#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)

#AmateurMMA

U20 Amateur MMA: New Zealand, Tajikistan crown world champs

By Vinay Siwach

LOUTRAKI, Greece (November 11) -- Gold medals for Tajikistan and New Zealand highlighted the first U20 World Amateur MMA Championships in Loutraki, Greece.

Tajikistan won two golds medals, both in men's division, while New Zealand won a gold medal through Lily HOUBEN (NZL) in women's division in the five-day event.

Houben, who is quickly making a name for herself in the New Zealand combat sports circles, used a classic armbar to submit Dinara TIUTIUNOVA (UWW) in the only bout, which was the final, at 90kg.

Apart from 90kg, three more weight classes were in action in women's -- 50kg, 61kg and 65kg. Alina NAIDINA (UWW) defeated Kseniia SHIPILKINA (UWW) to win the gold medal at 50kg.

Ukraine won golds at 61kg and 66kg through Yana MELNYCHUK (UKR) and Yuliia MELNYCHUK (UKR), the sisters helping it win the time title as well with 50 points. New Zealand finished second with 25 points.

Muhammadkabir NAZARZODA (TJK)Muhammadkabir NAZARZODA (TJK) won gold medal in the 62kg weight category. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

In men's, nine weight classes were in action with champions from Tajikistan, Moldova, France, Ukraine and UWW fighters.

Ukraine, once again the best team, won two gold medals, both at the expense of Kazakhstan. The first came at 77kg when Kyryl KYSELOV (UKR) defeated Kydyrali KAIRGALI (KAZ) in the final and the second came at 100kg as Yevhenii MURADOV (UKR) beat Radomir MOROZOV (KAZ) in the final.

Muhammadkabir NAZARZODA (TJK) gave Tajikistan its first gold medal when he defeated Maksim BUSYGIN (UWW) in the 62kg final. Soon after, : Mukhammadamin SHAMOLOV (TJK) added a second gold medal for the country when he beat Nikita LIKHTIN (UWW) in the 66kg final.

For Moldova, Ion SILI (MDA) showed his dominance in the 93kg final as he defeated Alikhan EVLOEV (UWW) to win the gold medal.

At 130kg, former U17 world silver medalist in Freestyle 125kg and U20 European bronze Levan LAGVILAVA (FRA) used his wrestling skills to win both bouts in the Nelson bracket to win the gold medal. Lagvilava recently finish fifth at the U20 World Championships.

Alibeg ALIBEKOV (UWW) won gold medal at 57kg, Ian GURBANOV (UWW) at 71kg, and Viktor SHEENKO (UWW) at 84kg.

RESULTS

U20 Men's Amateur MMA

57kg
GOLD: Alibeg ALIBEKOV (UWW)
SILVER: Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR)
BRONZE: Arturo COLMENAREJO GARCIA (ESP)
BRONZE: Kyllian DURANDET (FRA)

62kg
GOLD: Muhammadkabir NAZARZODA (TJK)
SILVER: Maksim BUSYGIN (UWW)
BRONZE: Amir ALKANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE: Mikhail KLIMENKO (UWW)

66kg
GOLD: Mukhammadamin SHAMOLOV (TJK)
SILVER: Nikita LIKHTIN (UWW)
BRONZE: Mansur ABDRAKHMAN (KAZ)
BRONZE: Oleh CHERNIK (UKR)

71kg
GOLD: Ian GURBANOV (UWW)
SILVER: Bilel BOULAMA (FRA)
BRONZE: Bohdan BECHKO (UKR)
BRONZE: Isa KHARSIEV (UWW)

77kg
GOLD: Kyryl KYSELOV (UKR)
SILVER: Kydyrali KAIRGALI (KAZ)
BRONZE: Ali SHARIFOV (KAZ)
BRONZE: Aliskhan DUDURGOV (UWW)

84kg
GOLD: Viktor SHEENKO (UWW)
SILVER: Andrii BOIAR (UKR)
BRONZE: Vadym ZHUKOV (UKR)
BRONZE: Athanasios MADEMLIS (GRE)

93kg
GOLD: Ion SILI (MDA)
SILVER: Alikhan EVLOEV (UWW)
BRONZE: Yehor RAILIANU (UKR)
BRONZE: Yerkebulan ASSANOV (KAZ)

100kg
GOLD: Yevhenii MURADOV (UKR)
SILVER: Radomir MOROZOV (KAZ)
BRONZE: Anton MAZAEV (UWW)
BRONZE: Cinar PAMUK (TUR)

130kg
GOLD: Levan LAGVILAVA (FRA)
SILVER: Mateusz ZIENKIEWICZ (POL)
BRONZE: Yerassyl SARTBAY (KAZ)

U20 Women's Amateur MMA

50kg
GOLD: Alina NAIDINA (UWW)
SILVER: Kseniia SHIPILKINA (UWW)

61kg
GOLD: Yana MELNYCHUK (UKR)
SILVER: Diana PARFENOVA (UWW)
BRONZE: Alessia AMENDOLA (ITA)
BRONZE: Tetiana LAPTIEVA (UKR)

65kg
GOLD: Yuliia MELNYCHUK (UKR)
SILVER: Renata AZNABAEVA (UWW)

90kg
GOLD: Lily HOUBEN (NZL)
SILVER: Dinara TIUTIUNOVA (UWW)