#WrestleBudapest

Live Blog: #WrestleBudapest European Championships Day 1

By Vinay Siwach

BUDAPEST, Hungary (March 28) -- The European Championships return to the historic city of Budapest, Hungary and we kick off the tournament with freestyle wrestling.

The five weight classes that will be in action Monday are 57kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg, and 97kg and some of the big names in wrestling are competing including some Tokyo Olympics and Oslo World Championships medalists.

MATCH ORDER | WATCH LIVE

2:00: Azerbaijan with a successful morning session. They get all five wrestlers into the semifinals. Huge evening session coming up

1:42: Zurabi IAKOBASHVILI (GEO) moves into the 70kg semifinal. A win by technical superiority for him over Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL) in the quarterfinal 

1:37: Vladislav BAITSAEV (HUN) scores six points in the second period to Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD)'s two and wins the 97kg quarterfinal 6-4.

1:32: Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD) and Vladislav BAITSAEV (HUN) are wrestling in the other 97kg quarterfinal. Nurov leads Baitsaev 2-0 at the break 

1:30 Odikadze made the lead 8-6 but cannot finish the bout. He goes down 14-7 against Magomedov in the 97kg quarterfinals. Big result for the former junior world silver medalist.

1:24: Elizbar ODIKADZE (GEO) wrestling Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) in the 97kg quarterfinal. The Azerbaijan wrestler has scored three takedowns to take a 6-0 lead. Odikadze struggling to get going here

1:14: Sacultan and Lomtadze were in a close match over on Mat C but the Moldovan just snatched 11 consecutive points to move into the semifinals, 13-5. He'll wrestle two-time Olympic medalist Haji Aliyev for a spot in the 65kg finals.

1:11: Aliyev picked up a 12-6 quarterfinals win over Munir Recep AKTAS (TUR) and will wrestle the winner of Maxim SACULTAN (MDA) and  Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) for a spot in tonight's finals.

12:52: The quarterfinals on day one of the European Championships are beginning now. Haji ALIYEV (AZE), Elizbar ODIKADZE (GEO) and other stars will wrestle now

12:45: Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) was thrown for four points by Daniel ANTAL (HUN) and trailed by 6-4 at the break but the U23 European champion comes back to win 10-6 

12:20: Vladislav BAITSAEV (HUN) with a takedown and one stepout point to beat Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK) 3-1 at 97kg. He will wrestle Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD) in the quarterfinals

12:17: U23 world champion Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE) has three takedowns in a 7-0 win over Levan METREVELI VARTANOV (ESP) in the opening round of 57kg

12:10: Gevorg TADEVOSYAN (ARM) scores a takedown with five seconds remaining to win 5-4 against Stevan MICIC (SRB). The Serbian team challenged the call as Micic had locked Tadevosyan's knee from inside but the jury thinks the Armenian had full control. He wins 6-4 

12:03: Former 61kg world champion Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) begins his tournament with a 10-0 win Stefan COMAN (ROU) at 65kg. 

12:00: Tokyo Olympian Stevan MICIC (SRB) is up at 65kg for the European Championships. He is a two-time European bronze medalist. He leads 2-1 at the break. But both Gevorg TADEVOSYAN (ARM) and Micic trade takedown and the Serbian leads 4-3 with a minute remaining.

11:48:  Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) will make his debut up at 97kg against  Alejandro CANADA PANCORBO (ESP) (Mat A / Bout 6). The Polish wrestler was a European runner-up at 92kg in 2019.

11:45: Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) gets the first win of the day. He beats local wrestler Csaba VIDA (HUN) in a thrilling 9-8 bout. 

11:30: The three mats have wrestlers ready for their bouts. The officials are ready and so are the fans. Wrestling begins now

11:00: Welcome to the European Championships. The first-ever edition of the tournament was held 111 years ago in the same city. Wrestling begins in 30 minutes.

#Grappling

World Grappling Championships: AINs shine, Great Britain wins first-ever gold

By Vinay Siwach

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (October 11) -- Six Individual Neutral Athletes won gold medals in World Grappling Championships in Astana on Friday with Azerbaijan, Moldova and Georgia winning the remaining three in men's Grappling in Astana.

In women's grappling, the United States won two golds out of five. Spain, Great Britain and one AIN won three other gold medals. Injana GOODMAN (GBR) created history in grappling as she became the first Great Britain athlete to win the World Championships gold medal.

In team rankings, as AIN points are not considered, Kazakhstan won the team title in men's with 84 points. The U.S. finished second with 75 points and Poland finished third with 70 points.

In women's grappling, the U.S. won the team title with 85 points, well clear of second-placed Poland which could only get 56 points. Spain was third with 46 points.

RESULTS

Men's Grappling

58kg
GOLD: Farhad BAGIROV (AZE) df. Illia SVIATUN (UKR), via submission (9-0)

BRONZE: Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ) df. Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR), 8-6
BRONZE: Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL) df. Denis BEENEN (CAN), via submission (0-2)

62kg
GOLD: Magomedbek TEMEEV (AIN) df. Ruslan RADZHABKHANOV (AIN), 3-3

BRONZE: Arulan KURMANALIYEV (KAZ) df. Loris ZANOLINI (ITA), 3-3
BRONZE: Mayis NERSESYAN (ARM) df. Mykola NYKYFORUK (UKR), 6-2

66kg
GOLD: Bakhtiiar IAKHIEIAEV (AIN) df. Syimyk MAKHMEDOV (KGZ), 5-0

BRONZE: Bekzat KAPASHOV (KAZ) df. Vincenzo BUSSOLOTTI (ESP), 4-3
BRONZE: Yurii CHERKALIUK (UKR) df. Artur AGASHIRINOV (AIN), 2-2

71kg
GOLD: Gasan TEMEEV (AIN) df. Nico PULVERMUELLER (GER), 5-0

BRONZE: Jedrzej LOSKA (POL) df. Baiastan OROLBEK UULU (KGZ), 6-2
BRONZE: Nurbek TALBUDIN (KAZ) df. Iker CAMARA (ESP), 2-2

77kg
GOLD: Dumitru CEBAN (MDA) df. Arthur LEROY (FRA), 5-4

BRONZE: Efgan GALOEV (AIN) df. Shamil KUMRATOV (AIN), via submission (11-0)
BRONZE: Sam Eli SCHWARTZAPFEL (USA) df. Kamil ROSIAK (POL), 3-0

84kg
GOLD: Murad ABDULATIPOV (AIN) df. Pawel JAWORSKI (POL), 2-1

BRONZE: Ruslan VALIEV (FRA) df. Jay HILDRETH (USA), 4-2
BRONZE: Maxim COTE (CAN) df. Igor DZIAG (POL), 2-1

92kg
GOLD: Alibek SULEIMANOV (AIN) df. Amirani SVIMONISHVILI (GEO), 5-1

BRONZE: Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU) df. Joris ROOKHUIJZEN (NED), 0-0
BRONZE: Imran KHAMIDOV (AIN) df. Wilfried EDMUND (FRA), via submission (5-0)

100kg
GOLD: Aleksandre TEVZADZE (GEO) df. Henry ZACHARY (USA), 2-2

BRONZE: Ivan MALIN (UKR) df. Kamil WOJCIECHOWSKI (POL), 3-2
BRONZE: Islam ASKHABOV (AIN) df. Roman LUKASHEVICH (AIN), via walkover

130kg
GOLD: Khamzat STAMBULOV (AIN) df. John HANSEN (USA), 7-5

BRONZE: Nasrutdin DZHAFAROV (AIN) df. Yerlan SHAKISHOV (KAZ), 6-2
BRONZE: Travis CLARK (USA) df. Amir Ali FARHADPOR (IRI), via submission (4-0)

Injana GOODMAN (GBR)Injana GOODMAN (GBR), second from left, became the first-ever gold medals from Great Britain in World Grappling Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Women's Grappling

53kg
GOLD: Carlota PRENDES LARIOS (ESP) df. Alicja STYPULKOWSKA (POL), via submission (2-1)

BRONZE: Anorbi GRISHINA (AIN) df. Yuliia ZASULSKA (UKR), via submission (9-1)
BRONZE: Polina KRUPSKAIA (AIN) df. Breanna STIKKELMAN (USA), 2-2

58kg
GOLD: Alexandria ENRIQUEZ (USA) df. Nuraiym MUNAITBAS (KAZ), via submission (2-0)

BRONZE: Minerva MONTERO PEREZA (ESP) df. Tetiana ASTAKHOVA (UKR), 6-0
BRONZE: Nikolett KIS (HUN) df. Rachel GUTIERREZ (USA), via submission (3-0)

64kg
GOLD: Injana GOODMAN (GBR) df. Ekaterina PLITKINA (AIN), via submission (2-2)

BRONZE: Alycia QUENEE (FRA) df. Viktoriia PANCHENKO (UKR), via submission (2-1)
BRONZE: Sheliah LINDSEY (USA) df. Giulia RODIO (ITA), via submission (6-0)

71kg
GOLD: Anna REMNEVA (AIN) df. Sandra TRIEBEL (GER), via submission (3-2)

BRONZE: Emily GUENZLER (GER) df. Valeriia PROKOPIUK (UKR), 12-0
BRONZE: Weronika ROT (POL) df. Christina HANSEN (USA), via submission (6-0)

90kg
GOLD: Kendall REUSING (USA) df. Vlada BOIAKHCHIEVA (AIN), via submission (6-0)

BRONZE: Alena VLASOVA (AIN) df. Annabelle BOURGAULT (CAN), in overtime
BRONZE: Justyna SITKO (POL) df. Aikorkem IKHSANOVA (KAZ), via submission (9-0)