#WrestleSofia

Russia has three Greco-Roman finalists for last day of #WrestleSofia

Saturday, August 3, 2019 - 17:26 By Taylor Miller

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SOFIA, Bulgaria – The final five gold-medal matches of the 2019 Cadet World Championships have been set for Sunday evening in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Leading the field is 2018 Youth Olympic Games silver medalist and 2018 Cadet European champion Stepan STARODUBTSEV (RUS), who will wrestle for 71 kg gold in Greco-Roman.

Looking to challenge Starodubtsev is 2019 Cadet Asian runner-up Reza SAKI (IRI), who knocked off reigning World champion and 208 Youth Olympic champ Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) in the semifinals with a 6-6 win on criteria.

In addition to Starodubtsev, Russia put two other athletes into the gold-medal matches.

Also representing Russia in the gold-medal bout is Muhammed EVLOEV (RUS), who will make his second appearance in the Cadet World finals. In 2017, he finished with a World silver medal.

For gold, Evloev will face 2019 European silver and 2018 European bronze medalist Lachin VALIYEV (AZE).

At 60 kg, 2019 Cadet European champion Maksim SKURATOV (RUS) outlasted 2019 Cadet Asian silver winner Seyed SOHRABI (IRI), 3-0, in the semifinals.

Skuratov will go up against two-time European medalist Mert ILBARS (TUR) for the title.

Wrestling for the crown at 51 kg is Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) and Elmir ALIYEV (AZE).

Esmaeili Leivesi advanced to the finals with a 9-0 win, taking out hometown favorite and returning World bronze medalist and 2018 Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist Edmond NAZARYAN (BUL), son of legendary Armen Nazarian, a two-time Olympic champion and three-time World champion.

2019 Cadet Asian champion Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ) will compete for the gold medal at 45 kg. Looking to challenge him is Asadbek BAKHRAMAOV (UZB), who was eighth at Cadet Asian Championships earlier this year.

The finals will take place Sunday at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) live on unitedworldwrestling.org.

Finals matchups
45 kg: Asadbek BAKHRAMAOV (UZB) vs. Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ)
51 kg: Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) vs. Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)
60 kg: Mert ILBARS (TUR) vs. Maksim SKURATOV (RUS)
71 kg: Stepan STARODUBTSEV (RUS) vs. Reza SThe fAKI (IRI)
92 kg: Muhammed EVLOEV (RUS) vs. Lachin VALIYEV (AZE)

2026 U23 European Championships

Three Golds Power Belarus to First U23 Euro Women's Team Title

Saturday, March 14, 2026 - 00:19 By Vinay Siwach

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ZRENJANIN, Serbia (March 13) -- Three golds medals on Friday propelled Belarus to win its first-ever Women's Wrestling team title at the U23 European Championships. Belarus finished with 171 points to claim the top spot while Russia was second with 141 points. Ukraine finished third with 140 points.

After winning one gold medal on Thursday, Belarus added three through Aryna DZEMCHANKA MARTYNAVA (BLR), Kseniya TSIARENIA (BLR) and Viktoryia RADZKOVA (BLR). It also won one silver and one bronze while all 10 wrestlers contributed points to the team score.

European champion Alina SHAUCHUK (BLR) claimed the 68kg gold medal on Thursday and the gold rush on Friday began with Martynava scoring a tough win over Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR) in the 57kg final, a repeat from last year's edition.

In what turned out to be one-move match, Martynava scored a double-leg head-outside takedown in the first 10 seconds of the bout. She then sat on her two-point lead for five minutes and 50 seconds. In the second period, Martynava was called passive and Filipovych was given a point.

But the Ukrainian failed to score two more points that were needed for a win that would have avenged her loss from last year's final which Martynava won 8-2.

The Belarus wrestler now has two U23 European gold medals to go with her silver at the U23 World Championships and gold medal at the U20 World Championships.

The second gold for Belarus was won by Kseniya TSIARENIA (BLR) after she defeated Ekaterina KOSHKINA (RUS), 4-2, in the 65kg final. Tsiarenia controlled the match giving little chance to Koshkina to score.

It was only in the dying seconds of the match that Koshkina managed to score a harmless takedown for two points.

The third gold medal for Belarus was won by Viktoryia RADZKOVA (BLR) who denied Veronika VILK (CRO) a chance of winning a historical gold medal at 72kg. Radzkova opened the scoring when Vilk was called passive. Vilk then tried an arm-throw but Radzkova blocked her and scored two points to lead 3-0 at the break.

Vilk tried a headlock in the second period but Radzkova was ready for it and again blocked Vilk's attempt to score two points. A turn for exposure added two more points for Radzkova that extended her lead to 7-0.

Perhaps ready for another throw from Vilk, Radzkova stood up and when Vilk tried the throw, she once again blocked and landed on top. The two points plus two more points for the turn gave Radzkova an 11-0 win with a minute nine seconds left.

Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP) was also trying to achieve a historic gold for Spain but was denied as Anastasiia POLSKA (POL) used a fireman's carry to secure a fall in just a minute and 17 seconds and win gold at 53kg.

Senior world bronze medalist Amina TANDELOVA (RUS) claimed the 62kg gold medal after beating Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE), 5-3, in the final.

Tandelova, who won silver at U23 Europeans in 2023, used a beautiful arm-throw to score the first four-pointer. The first point for Tandelova was from the activity period of Mammadova in which the Azerbaijan wrestler failed to score.

Mammadova scored a takedown and activity clock point to cut the lead but it was still not enough to overturn the result.

Photo

RESULTS

53kg
GOLD: Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR) df. Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP), via fall (4-0)

BRONZE: Sevval CAYIR (TUR) vs. Nargiz SAMADOVA (AZE)
BRONZE: Ekaterina KARPUSHKINA (RUS) df. Kseniya KOSTSENICH (BLR), via inj. def.

57kg
GOLD: Aryna DZEMCHANKA MARTYNAVA (BLR) df. Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR), 2-1

BRONZE: Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN) df. Amory ANDRICH (GER), 7-5
BRONZE: Felicitas DOMAJEVA (NOR) df. Romaissa EL KHARROUBI (FRA), 5-0

62kg
GOLD: Amina TANDELOVA (RUS) df. Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE), 5-3

BRONZE: Iris THIEBAUX (FRA) df. Gulsum BINGOL (TUR), 4-0
BRONZE: Alicja WOJEWODZKA NOWOSAD (POL) df. Naemi LEISTNER (GER), 5-1

65kg
GOLD: Kseniya TSIARENIA (BLR) df. Ekaterina KOSHKINA (RUS), 4-2

BRONZE: Maria PANTIRU (ROU) df. Bianca CONTRAFATTO (ITA), via fall (8-0)
BRONZE: Oleksandra RYBAK (UKR) df. Saga SVENSSON (SWE), 11-1

72kg
GOLD: Viktoryia RADZKOVA (BLR) df. Veronika VILK (CRO), 11-0

BRONZE: Karolina JAWORSKA (POL) df. Daniela BRASNAROVA (BUL), 5-0
BRONZE: Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (RUS) df. Greta TVERSKYTE (LTU), 3-3