WALBRZYCH, Poland (March 29) – Viktor NEMES (SRB) forged victory out of a solid defense and aggressive positioning to secure the 75kg Greco-Roman title on the final day of the inaugural European Under-23 Wrestling Championships.

Nemes defeated 2012 junior world champion Kazbek KILOV (BLR) in a hard-fought but low-scoring affair, 2-1, to win Serbia’s first gold medal in seven years in a continental championships.

“It was a tough match because my opponent was so hard and so strong,”  said the 21-year-old from Zrenjanin. “But I was able to relax and become more active in the second period.”

Kilov’s head dropped for a moment to stop Nemes’ advance in the second period and the officiating crew awarded Nemes what was eventually the winning point for the infraction.

“I didn’t know that I had received the point until there was about one minute remaining,” said Nemes. “Then, I knew I could win.”

Nemes’ triumph was the second this month after winning the prestigious Hungarian Grand Prix over the first weekend in March.

“Hungary was very difficult since there were so many good wrestlers there and because I broke my hand there.  Still, I’m so happy and proud to have this win here.”

Nemes added quickly, however, that “my dream is to be world champion and to qualify for the Olympic Games at the world championships in Las Vegas.”

Meanwhile, Artem SURKOV (66kg) and Sergey SEMENOV (130kg) both won titles on the final evening as Russia came from behind for the third time this week to claim the team title – this time in Greco-Roman.

Russia finished with two champions, a runner-up and one bronze medalist for 50 points, well ahead of Georgia with 40 points from one champion and three bronze medal winners. Turkey finished third with one gold medalist and two bronze in Greco-Roman for 35 points.

For two-time junior world champion Semenov, the championship was business as usual with a big takedown out-of-bounds against Mykola KUCHMII (UKR) in the first period and then catching his opponent in a throw attempt and arching him over for an 8-0 technical fall.

At 66kg, 2013 European junior runner-up Surkov scored a takedown and received a pair of penalty points for a 4-0 win over 2012 continental champ Dominik ETLINGER (CRO).

At 85kg, junior world silver medalist Denis KUDLA (GER) avenged a loss last year to junior world champ Islam ABBASOV (AZE) with a 4-1 victory in the quarterfinals, then nailed a bodylock takedown in the final against Vladimir STANKIC (SRB) for a technical fall.

Results for Sunday evening’s medal finals:

66kg (18 entries)
Gold - Artem SURKOV (RUS) df. Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), 4-0
Bronze - Enes BASAR (TUR) df. Otto LOSONCZI (HUN) by TF, 9-1, 4:33
Bronze - Giorgi DAVITAIA (GEO) df. Maxim MAMULAT (MDA), 1-0

75kg (18 entries)
Gold - Viktor NEMES (SRB) df. Kazbek KILOV (BLR), 2-1
Bronze - Petru SEVCIUC (MDA) df. Bogdan KOURINNOI (SWE), 9-7
Bronze - Karapet CHALYAN (ARM) df. Bislan ASSAKALOV (RUS), 5-1

85kg (21 entries)
Gold - Denis KUDLA (GER) df. Vladimir STANKIC (SRB) by TF, 8-0, 4:52
Bronze - Krystian FORMELA (POL) df. Hoha HAHNIDZE (BLR), 1-1
Bronze - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Nikolay DOBREV (BUL), 7-5

130kg (13 entries)
Gold -  Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) df. Mykola KUCHMII (UKR) by TF, 8-0
Bronze - Felix BALDAUF (NOR) df. Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU) by Default, 0:00
Bronze - Christian JOHN (GER) df. Alexandros PAPADATOS (GRE)  by Fall, 2:05 (5-0)