BAKU (November 29) – World champion Frank STAEBLER (GER) made a triumphant return to Baku on Sunday, winning the 71kg Greco-Roman title as the curtain came down on the Golden Grand Prix Final wrestling tournament.

Staebler finished with a bronze medal at the inaugural European Games staged in Baku in June, but then found his stride in July with a win at the prestigious Pytlansinski tourney in Poland which he followed with his first world championship title in Las Vegas in September.

For Staebler, however, it was not just about winning a gold medal in Baku. It was about the perfect end to a year he described as “golden.”  He even found a golden glitter to his bronze medal in June.

“The bronze medal at the European Games was special since it was the first medal won by a German wrestler at the Games,” Staebler explained. “It will be legendary.”

“But, I also got the chance to wrestle (Balint) Korpasi again,” he said of the Hungarian wrestler who defeated him in June and eventually took the Games’ silver medal. “It was nice to beat him (this time) because he is just a wrestling machine.”

Korpasi, who fell to Staebler, 3-0, in the semifinals, rebounded with a 3-2 win over 2014 world bronze medalist Afshin BYABANGARD (IRI) in Sunday’s bronze medal finals.

“It’s incredible to win here and it’s the first time I’ve ever won (a prize money) event like this,” the 26-year-old marketing assistant said. “Really, it has been a great year for me overall – a golden year.”

Meanwhile, the only other reigning world champion in action Sunday night Zhan BELENYUK (UKR) had a couple of throw attempts countered by David CHAKVETADZE (RUS), as the European Games champion wrapped up a 9-0 technical fall at 2:46 of the 85kg final.

Azerbaijan’s wrestling faithful, with only four bronze medals midway through the final session, were getting restless before 2013 world bronze medalist Shalva GADABADZE and European Games silver medalist Sabah SHARIATI grabbed the final two gold medals of the tourney.

Gadabadze forced a second passivity call on Mahdi ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI) in the second period of their 98kg final to receive a point which his made stand for a 1-0 victory.

Shariati, meanwhile, spotted Nurmakhan TINALIEV (KAZ) a 3-0 lead in the first period, but forced a disqualification on the Asia champion at 5:16 of the 130kg final while leading 7-3.

In all, wrestlers from seven different countries won titles on the final evening of wrestling in this year’s GGP Final.

In other gold medal match-ups, world and Olympic Games champion KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) recovered some from his 10th-place finish in Las Vegas with the 75kg crown while world bronze medalists Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) and Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) secured titles at 59kg and 80kg, respectively.
 

Greco-Roman

59kg (15 entries)
Gold – Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) df. Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) by TF, 9-0, 2:43
Bronze – Jesse THIELKE (USA) df. Mehrdad MARDANI (IRI), 8-4
Bronze – Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) df. YUN Won-Chol (PRK) by TF, 9-0, 1:51

66kg (17 entries)
Gold – Mehdi ZEIDVAND (IRI) df. Kamran MAMMADOV (AZE), 2-0
Bronze – Zaur KABALOEV (RUS) df. Geraei MOHAMMADLI (IRI) by TF, 8-0, 5:58
Bronze – Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) df. Ali ARSLAN (IRI), 6-3

71kg (14 entries)
Gold – Frank STAEBLER (GER) df. Rustam ALIEV (AZE), 4-0
Bronze – ZHANG Ridong (CHN) df. Manuel TORRES (VEN) by TF, 9-0, 4:02
Bronze – Balint KORPASI (HUN) df. Afshin BYABANGARD (IRI), 3-2

75kg (14 entries)
Gold – KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) df. Payam BOUYERI PAYANI (IRI), 3-0
Bronze – Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI) df. Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ), 4-2
Bronze – Mark MADSEN (DEN) df. Viktor NEMES (SRB), 4-0

80kg (14 entries)
Gold – Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) df. Rafik HUSEYNOV (AZE), 4-4
Bronze – AISHAN Aishan (CHN) df. Bilan NALGIEV (RUS), 3-2
Bronze – Elvin MURSALIEV (AZE) df. Emin AHMADOV (AZE), 4-3

85kg (18 entries)
Gold – David CHAKVETADZE (RUS) df. Zhan BELENYUK (UKR) by TF, 9-0, 2:46f
Bronze – Mojtaba KARIMFAR (IRI) df. Saman AZIZI (IRI), 3-1
Bronze – Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Hossein NOURI (IRI), 4-3

98kg (15 entries)
Gold – Shalva GADABADZE (AZE) df. Mahdi ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI), 1-0
Bronze – Sulieman DEMIRCI (TUR) df. Rustam TOTROV (RUS), 4-0
Bronze – XIAO Di (CHN) df. Orkhan NURIEV (AZE) by TF, 8-0, 4:01

130kg (13 entries)
Gold – Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) df. Nurmakhan TINALIEV (KAZ) by Disq., 5:16
Bronze – Behnam MEHDIZADEH (IRI) df. Heiki NABI (EST), 2-0
Bronze – Iosif CHUGOSHVILI (BLR) df. MENG Qiang (CHN), 3-2