2021 Calendar

Update to Calendar and Events for 2021

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 24) -- United World Wrestling has updated its event calendar for the 2021 season to reflect all recent adjustments made due to the impact of COVID-19 on a variety of international events.

The Continental Championships will be scheduled at the beginning of the year in order to add the Continental and World Qualifiers. Because the Senior Pan-American Continental Qualifiers were held last year, the Continental Championships will be held at the end of May.

The Continental Championships: 
January 29-31: Oceania Championships, Pago Pago, ASA
February 02-07: African Championships, Marrakech, MAR
February 08-14: European Championships, Katowice, POL
February 16-21: Asian Championships, Almaty, KAZ
May 27-30: Pan-Am Championships, Rio de Janeiro, BRA


The Continental Olympic Qualifiers:
March 12-14: Africa and Oceania Olympic Qualifier, El Jadidda, MAR
March 18-21: European Olympic Qualifier, Budapest, HUN
March 26-28: Asia Olympic Qualifier, Xi'an, CHN

World Olympic Games Qualifier
April 29-May 02: Sofia, BUL

The Cadet World Championships were moved to the end of July as to not interfere with the Olympic Games. There will not be one full month between the Cadet Continental Championships and the Cadet World Championships, but the deadline linked with the registrations remains the same.

The newly announced Junior Pan-American Games will be also organized in 2021. The qualification event for the Games will be the Cadet Pan-American Championships which will have to be organized earlier in order to allow enough time for the registration/accreditation process. It was also agreed that Argentina will host cadet and junior Pan-American Championships at the same time in order to reduce the cost of the Federations.

Due to a postponement of the 2022 Youth Olympic Games, the Cadet Continental Championships in 2022 will once again be held at the end of June.

You can find the updated calendar at https://unitedworldwrestling.org/events).

#WrestleTirana

Four Defending Champs Return to European Greco Finals on Day 2

By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (April 21) -- Out of the five defending Greco-Roman champion on Tuesday at the European Championships, four will defend their gold medals after reaching the final. The one missing out was Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) at 60kg.

At 67kg, Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) was on the verge of bowling out, down 2-0 against Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO) but was awarded the par terre in the second period. Jafarov scored a correct throw on Chkhikvadze, scoring two points to lead 3-2. Georgia challenged but on review, the correct throw call was upheld, giving Jafarov a 4-2 lead that he defended to enter the final.

He will wrestle Murat FIRAT (TUR) on Wednesday with an aim of winning a second straight European Championships title. Firat had one-sided final against Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR), beating the Ukrainian 4-0. He scored a turn from first par terre to lead 3-0 and then got the second par terre as well which gave him one more point.

In perhaps the biggest match of the session, defending champion at 97kg Kiril MILOV (BUL) denied world silver medalist Artur SARGSIAN (UWW) at 97kg with a 7-1 victory. Milov led 1-1 on criteria after par terre positions were exchanged but Sargsian wrapped his arm around Milov and tried scoring a takedown. Milov defended and both wrestlers went out of bounds.

Milov was awarded the point as Sargsian stepped out first. Sargsian challenged but on review, and the difference being a fraction of a second, Sargsian's knee touched outside before Milov's hand. Milov kept his point and got another point for lost challenge, giving him a 3-1 lead.

Sargsian tried a flying squirrel but Milov controlled him before slamming him on the mat for four points and extending his lead to 7-1.

He will defend his title against Alex SZOKE (HUN) who blanked Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR), 3-0, in the other semifinals. He got the two points for the par terre and one for the lost challenge.

The third defending champion to enter the final was Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) after he defeated Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-1 at 82kg. He will face Adlet TIULIUBAEV (UWW) in the final after he defeated world bronze medalist Karlo KODRIC (CRO), 7-3.

At 72kg, Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) will look to win his second straight gold medal, reaching the final with a 6-1 victory over Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM). Ghanem opened the scoring with a stepout before losing a challenge to make it 1-1 but held criteria. He was awarded the par terre position from which he turned Terteryan to lead 4-1. Just before the break, he managed a takedown and extend his lead to 6-1, the winning score.

Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) will look to challenge Ghanem after he defeated Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR), 3-2, in the other 72kg semifinal

The one defending champion who did not reach the final, Mammadli, was stunned by former U20 world champion Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM) in the 60kg semifinal, pinning the Azerbaijan wrestler after building a 7-1 lead.

Aghajanyan got the par terre in the first period and used a front headlock for a four-point throw and lead 5-0. In the second period, the Armenian got the par terre again to the surprise of Mammadli, who managed to score a reversal to cut the lead to 6-1. However, as he tried to gut-wrench Aghajanyan, he was blocked by the Armenian who kept Mammadli on the mat and got the pin.

Returning silver medalist Georgij TIBILOV (SRB) had no issues reaching his second straight final as he defeated Corneliu RUSU (MDA), 7-1 in the semifinal. Tibilov led 1-1 on criteria but got a third passivity, one without any points, and scored a four-point throw.

Towards the end of the bout, Rusu used an aggressive move on Tibilov which forced the referees to give two caution points to Tibilov, making his score 7-1.

RESULTS

60kg
SF 1: Georgij TIBILOV (SRB) df. Corneliu RUSU (MDA), 7-1
SF 2: Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM) df. Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE), via fall (8-1)

67kg
SF 1: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) df. Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO), 4-2
SF 2: Murat FIRAT (TUR) df. Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR), 4-0

72kg
SF 1: Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) df. Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM), 6-1
SF 2: Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) df. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR), 3-2

82kg
SF 1: Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) df. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-1
SF 2: Adlet TIULIUBAEV (UWW) df. Karlo KODRIC (CRO), 7-3

97kg
SF 1: Kiril MILOV (BUL) df. Artur SARGSIAN (UWW), 7-1
SF 2: Alex SZOKE (HUN) df. Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR), 3-0