#kaspeuro2018

Pair of Olympic Champions Lead Greco-Roman Field at European Championships

By Eric Olanowski

KASPIISK, Russia (April 17) - The 2018 European Championships commence in less than two weeks in Dagestan, Russia. Though line-ups are not official, Greco-Roman preliminary line-ups have been submitted to United World Wrestling and the pair of Olympic champions in Roman VLASOV (RUS) and Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) lead a field littered with Olympic medalists.

The first five weight categories (55kg, 63kg, 77kg, 87kg, and 130kg) will start wrestling on Monday, April 30, and the remaining five weight classes (60kg, 67kg, 72kg, 82kg, and 97kg) being on Tuesday, May 1.  

55kg
Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)

Nedyalko Petrov PETROV (BUL)
Sandro FRANKOL (CRO)
Helary MAEGISALU (EST)
Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
VasilII TOPOEV (RUS)
Ekrem OZTURK (TUR)

60kg
Armen MELIKYAN (ARM)
Raphael JAEGER (AUT)
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Maksim KAZHARSKI (BLR)
Avgustin Boyanov SPASOV (BUL)
Leo Alexandre Sylvain TUDEZCA (FRA)
Dato CHKHARTISHVILI (GEO)
Etienne KINSINGER    (GER)
Erik TORBA (HUN)
Illya TSARYUK ISR)
Jacopo SANDRON (ITA)
Justas PETRAVICIUS  (LTU)
Michal Jacek TRACZ (POL)
Antonio MARTINS CABRAL (POR)
Virgil MUNTEANU (ROU)
Sergey EMELIN (RUS)
Kerem KAMAL (TUR)

Olympic bronze medalist, Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR). Photo by Tony Rotundo. 

63kg
Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE)
Rakhmatsikhudo KHAIBARAU (BLR)
Nikolay Ivanov VICHEV (BUL)
Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO)
Mate KRASZNAI (HUN)
Donior ISLAMOV (MDA)
Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR)
Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU)
Zaur KABALOEV (RUS)
Tamas NAD (SRB)
Rahman BILICI (TUR)

67kg 
Karen ASLANYAN  (ARM)
Elman MUKHTAROV (AZE)
Soslan DAUROV (BLR)
Deyvid Tihomirov DIMITROV (BUL)
Michal NOVAK (CZE)
Fredrik Holmquist BJERREHUUS (DEN)
Yasin OZAY (FRA)
Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Erik WEISS  (GER)
Istvan KOZAK  (HUN)
Aleksandrs JURKJANS (LAT)
Edgaras VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Valeriu TODEREAN (MDA)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Dawid KARECINSKI (POL)
Pedro Miguel DE MATOS OLIVEIRA DE MORAIS CA  (POR)
Artem SURKOV (RUS)
Mate NEMES  (SRB)
Hussam Saad Ali OMAR (SWE)
Enes BASAR (TUR)

Olympic bronze medalist, Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE). Photo by Tony Rotundo. 

72kg
Christoph BURGER (AUT)
Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE)
Yury KANKOU (BLR)
Danijel JANECIC (CRO)
Jan ZIZKA (CZE)
Evrik NIKOGHOSYAN (FRA)
Iuri LOMADZE (GEO)
Maximilian Andreas SCHWABE (GER)
Balint KORPASI (HUN)
Nikita MASJUKS (LAT)
Daniel CATARAGA (MDA)
Pal Eirik GUNDERSEN (NOR)
Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL)
Ilie COJOCARI  (ROU)
Adam KURAK (RUS)
Aleksandar MAKSIMOVIC (SRB)
Denis HORVATH (SVK)
Daniel Mattias SOINI  (SWE)
Murat DAG (TUR)

Two-time Olympic champion, Roman VLASOV (RUS). Photo by Tony Rotundo. 

77kg
Karapet CHALYAN (ARM)
Florian MARCHL (AUT)
Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE)
Kazbek KILOU  (BLR)
Dominik ETLINGER (CRO)
Oldrich VARGA (CZE)
Ismael NAVARRO SANCHEZ (ESP)
Tero Antero Matias HALMESMAEKI (FIN)
Tornike DZAMASHVILI (GEO)
Florian NEUMAIER (GER)
Georgios PREVOLARAKIS (GRE)
Tamas LORINCZ  (HUN)
Igor PETRISNIN (ISR)
Riccardo Vito ABBRESCIA (ITA)
Paulius GALKINAS (LTU)
Igor BESLEAGA (MDA)
Mateusz Lukasz WOLNY (POL)
Roman VLASOV (RUS)
Viktor NEMES (SRB)
Nicolas Peter CHRISTEN (SUI)
Alex Michel BJURBERG KESSIDIS (SWE)
Serkan AKKOYUN (TUR)

82kg 
Maksim MANUKYAN (ARM)
Michael WAGNER (AUT)
Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)
Radzik KULIYEU (BLR)
Daniel Tihomirov ALEKSANDROV (BUL)
Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO)
Petr NOVAK  (CZE)
Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (GEO)
Roland SCHWARZ (GER)
Laszlo SZABO  (HUN)
Viorel BURDUJA (MDA)
Edgar BABAYAN (POL)
Ramazan ABACHARAEV (RUS)
Zarko DICKOV  (SRB)
Jan Alexander JERSGREN (SWE)
Emrah KUS (TUR)

87kg
Artur SHAHINYAN  (ARM)
Islam ABBASO (AZE)
Viktar SASUNOUSKI  (BLR)
Tarek Mohamed ABDELSLAM SHEBLE MOHAMED (BUL)
Pedro Jacinto GARCIA PEREZ (ESP)
Eerik APS (EST)
Rami Antero HIETANIEMI (FIN)
Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO)
Denis Maksymilian KUDLA (GER)
Dimitrios TSEKERIDIS (GRE)
Viktor LORINCZ (HUN)
Roman ZHERNOVETSKI (ISR)
Fabio PARISI (ITA)
Julius MATUZEVICIUS (LTU)
Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL)
Bekkhan OZDOEV (RUS)
Nikolaj Georgiev DOBREV (SRB)
Kristoffer Zakarias BERG (SWE)
Metehan BASAR (TUR)

98kg Olympic champion, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM). Photo by Tony Rotundo.

97kg
Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
Daniel GASTL  (AUT)
Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE)
Siarhei STARADUB (BLR)
Nikolay Nikolaev BAYRYAKOV (BUL)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)
Mathias BAK (DEN)
Matti Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Mélonin NOUMONVI (FRA)
Kukuri KIRTSKHALIA (GEO)
Ramsin AZIZSIR (GER)
Laokratis KESIDIS (GRE)
Balazs KISS (HUN)
Robert AVANESYAN (ISR)
Vilius LAURINAITIS (LTU)
Marcel Adam KASPEREK (POL)
Musa EVLOEV (RUS)
Mikheil KAJAIA (SRB)
Tamas SOOS (SVK)
Carl Erik Andre PERSSON (SWE)
Cenk ILDEM (TUR)

Three-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist, Riza KAYAALP (TUR). Photo by Tony Rotundo. 

130kg
Sabah SHARIATI (AZE)
Georgi CHUGOSHVILI (BLR)
Miloslav Yuriev METODIEV (BUL)
Stepan DAVID (CZE)
Juan Rafael HEREDIA MENA (ESP)
Artur VITITIN (EST)
Tuomas Heikki Juhani LAHTI (FIN)
Iakobi KAJAIA  (GEO)
Christian JOHN (GER)
Balint LAM (HUN)
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
Rafal Andrzej KRAJEWSKI (POL)
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
Vitalii  SHCHUR (RUS)
Riza KAYAALP (TUR)

#WrestleZagreb

Maroulis returns to Worlds final after three years

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- Helen MAROULIS (USA) wrestled three bout on Tuesday at the World Championships and secured three pins. She spent only 6 minutes and 28 seconds in those three pins to reach the 57kg final at the World Championships on Tuesday in Zagreb.

Maroulis, a two-time world champion, will now wrestle for gold against Il Sim SON (PRK), one of the two wrestlers from the DPR Korea to make it to the final on Tuesday.

In all three of her pins, Maroulis used the iconic foot-sweep to get the fall. The first victim was Emine CAKMAK (TUR) who was pinned in a minute. Japan's world U23 champion Himeka TOKUHARA (JPN) held her fort for some time but Tokuhara missed a shot and Maroulis got the two-on-one before sweeping her for the fall in 2 minutes and 17 seconds.

In the semifinals, Maroulis wrestled European champion Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (UWW) and took a 1-0 lead for the latter's inactivity. But as soon as the second period began, Maroulis went straight to work and hit the sweep to get the fall and a place in the final.

She will face an unfamiliar challenge in the final as  Il Sim SON (PRK) who defeated Olympic bronze medalist Kexin HONG (CHN), 12-2, in the other semifinal. Son was one of the two finalist for the DPR Korea, a country which won its gold at 55kg on Tuesday.

The other wrestler from the DPR Korea to reach the final was Asian bronze medalist Myonggyong WON (PRK) who handed 2021 world champion Remina YOSHIMOTO (JPN) her first international loss.

Yoshimoto, Asian champion in 2025, had it under control for the most the match before conceding a takedown with just 23 seconds left on the clock. Won was relentless in her attacks to break Yoshimoto in the final 20 seconds.

For the gold, she will face 2024 world U20 champion Yu ZHANG (CHN) who secured a fall over Munkhnar BYAMBASUREN (MGL) after taking a 9-0 lead.

At 65kg, former world champion Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) defeated another world champion Irina RINGACI (MDA) in the semifinal, 10-0. Morikawa impressed with her attacks and scored five different takedowns to finish the match via technical superiority.

World U23 silver medalist Alina KASABIEVA (UWW) will look to stop Morikawa from winning her second world title after a dream run to the final at 65kg. She defeated two-time world bronze medalist Macey KILTY (USA) in the morning session and completed a 13-3 technical superiority Enkhjin TUVSHINJARGAL (MGL) in the semifinals.

Asian champion Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) booked a final against Genesis REASCO (ECU) after she handed a 10-5 defeat to European champion Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR) in the semifinals.

In an all South American semifinal, Reasco scored a takedown in the last minute to stun Milaimy MARIN POTRILLE (CUB), 5-3. Potrille was leading 3-3 on criteria with a minute left but Reasco scored the two-point takedown and held on to her lead for the win, becoming the first Ecuadorian wrestler to reach a World Championships final.

RESULTS

50kg
GOLD: Myonggyong WON (PRK) vs. Yu ZHANG (CHN)

SF 1: Yu ZHANG (CHN) df. Munkhnar BYAMBASUREN (MGL), via fall (9-0)
SF 2: Myonggyong WON (PRK) df. Remina YOSHIMOTO (JPN), 3-2

57kg
GOLD: Helen MAROULIS (USA) vs. Il Sim SON (PRK)

SF 1: Il Sim SON (PRK) df. Kexin HONG (CHN), 12-2
SF 2: Helen MAROULIS (USA) df. Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (UWW), via fall (5-0)

65kg
GOLD: Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) vs. Alina KASABIEVA (UWW)

SF 1: Alina KASABIEVA (UWW) df. Enkhjin TUVSHINJARGAL (MGL), 13-3
SF 2: Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) df. Irina RINGACI (MDA), 10-0

76kg
GOLD: Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) vs. Genesis REASCO (ECU)

SF 1: Genesis REASCO VALDEZ (ECU) df. Milaimy MARIN POTRILLE (CUB), 5-3
SF 2: Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) df. Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR), 10-5