#WrestleBucharest

Russia Wins Freestyle Team Title at European Championships

Wednesday, April 10, 2019 - 20:17 By Eric Olanowski

Share this article

BUCHAREST, Romania (April 10) – The Russian Federation trailed Azerbaijan by five points heading into the final day of wrestling at the European championships but closed out the freestyle competition with a Day 3 gold medal and two bronze medals to win the team title six points ahead of second place Turkey. 

Russia’s lone Day 3 champion came at 86kg, where Vladislav VALIEV (RUS) pitched his fourth shutout of the tournament, defeating Moldova’s Piotr IANULOV (MDA), 4-0. Valiev, the 2017 world bronze medalist, combined to outscore his five continental opponents, 30-1 en route to his first European title. 

Russia’s Timur BIZHOEV (RUS) and Anzor KHIZRIEV (RUS) won the 74kg and 125kg bronze medal respectively and helped the Russian Federation jump into the tournament’s top spot. 

Turkey finished in second place with 156 points. 

At 125kg, Turkey's Olympic champion Taha AKGUL won his third consecutive European title and seventh overall continental championship with a staggering 7-0 win over a vulnerable Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO). The Georgian wrestle had his left knee heavily taped and limited in what he could do in the gold-medal bout. 

Akgul, the 2016 Olympic champion dominated the 125kg finals match with a pair of takedowns, a leg lace, and a brutality point, and cruised past his biggest rival for the second consecutive time in the European finals. 

Turkey also had a pair of bronze medalists in Recep TOPAL and Fatih ERDIN. Topal was the bronze-medal winner at 61kg, and Erdin finished in third place at 86kg. 


Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) won the 92kg gold medal with a 3-0 win over Poland's Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL). (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne)

Azerbaijan finished in third place with 145 points.

In the 92kg finals, London Olympic Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) blew open the match against Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) after only leading 3-0 after the first period. In the second period, Sharifov scored three takedowns and won his first continental title with a 9-1 victory.  

Meanwhile, the final two freestyle Day 3 gold medals went to Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) and Frank CHAMIZO (ITA). 

The Armenian youngster, Arsen Harutyunyan, was down 8-0 after the first 90 seconds of the 61kg gold-medal bout but stormed back to outscore returning European runner-up Beka LOMTADZE (GEO), 17-3 in the final four minutes to win his first senior-level European title. 

Harutyunyan already had a cadet and junior European title on his resume, and added a senior European title with his come-from-behind win on Wednesday night. 

At 74kg, Frank Chamizo picked up his third European title at his third different weight class with an 8-0 throttling of France’s Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA), improving on his bronze-medal finish from last year's Kaspiisk European Championships. 

Chamizo scored three takedowns in the first period and a takedown in the second period, and shutout Moldova's Piotr IANULOV (MDA), 8-0. 

Freestyle Team Scores
GOLD - Russia  (162 points)
SILVER - Turkey (156 points) 
BRONZE -  Azerbaijan  (145 points) 
Fourth - Georgia  (104 points) 
Fifth - Ukraine (80 points) 

61kg
GOLD - Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) df. Beka LOMTADZE (GEO), 17-11
BRONZE - Recep TOPAL (TUR) df. Nikolai OKHLOPKOV (ROU), via fall 
BRONZE - Randy VOCK (SUI) df. Elmedin SEJFULAU (MKD), 6-5 

74kg
GOLD - Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ (ITA) df. Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA), 8-0 
BRONZE - Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO) df. Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR), 12-1 
BRONZE - Timur BIZHOEV (RUS) df. Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE), 6-4 

86kg
GOLD - Vladislav VALIEV (RUS) df. Piotr IANULOV (MDA), 4-0 
BRONZE - Ali SHABANAU (BLR) df. Murad SULEYMANOV (AZE), 11-2
BRONZE - Fatih ERDIN (TUR) df. Mihai PALAGHIA (ROU), 8-2 

92kg
GOLD - Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) df. Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL), 9-1 
BRONZE - Istvan VEREB (HUN) df. Ibrahim BOLUKBASI (TUR), 4-2
BRONZE - Irakli MTSITURI (GEO), df. Magomed KURBANOV (RUS), 3-2

125kg 
GOLD - Taha AKGUL (TUR) df. Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), 7-0 
BRONZE - Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR) df. Robert BARAN (POL), 3-2 
BRONZE - Anzor KHIZRIEV (RUS) df. Rares CHINTOAN (ROU), 11-0

#wrestlemanama

Bahrain to host 2026 World Championships

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

Share this article

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 October 24 November 1, 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."