#WrestleBucharest

Pair of World Final Rematches Highlight Day Seven Gold-Medal Bouts

Sunday, April 14, 2019 - 13:10 By Eric Olanowski

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BUCHAREST, Romania (April 13) – The final five Greco-Roman gold-medal bouts are settled, and it was the Russian Federation, who again placed three wrestlers into the finals. Russia leads second-place Azerbaijan by 34 points heading into the final session of wrestling at Bucharest’s Polyvalent Hall. 

The three Russian Day 7 finalists are Sergey EMELIN, Abuiazid MANTSIGOV, and Musa EVLOEV, who’ll wrestle for gold at 60kg, 72kg, and 97kg respectively.

Emelin and Evloev will both wrestle the men they defeated in Budapest to capture their world titles last October. Tonight, Emelin will wrestle Moldova’s Victor CIOBANU in the 60kg finals, and Evloev will wrestle Bulgaria's Kiril MILOV in the finals at 97kg. 

The third Russian gold-medal hopeful is Abduiazid Mantsigov. He’ll wrestle Turkey’s reigning U23 world champion Cengiz ARSLAN for the 72kg European title.

The two weights not featuring a wrestler from the Russian Federation are 67kg and 82kg. 

Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) inserted himself into the 67kg finals with a 5-3 semifinals win over Mate NEMES (SRB). Sahakyan trailed 3-0, but closed out the first period with a takedown and trailed 3-2. In the final period, the Polish wrestled scored an inactivity point and an exposure to seal up his spot in the  67kg finals.

Sahakyan will meet Turkey’s Atakan YUKSEL (TUR), who scored the 3-1 semifinals win over Georgia’s Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO). 

At 82kg, Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) put away Finland's Vili Tapio ROPPONEN with a pair of highlight reel five-point moves and will take on Denmark's Rajbek BISULTANOV, who shocked reigning world runner-up Emrah KUS (TUR), 5-5, in the semifinals. Bisultanov led 5-0, but gave up five straight points (an inactivity point, and two exposures), and held on to win on criteria. 

If Bisultanov reaches the top of the podium tonight in Bucharest, he'll become Denmark’s first European champion since Johannes JACOBSEN won the Riga European title in 1926. 

The Day 7 finals begin at 18:00 (local time) and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

RESULTS
60kg 
GOLD - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) vs. Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
SEMIFNIAL - Victor CIOBANU (MDA) df. Lenur TEMIROV (UKR), 6-4
SEMIFNIAL -  Sergey EMELIN (RUS) vs. Kerem KAMAL (TUR), 7-0 

67kg 
GOLD - Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) vs. Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) 
SEMIFINAL - Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) df. Mate NEMES (SRB), 5-3 
SEMIFINAL - Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) df. Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO), 3-1

72kg
GOLD - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) vs. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)
SEMIFINAL - Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR) df. Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL), 2-1 
SEMIFINAL - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) df. Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), 9-0 

82kg
GOLD - Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) vs. Rajbek BISULTANOV (DEN)
SEMIFINAL -. Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) df. Vili Tapio ROPPONEN (FIN) df 11-0 
SEMIFINAL - Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN) df. Emrah KUS (TUR), 5-5 

97kg 
GOLD - Musa EVLOEV (RUS) vs. Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL)
SEMIFINAL - Musa EVLOEV (RUS) df. Daigoro TIMONCINI (ITA), 3-1
SEMIFINAL - Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL) df. Matti Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN), 4-1 

#wrestlemanama

Bahrain to host 2026 World Championships

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 12:02 By United World Wrestling Press

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- For the first time in history, the World Championships are headed to Bahrain.

The 2026 World Championships will be held in Manama, Bahrain from September 5 to 13, United World Wrestling announced on Tuesday, during the ongoing World Championships in Zagreb.

No Arab country has ever hosted a World Championships but Bahrain will etch its name in history with the 2026 edition.

Secretary General of the Bahrain Olympic Committee Faris AL-KOOHEJI attended the press conference at the Arena Zagreb for the historic announcement. UWW President Nenad LALOVIC and Al-Kooheji announced the host together and signed the agreement.

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Lalovic said. "They probably want to use this opportunity to promote the sport through this superstar [Akhmed] TAZHUDINOV (BRN). But he's not the only one.

"They also want to develop the local Bahrain born athletes to compete because they have the role model of the top achievement in wrestling. This is something that we considered and that is why we made this decision.

Bahrain won its first-ever gold medal in Olympics in Paris when Tahzudinov ran-through the 97kg weight class and captured the gold medal. A year before that, he won the world title in the same weight class.

Tazhudinov is also an Asian champion, Asian Games champion and winner of other Ranking Series events.

Lalovic on the fact that wrestling wants to change the host continent of the World Championships more regularly.

 "We also want to change the continent regularly," he said. "A state that can organize the Asian [Youth] Games like they will do now in October, they will not face any problem with the championships, especially that we give all the assistance possible for the execution"

Manama, Bahrain will host the Asian Youth Games in which wrestling will be held from October 28 to 30.

Expressing its gratitude to UWW and readiness to host the mega event, Al-Kooheji said that the tournament will help Bahrain take wrestling to the grassroot levels in the country.

"For us, wrestling is a long term project," Al-Kooheji said. "Wrestling is a growing sport. It's a strategic sport for us. We got a gold medal in Paris, and we're looking to getting more medals. That gold medal started to inspire a lot of people, locally, to pursue wrestling, which is why part of the discussions with United World Wrestling is to even help us add wrestling in schools."

The Bahrain Olympic Committee expects that the World Championships will have a positive impact in growing the sport in the country.

"Strong economic impact [from the event]," he said. "We're going to get lots of travel spectators from Iran, the United States, and other countries as well. It's going to encourage the local community. They will understand more wrestling."