Ukraine Leads Bulgaria By Ten Points After Day 4

Thursday, April 11, 2019 - 20:31 By Eric Olanowski

BUCHAREST, Romania (April 11) - Ukraine’s national anthem played three times on Thursday night as Oksana LIVACH, Iryna HUSYAK, and Alla CHERKASOVA captured three of the five women’s wrestling European Championships titles on the fourth day of wrestling in Bucharest, Romania. Ukraine, who finished Day 4 with 85 points, leads Bulgaria by 10 points heading into the final day of the women’s wrestling competition.

In the 50kg gold-medal bout, Oksana Livach trailed 4-4 on criteria with under 15 seconds left but was able to gain the 6-4 outright advantage over her Bulgarian opponenet Miglena SELISHKA to win her first senior-level European title.

Ukraine’s second European champion came at 55kg, where Iryna Husyak also defeated a Bulgarian wrestler to win a gold. Husyak trailed Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL), 4-2, after the first period, but was the aggressor in the second period. She scored eight points off two takedowns and a four-point throw to reach the top of the continental podium for the first time with a 10-4 victory.

Reigning world champion Alla Cherkasova gave Ukraine their third and final Day 4 gold medal. In what turned out of being the most exciting bout of the day, Cherkasova and her Czech Republic opponent Adela HANZLICKOVA combined to score 17 points. But, it was the reigning world champion who prevailed in the end, winning the 68kg gold medal, 11-6.

Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL) won her second consecutive European title with a 3-0 victory in the 59kg finals. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

Bulgaria, who sits in second place in the team race, finished with one champion and two silver medals.

Bilyana DUDOVA was Bulgaria's Day 4 champion, where she won the title at 59kg. The reigning world runner-up at 57kg made the smooth transition up to 59kg and capped off her run to her second consecutive continental gold medal, stopping Russia’s Svetlana LIPATOVA (RUS), 3-0. Dudova scored an inactivity point and a takedown off a Russian tie and helped Bulgaria claim the 25 first place points.

Bulgaria's two silver medals came from the aforementioned Miglena Selishka and Evelina Nikolova who fell short in the 50kg and 55kg gold-medal bouts respectively.

Turkey is in third place heading into the final day of women's wrestling. They had a champion in Yasemin ADAR and a trio of bronze medalists, Evin DEMIRHAN, Bediha GUN, Elif YESILIRMAK.

Yasemin Adar, last year's world runner-up, was the final women’s wrestler who won a gold medal on Day 4. Adar defeated Austria’s Martina KUENZ (AUT), 6-1, using an arm spin and four-point throw to win her fourth consecutive European title.

Adar, who entered the European Championships ranked No. 2 in the world, will take over the top spot in the world after her title-winning performance in Bucharest.

Greco-Roman wrestling begins tomorrow at 11:30 (local time) and can be followed on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS

Team Scores
GOLD - Ukraine (85 points)
SILVER - Bulgaria (75 points)
BRONZE - Turkey (70 points)
Fourth - Azerbaijan (41 points)
Fifth - Romania (35 points)

50kg
GOLD - Oksana LIVACH (UKR) df. Miglena Georgieva SELISHKA (BUL), 6-4
BRONZE - Kseniya STANKEVICH (BLR) df. Stefania PRICEPUTU (ROU), 10-2
BRONZE - Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) df. Turkan NASIROVA (AZE), 10-3

55kg
GOLD - Iryna HUSYAK (UKR) df. Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL), 10-4
BRONZE - Andreea ANA (ROU) aforementioned. Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA), 6-4
BRONZE - Bediha GUN (TUR) df. Zalina SIDAKOVA (BLR), 10-0

59kg
GOLD - Bilyana Zhivkova DUDOVA (BUL) df. Svetlana LIPATOVA (RUS), 3-0
BRONZE - Elif YESILIRMAK (TUR) df. Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN), 5-1
BRONZE - Elmira GAMBAROVA (AZE) df. Anhelina LYSAK (UKR), 11-6

68kg
GOLD - Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR) df. Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE), 11-6
BRONZE - Anna FRANSSON (SWE) df. Iryna Petrovna NETREBA (AZE), 5-2
BRONZE - Anastasija GRIGORJEVA (LAT) df. Danute DOMIKAITYTE (LTU), 8-3

76kg
GOLD - Yasemin ADAR (TUR) df. Martina KUENZ (AUT), 6-1
BRONZE - Aline ROTTER FOCKEN (GER) df. Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU), via fall
BRONZE - Zsanett NEMETH (HUN) df. Iselin SOLHEIM (NOR), 6-1

#WrestleBucharest

Ukraine Wins Women’s Wrestling European Team Title

Friday, April 12, 2019 - 19:59 By Eric Olanowski

BUCHAREST, Romania (April 11) – Ukraine, who had a solo bronze medalist and finished last year’s Kaspiisk European Championships in seventh place, capped off their improbable run to a European team title on the backs of four individual women’s wrestling championship performances.

They had three champions on Thursday night and added one more gold medal on Friday to bring their overall title total to four European championships. Their lone Day 5 champion was Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR), who won the 72kg gold medal.

In the 72kg finals, former two-time continental champion Alina Berezhna Stadnik won her third European title with a fall over Anna SCHELL (GER) four minutes into the finals. It was the second time the Berezhna Stadnik threw her German opponent to her back but was able to put an exclamation point on Ukraine’s run to a European team title with a fall to close out the competition.

Ukrainian's also welcomed Day 5 points from silver medalists Lilya HORISHNA and Tetyana KIT.

Bulgaria, who grabbed an individual title from Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) at 62kg, finished in second place with 112 points.

At 62kg, returning world and European champion Taybe Yusein successfully defended her title with a controlling 4-0 victory over Italy’s first time continental medalist Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA).

The final three women's wrestling gold medals went to Russia, Hungary, and Azerbaijan.

In the 53kg finals, defending champion Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) punished two-time U23 European gold medalist Lilya HORISHNA (UKR), 13-3, and won her second consecutive continental title.

Orsush trailed early after Horishnia was awarded an inactivity point, but the Russian outscored her Ukrainian opponent 13-2 before ending the match early.

Orsush started her 13 points scoring streak off with a takedown, then wasted no time getting to a gut wrench and commanded the 4-1 lead after trailing 1-0. She continued to stay offensive, grabbing a second takedown, then transitioned into a pair of gut wrenches and led 10-3 after the first period.

In the second period, she kept the heat on and scored a stepout and a third takedown to win her second consecutive European title.

A lot of close and tense moments in the 57kg finals, but in the end, it was fifth-ranked returning world bronze medalist Emese BARKA (HUN) who came out on top against world bronze medalist Tetyana KIT (UKR), 4-2.

In their gold-medal match, Barka and Kit exchanged two-and-two in the opening period, but it was Barka who had the lead on criteria. The Hungarian wrestler picked up her other two points off of Ukrainian cautions and added a continental gold medal to her resume for the first time in her career.

At 65kg, Elis MANOLOVA (AZE) spoiled Kriszta INCZE’s (ROU) hopes of becoming the first Romanian women’s wrestler to win a European gold medal by scoring six unanswered second-period points to win the gold medal, 6-4.

Manolova was down 4-0 heading into the intermission, but never panicked and tied the match with a takedown and a pair of stepouts, but still trailed on criteria. The Azeri thought she took the lead with a stepout with 15 seconds left, but a challenge determined the wrestlers were grounded and the call was reversed.

With under 10 seconds left, the Azeri took a desperation shot and silenced the crowd with a takedown as time expired to win her third continental title and first since 2015.

RESULTS
GOLD - Ukraine (168 points)
SILVER - Bulgaria (112 points)
BRONZE - Turkey (98 points)
Fourth – Azerbaijan (96 points)
Fifth - Russia (89 points)

53kg
GOLD - Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) df. Lilya HORISHNA (UKR), 13-3
BRONZE - Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR) df. Roksana ZASINA (POL), 2-0
BRONZE - essica Cornelia Francisca BLASZKA (NED) df. Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA), 6-4

57kg
GOLD - Emese BARKA (HUN) df. Tetyana KIT (UKR), 4-2
BRONZE - Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) df. Mathilde Hélène RIVIERE (FRA), 8-7
BRONZE - Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE) df. Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL), via fall

62kg
GOLD - Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) df. Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA), 4-0
BRONZE - Marianna SASTIN (HUN) df. Moa NYGREN (SWE), 3-2
BRONZE - Tetiana OMELCHENKO (AZE) df. Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR), 6-4

65kg
GOLD - Elis MANOLOVA (AZE) df. Kriszta Tunde INCZE (ROU), 6-4
BRONZE - Petra OLLI (FIN) df. Henna JOHANSSON (SWE), 2-2
BRONZE - Mariia KUZNETSOVA (RUS) df. Asli DEMIR (TUR) , 14-3

72kg
GOLD - Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR) df. Anna Carmen SCHELL (GER), via fall
BRONZE - Tatiana KOLESNIKOVA MOROZOVA (RUS) df. Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU), 5-4

Ukraine Leads Bulgaria By Ten Points After Day 4

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Ukraine Wins Women’s Wrestling European Team Title