to stop. Vorobeva gets to her signature move and pins  Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU) in less than 90 seconds in her opening-round match. 

11:53: We have an issue, but it's a good one to have. We have too many stars coming up that it's hard to keep track of! First up will be Olympic gold and silver medalist Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) on Mat A. In her last competition, she qualified Russia for the Olympic Games at 76kg after she won the European Olympic Qualifier.

11:38: We'll start the day with some freestyle repechage action before we transition into our full day of women's action.

2026 Muhamet Malo

Muhamet Malo Flashback: Relive 2025 Ranking Series Stop in Tirana

Friday, February 13, 2026 - 09:04 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (February 13) -- There is a good chance that the gold medalist at the Muhamet Malo 2026 Ranking Series event will have a good season. It happened in 2025. Most of the gold medalists from 2025 managed to win respective continental or world medals.With the second Ranking Series of 2026 once again in Tirana, here's a flashback to the one in 2025. Follow the 2026 Muhamet Malo Ranking Series on uww.org, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube.

MUHAMET MALO 2026 RANKING SERIES ENTRIES

WATCH ALL FINALS FROM 2025 MUHAMET MALO RANKING SERIES HERE

Freestyle

Iran brought a solid team to Tirana last year with Olympic silver medalists Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) and Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI). It won four gold medals with both Amouzad and Zare winning at 65kg and 125kg, respectively. Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) won at 92kg with rather ease and at 57kg, Ali MOMENI (IRI) got a fall in the final.

Kaeisi TANABE (JPN) was also in the field at 65kg. However, he went on to lose his semifinal against Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and then the bronze medal bout to Bilol SHARIP UULU (KGZ).

But the most memorable win was that of Arash YOSHIDA (JPN), who announced himself as a big contender at 97kg, first time in Tirana. Wrestling world champion Kyle SNYDER (USA) in the semifinals, Yoshida stunned the crowd in Tirana with a thrilling 5-5 victory over the American wrestler.

Snyder led 4-1 at the break and then added another point in the second period. But Yoshida hit a cut back and then a turn to take a 5-5 criteria lead which he held on to until time expired in the match. The winning firmly put Yoshida as one of the top 97kg wrestlers in the world.

Two other Japanese stars also won gold medals last year. Takara SUDA (JPN) was the best at 61kg displaying some tricky wrestling as he won gold while Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) kept it simple to win the gold medal at 70kg.

It was also the return of Chermen VALIEV (ALB) since he won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024. He did not disappoint the home fans, capturing the 74kg gold medal in an actionless 2-0 win over Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK).

Greco-Roman

An Olympic final rematch occurred inn Tirana in Greco-Roman. At 87kg, Olympic champion Semen NOVIKOV (BUL) and Alireza MOHMEDI (IRI) clashed in the quarterfinals. Mohmedi had lost to Novikov in the Paris 2024 final but he turned it around in Tirana, blanking Novikov 5-0. The heated match included some words exchanged between the two at the end of the bout.

Mohmedi won't stop there. He defeated Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB), 5-1, in the semifinal and later went on to win the gold medal once David LOSONCZI (HUN) injury defaulted in the final.

Both Komarov and Mohmedi would later meet in the final of the World Championships in Zagreb. This time, Komarov avenged that loss from Tirana and won the gold medal while Mohmedi was heartbroken with the loss.

Tirana was also the start of a resurgence of Kerem KAMAL (TUR). After some frustrating years at 60kg, Kamal began the new season at 63kg and won gold. It set the tone for 2025 as he went on to win two more Ranking Series gold medals and became the European champion at 63kg.

Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO) made his senior debut at 55kg in Tirana. He won his first two bouts before falling in the final against Emre MUTLU (TUR). Lolua had won silver medal at the U17 World Championships before 2025 but he would later win silver at the U20 Worlds and then become world champion at 55kg in one of the exciting matches in 2025 against U20 world champion Payam AHMADI (IRI).

At 130kg, world champion Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) remained a rock and won gold without giving up any action points in his four bouts.

Women's Wrestling

As is the theme in Women's Wrestling, Japan won the most gold medals in Tirana as well. Out of the 10 golds, Japan won six medals.

Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) was making her international debut at 53kg after winning gold at World Championships at 55kg. She began well but had a scare in the semifinals against Lillia MALANCHUK (UKR). She even trailed in the semifinals before winning 15-8. She later defeated Andreea ANA (ROU) in the final, 6-0, to capture the gold medal.

At 55kg, Haruna MURAYAMA (JPN) was solid throughout, winning the gold medal with ease. Umi ITO (JPN) had a similar outing as she swept the field to claim the 50kg gold medal.

Sakura ONISHI (JPN) gave a glimpse of her 2025 in Tirana. The teenager won gold medal in Tirana at 59kg and she continued her form winning U20 world gold and then the senior world title in September.

Another Tirana gold medalist who became world champion in Zagreb was Ami ISHII (JPN) at 68kg. A world champion at 72kg in 2024, Ishii moved down to 68kg and was instantly successful. She defeated Zelu LI (CHN), 8-2, in the final. She won the world title in Zagreb, winning five bouts and giving up only three points.

Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) was another gold medalist for Japan. She defeated Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) in the semifinals and faced Irina RINGACI (MDA) for the gold medal. Ringaci had earlier defeated her, 7-5, in the round robin bout. Morikawa fell behind 6-3 in the final as well but Ringaci pulled out injured midway through the final, giving Morikawa the gold medal.

The two also met at the World Championships but Morikawa would stamp her authority in Zagreb with a 10-0 win over Ringaci. She won the gold medal by beating Alina KASABEIVA (UWW), 8-0.

At 72kg, Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) won the Nelson bracket that also included a 3-1 win over Alla BELINSKA (UKR) who later went on to win the gold medal at the World Championships.

Veteran Samantha STEWART (CAN) made the tournament memorable for herself winning the gold medal with three wins, including two via falls.