#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Ranking Series entry list

By Eric Olanowski & Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 20) -- Wrestling fans will be treated to a grand season-opening Ranking Series event as Zagreb Open will see close to 600 wrestlers on the mat next month.

All three styles have big stars coming to set the tone for an important season which also includes Paris Olympics qualifying World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

The Croatian capital will see Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), Kyle SNYDER (USA), Ravi KUMAR (IND), Haji ALIYEV (AZE), Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), J'den COX (USA), Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) and Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) on the mat in freestyle.

Women's wrestling will see a strong Japanese team including world and Olympic champion Yui SUSAKI (JPN) entered for the competition. Most of the Japanese team comprises the winners of the Emperor's Cup from December. The USA is also bringing a strong women's team with Helen MAROULIS (USA), Kayla MIRACLE (USA), Yelena MAKOYED (USA) among others.

Canada, China and India will also be represented by strong squads and the competition will see most wrestlers shifting to Olympic weight classes as well.

The Greco-Roman battles will restart as Iran, Azerbaijan and Hungary are bringing full squads. Most of the European countries are also entered means the likes of the Sterkenburg twins from the Netherlands and Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) are also entered.

The competition begins February 1 with freestyle followed by women's wrestling and ending with Greco-Roman.

All the live action and highlights can be accessed at uww.org or on the official UWW app.

Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) will return to mat in Zagreb. (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Freestyle

57kg
Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE)
Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE)
Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
Minghu LIU (CHN)
Weiyu LI (CHN)
Guesseppe REA VILLARROEL (ECU)
Valentin DAMOUR (FRA)
Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO)
Beka BUJIASHVILI (GEO)
Aman AMAN (IND)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Rikuto ARAI (JPN)
Yuto NISHIUCHI (JPN)
Darian Toi CRUZ (PUR)
Zane RICHARDS (USA)

61kg
Adam BIBOULATOV (FRA)
Shota PHARTENADZE (GEO)
Gamzatgadzsi HALIDOV (HUN)
PANKAJ (IND)
Reza ATRI (IRI)
Narankhuu NARMANDAKH (MGL)
Emrah ORMANOGLU (TUR)
Daniel DESHAZER (USA)
 
65kgAgustin DESTRIBATS (ARG)
Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE)
Mikyay NAIM (BUL)
Shaohua YUAN (CHN)
Quentin STICKER (FRA)
Ilman MUKHTAROV (FRA)
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Edemi BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
Joshua FINESILVER (ISR)
Ryoma ANRAKU (JPN)
Kaiji OGINO (JPN)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI (POL)
Eduard GRIGOREV (POL)
Sebastian C RIVERA (PUR)
Evan HENDERSON (USA)
Joseph MC KENNA (USA)
Nicholas LEE (USA)

70kg
Benedikt HUBER (AUT)
Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE)
AGUDAMU (CHN)
Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO)
Vishal KALIRAMANA (IND)
Gianluca TALAMO (ITA)
Temuulen ENKHTUYA (MGL)
Alec PANTALEO (USA)
Hayden HIDLAY (USA)
Tyler BERGER (USA)
 
74kg
Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE)
Miroslav KIROV (BUL)
Emmanuel OLAPADE (CAN)
Patrik LEDER (CAN)
Jasmit PHULKA (CAN)
Shengsong XIA (CHN)
Nuerlanbieke WURENIBAI (CHN)
Amr Reda Ramadan HUSSEN (EGY)
Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
Yones EMAMI (IRI)
Mitchell FINESILVER (ISR)
Kirin KINOSHITA (JPN)
Kojiro SHIGA (JPN)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Patryk OLENCZYN (POL)
Krisztian BIRO (ROU)
Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
Fazli ERYILMAZ (TUR)
Joseph LAVALLEE (USA)
Thomas GANTT JR (USA)
Jason NOLF (USA)

79kg
Simon MARCHL (AUT)
Callum MCNEICE (CAN)
Peilong LI (CHN)
Saifedine ALEKMA (FRA)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)
Csaba VIDA (HUN)
Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI)
Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK)
Ramazan SARI (TUR)
Chandler MARSTELLER (USA)
 
86kg
Benjamin GREIL (AUT)
Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE)
Andrew JOHNSON (CAN)
Zushen LIN (CHN)
Xiao SUN (CHN)
Akhmed AIBUEV (FRA)
Ruslan VALIEV (FRA)
Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO)
Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)
Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR)
Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)
Sebastian JEZIERZANSKI (POL)
Myles AMINE (SMR)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)
Zahid VALENCIA (USA)
Mark HALL (USA)

92kg
Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO)
Pruthviraj PATIL (IND)
Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL)
Radoslaw MARCINKIEWICZ (POL)
Jonathan AIELLO (USA)
Kollin MOORE (USA)

97kg
Ricardo BAEZ (ARG)
Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Nishan Preet RANDHAWA (CAN)
Awusayiman HABILA (CHN)
Tuerxunbieke MUHEITE (CHN)
Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
Vladislav BAITSAEV (HUN)
Richard VEGH (HUN)
Sahil SEHRAWAT (IND)
Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)
Benjamin HONIS (ITA)
Takashi ISHIGURO (JPN)
Radoslaw BARAN (POL)
Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)
Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
Morgan SMITH (USA)
Jden COX (USA)
Kyle SNYDER (USA)

125kg
Johannes LUDESCHER (AUT)
Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
Georgi IVANOV (BUL)
Reheman RUSIDANMU (CHN)
Benxin DUAN (CHN)
Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
Milan KORCSOG (HUN)
DINESH (IND)
Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)
Abraham CONYEDO (ITA)
Taiki YAMAMOTO (JPN)
Robert BARAN (POL)
Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL)
Hayden ZILLMER (USA)
Jordan WOOD (USA)
Ceron FRANCISCO (USA)

Koumba LARROQUE (FRA)Koumba LARROQUE (FRA), blue, will compete at 68kg at the Zagreb Open. (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Women’s Wrestling

50kg
Patricia BERMUDEZ (ARG)
Turkan NASIROVA (AZE)
Mariya STADNIK (AZE)
Madison PARKS (CAN)
Ziqi FENG (CHN)
Meng FAN (CHN)
Jiang ZHU (CHN)
Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA)
Szimonetta SZEKER (HUN)
Shivani PAWAR (IND)
Emanuela LIUZZI (ITA)
Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
Gabija DILYTE (LTU)
Otgonjargal DOLGORJAV (MGL)
Anna LUKASIAK (POL)
Agata WALERZAK (POL)
Erin GOLSTON (USA)
Jasmina IMMAEVA (UZB)
Aktenge KEUNIMJAEVA (UZB)

53kg
Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Samantha STEWART (CAN)
Karla GODINEZ (CAN)
Diana WEICKER (CAN)
Yuhong ZHONG (CHN)
Li DENG (CHN)
Lucia YEPEZ GUZMAN (ECU)
Marina RUEDA FLORES (ESP)
Tetiana PROFATILOVA (FRA)
Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA)
Vivien MATYI (HUN)
Stalvira ORSHUSH (HUN)
Sushma SHOKEEN (IND)
Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)
Iulia LEORDA (MDA)
Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL)
Khulan BATKHUYAG (MGL)
Katarzyna KRAWCZYK (POL)
Roksana ZASINA (POL)
Ahinsa FERNANDO (SRI)
Katie GOMEZ (USA)
Dominique PARRISH (USA)
Alisha HOWK (USA)
Shokhida AKHMEDOVA (UZB)
Dilshoda MATNAZAROVA (UZB)

55kg
Dorcas JOSE (ANG)
Mengyu XIE (CHN)
Erika BOGNAR (HUN)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
Moe KIYOOKA (JPN)
Laura STANELYTE (LTU)
Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA)
Lauren MASON (USA)
Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)

57kg
Giullia PENALBER (BRA)
Tianna KENNETT (CAN)
Hannah TAYLOR (CAN)
Alexandria TOWN (CAN)
Qi ZHANG (CHN)
Yongxin FENG (CHN)
Ningning RONG (CHN)
Lana NOGIC (CRO)
Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)
Anna SZEL (HUN)
SITO (IND)
Aurora RUSSO (ITA)
Sae NANJO (JPN)
Anhelina LYSAK (POL)
Patrycja GIL (POL)
Jowita WRZESIEN (POL)
Helen MAROULIS (USA)
Alexandra HEDRICK (USA)
Amanda MARTINEZ (USA)
Laylokhon SOBIROVA (UZB)

59kg
Lidia VUVU (ANG)
Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE)
Nikolett SZABO (HUN)
Viktoria BORSOS (HUN)
Yui SAKANO (JPN)
Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)

62kg
Sara LANDO (ANG)
Elis MANOLOVA (AZE)
Lais NUNES DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL)
Taybe YUSEIN (BUL)
Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
ZHUOMALAGA (CHN)
Jia LONG (CHN)
Xiaojuan LUO (CHN)
Lydia PEREZ (ESP)
Viktoria VESSO (EST)
Ameline DOUARRE (FRA)
Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
Elena ESPOSITO (ITA)
Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)
Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
Grace BULLEN (NOR)
Magdalena GLODEK (POL)
Natalia KUBATY (POL)
Lauren LOUIVE (USA)
Kayla MIRACLE (USA)
Ariukhan JUMABAEVA (UZB)
Dilfuza AIMBETOVA (UZB)

65kg
Iva GERIC (CRO)
BHATERI (IND)
Mahiro YOSHITAKE (JPN)
Forrest MOLINARI (USA)
Mallory VELTE (USA)
Emma BRUNTIL (USA)

68kg
Sofiya GEORGIEVA (BUL)
Olivia DI BACCO (CAN)
Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)
Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
Koumba LARROQUE (FRA)
Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)
RADHIKA (IND)
Ami ISHII (JPN)
Danute DOMIKAITYTE (LTU)
Irina RINGACI (MDA)
Natalia STRZALKA (POL)
Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL)
Marilyn GARCIA (USA)
Solin PIEARCY (USA)
Alexandria GLAUDE (USA)

72kg
Milla ANDELIC (CRO)
REETIKA (IND)
Dalma CANEVA (ITA)
Sumire NIIKURA (JPN)
Skylar GROTE (USA)
Svetlana OKNAZAROVA (UZB)

76kg
Taylor FOLLENSBEE (CAN)
Justina DI STASIO (CAN)
Shauna KUEBECK (CAN)
Juan WANG (CHN)
Qian ZHOU (CHN)
Genesis REASCO VALDEZ (ECU)
Samar HAMZA (EGY)
Cynthia VESCAN (FRA)
Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
KIRAN (IND)
Enrica RINALDI (ITA)
Ayano MORO (JPN)
Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU)
Yelena MAKOYED (USA)
Dymond GUILFORD (USA)
Precious BELL (USA)
Ozoda ZARIPBOEVA (UZB)

Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) and Seyed SHORABI (IRI) will resume their rivalry at 67kg. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
MANJEET (IND)
Mohammad JAVAHERI FARID (IRI)
Poya DAD MARZ (IRI)
Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Dalton DUFFIELD (USA)
Ikhtiyor BOTIROV (UZB)

60kg
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE)
Liguo CAO (CHN)
Haodong TAN (CHN)
Nikolai MOHAMMADI (DEN)
Ahmed BAGHDOUDA (EGY)
Leo TUDEZCA (FRA)
Krisztian KECSKEMETI (HUN)
Erik TORBA (HUN)
GYANENDER (IND)
Amirreza DEHBOZORGI (IRI)
Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
Kaito INABA (JPN)
Maito KAWANA (JPN)
Justas PETRAVICIUS (LTU)
Michal TRACZ (POL)
Mateusz SZEWCZUK (POL)
Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)
Dalton ROBERTS (USA)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)
Randon MIRANDA (USA)

63kg
Mbiayavanga ADRIANO (ANG)
Aker AL OBAIDI (AUT)
Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE)
Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
Helary MAEGISALU (EST)
SAGAR (IND)
Aref Hossein MOHAMMADI (IRI)
Iman Hossein Khoon MOHAMMADI (IRI)
Jacopo SANDRON (ITA)
Aleksandrs JURKJANS (LAT)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Perica DIMITRIJEVIC (SRB)
Jesse THIELKE (USA)
Samuel JONES (USA)
Shermukhammad SHARIBJANOV (UZB)

67kg
Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
Sailike WALIHAN (CHN)
Husiyuetu HUSIYUETU (CHN)
Lei LI (CHN)
Luka IVANCIC (CRO)
Domagoj CELICEK (CRO)
Luis ORTA (CUB)
Elmer MATTILA (FIN)
Stefan CLEMENT (FRA)
Tigran GALUSTYAN (FRA)
Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)
Adam POHILEC (HUN)
Karanjit SINGH (IND)
ASHU (IND)
Reza Mahdi ABBASI (IRI)
Seyed SOHRABI (IRI)
Eito NISHIDA (JPN)
Katsuaki ENDO (JPN)
HARUTO YABE (JPN)
Adomas GRIGALIUNAS (LTU)
Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Mihai MIHUT (ROU)
Andreas VETSCH (SUI)
Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Murat FIRAT (TUR)
Alston NUTTER (USA)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Abror ATABAEV (UZB)

72kg
Stefan STEIGL (AUT)
Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE)
Jian TAN (CHN)
Lovro ZURAK (CRO)
Luka MALOBABIC (CRO)
Jakub BIELESZ (CZE)
Jiri CAPEK (CZE)
Matias LIPASTI (FIN)
Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA)
Robert FRITSCH (HUN)
Krisztofer KLANYI (HUN)
Ankit GULIA (IND)
Sajjad Ali IMENTALABFOUMANI (IRI)
Amir ABDI (IRI)
Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU)
Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU)
Eimantas VILIMAS (LTU)
Valentin PETIC (MDA)
Mateusz BERNATEK (POL)
Roman PACURKOWSKI (POL)
Selcuk CAN (TUR)
Britton HOLMES (USA)
Patrick SMITH (USA)
Benjamin PEAK (USA)
Jamol JUMABAEV (UZB)

77kg
Francisco KADIMA (ANG)
Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
Halishan BAHEJIANG (CHN)
Rui LIU (CHN)
Pavel PUKLAVEC (CRO)
Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Oliver KRUEGER (DEN)
Mikko PELTOKANGAS (FIN)
Akseli YLI HANNUKSELA (FIN)
Johnny BUR (FRA)
Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
Attila TOESMAGI (HUN)
SAJAN (IND)
Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI)
Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI)
Riccardo ABBRESCIA (ITA)
Luca DARIOZZI (ITA)
Minto MAEDA (JPN)
Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
Kodai SAKURABA (JPN)
Paulius GALKINAS (LTU)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Per KURE (NOR)
Juan AAK (NOR)
Exauce MUKUBU (NOR)
Patryk BEDNARZ (POL)
Maksym ZAKHARCHUK (POL)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Fabio DIETSCHE (SUI)
Yunus BASAR (TUR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Payton JACOBSON (USA)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

82kg
Tunjay VAZIRZADE (AZE)
Filip SACIC (CRO)
Ivo SVIGLER (CZE)
Marcel HEIN (DEN)
Ranet KALJOLA (EST)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Peter DOEMOEK (HUN)
Rohit DAHIYA (IND)
Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI)
Pejman POSHTAM (IRI)
Marc WEBER (SUI)
Spencer WOODS (USA)
Mukhammadkodir RASULOV (UZB)

87kgBachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Michael WAGNER (AUT)
Lukas STAUDACHER (AUT)
Mahammad AHMADIYEV (AZE)
Islam ABBASOV (AZE)
Yoan DIMITROV (BUL)
Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
Chengwu WANG (CHN)
Maimaiti KAISAIER (CHN)
Yi YANG (CHN)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Vjekoslav LUBURIC (CRO)
Matej MANDIC (CRO)
Ondrej HAVELKA (CZE)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Waltteri LATVALA (FIN)
David LOSONCZI (HUN)
Istvan TAKACS (HUN)
Tamas LEVAI (HUN)
Sunil KUMAR (IND)
SUSHANT (IND)
Hamidreza BADKAN (IRI)
Naser ALIZADEH (IRI)
Mirco MINGUZZI (ITA)
Soh SAKABE (JPN)
Masato SUMI (JPN)
Martynas NEMSEVICIUS (LTU)
Marcel STERKENBURG (NED)
Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL)
Szymon SZYMONOWICZ (POL)
Zarko DICKOV (SRB)
Ramon BETSCHART (SUI)
Damian VON EUW (SUI)
Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR)
Alan VERA GARCIA (USA)
Nurbek KHASHIMBEKOV (UZB)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)

97kg
Mawete KIANGEBENI (ANG)
Daniel GASTL (AUT)
Markus RAGGINGER (AUT)
Murat LOKIAYEV (AZE)
Zamir MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Arif NIFTULLAYEV (AZE)
Kiril MILOV (BUL)
Yan LIU (CHN)
Yiming LI (CHN)
Kristian LUKAC (CRO)
Vinko PRODANOVIC (CRO)
Filip SMETKO (CRO)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)
Loic SAMEN (FRA)
Tamas LEVAI (HUN)
Alex SZOKE (HUN)
Narinder CHEEMA (IND)
Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA)
Yuta NARA (JPN)
Vilius LAURINAITIS (LTU)
Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED)
Felix BALDAUF (NOR)
Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL)
Gerard KURNICZAK (POL)
Nicu OJOG (ROU)
Mihail KAJAIA (SRB)
Luka KATIC (SRB)
Mario VUKOVIC (SRB)
Lucas SHERIDAN (USA)
Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB)

130kg
Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE)
Beka KANDELAKI (AZE)
Sabah SHARIATI (AZE)
Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB)
Marcel ALBINI (CZE)
Matti KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Gino AVILA DILBERT (HON)
Dariusz VITEK (HUN)
NAVEEN (IND)
Aliakbar YOUSOFI (IRI)
Amir GHASEMIMONJEZI (IRI)
Danila SOTNIKOV (ITA)
Sota OKUMURA (JPN)
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
Romas FRIDRIKAS (LTU)
Oskar MARVIK (NOR)
Rafal KRAJEWSKI (POL)
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
Delian ALISHAHI (SUI)
Tanner FARMER (USA)
Temurbek NASIMOV (UZB)

#BeachWrestling

Zenkina, Khoma power Ukraine to top at U20 Beach Wrestling Worlds

By Vinay Siwach

KATERINI-PIERRIA, Greece (September 28) -- Riding on inspiring performances by former world U17 champion Mariia ZENKINA (UKR) and European silver medalist Yelyzaveta KHOMA (UKR), Ukraine emerged as the best country at the U20 World Beach Wrestling Championships in Greece.

Out of the four gold medals on offer in women's category, Ukraine won two while Romania and Serbia won one each. In the men’s division, Iran dominated its way to the top of the team rankings.

Ukraine finished at the top of the team race with 85 points while the United States was second with 50 points. Serbia managed to finish third with 39 points.

Zenkina, a U17 World Championships silver medalist in 2022, showed her skills on the beach as well and won all her bouts, including the final, without giving up a point.

Facing compatriot Daria KONSTANTYNOVA (UKR) in the +70kg final, Zenkina got the first point when Konstantynova failed to score after being put on the 30-second activity period. Zenkina then scored via snapdown which forced Konstantynova to touch the sand with her knees.

Zenkina defended her 2-0 lead for the remaining 27 seconds to claim her second world title, the first coming at U17 level in 2021.

Khoma was equally dominant in her run to gold at 60kg but needed strong defense in the final against local favorite Evdoxia PAPADOPOULOU (GRE) to win the gold medal.

The final was off to an electric start with both wrestlers giving it a go and scoring points. It was Papadopoulou who scored the first point with a stepout and took a 1-0 lead. However, Khoma fired back with a snapdown with Papadopoulou's elbow touching the sand and she took a 1-1 criteria lead.

Papdopoulou tried forcing a stepout when Khoma used double underhooks to throw the Greece wrestler who landed on her elbow, giving one more point to Khoma. In the next exchange, Khoma tried a whizzer but she touched her head on sand before Papadopoulou's which cost her one point and the lead exchanged hands. Now, the Greece wrestler led 2-2 on criteria with two minutes remaining in the match.

Khoma wasted no time in launching her next attack and pushed Papadopoulou towards the edge of the ring. As Papadopoulou tried to counter throw, Khoma kept her balance and forced her opponent to touch the sand. This gave Khoma the winning score of 3-2 as in Beach Wrestling, the first wrestler to three points wins.

Ukraine's third finalist Alevtyna LIASHENKO (UKR) was not so lucky as she lost the 50kg final to Ana ROTARU (ROU) via fall. Rotaru hit a blast double to open the scoring in the final and take a 1-0 lead. She used a similar technique to score her second point and lead 2-0 with 53 seconds left in the match.

She left nothing to chance and hit a perfect headlock throw for three points, ending the match 5-0, and victory via fall. [A three-point move in Beach Wrestling is considered fall].

Serbia won its first-ever gold medal at the U20 World Championships after European silver medalist Masa PEROVIC (SRB) scored a fall over world U17 champion Alexandra MOISEI (MDA) to claim the top medal at 70kg.

Moisei scored the first point of the final with hip toss and take a 1-0 lead and extended it to 2-0 by avoiding a trip attempt from Perovic who fell head first and lost another point. Moisei was going for the winning third point when Perovic attempted a lateral drop. While backstepping to avoid the drop, Moisei lost her balance and Perovic used that to her advantage and dropped Moisei on the back for three points and the win.

Iran's golden double

A day after winning the U17 World Championships team title in men's category, Iran continued to dominate Beach Wrestling by winning the U20 team title as well.

Like its U17 team, Iran won two golds in U20 competition to finish at the top of the team rankings with 77 points. Moldova finished second with 57 points while Ukraine was marginally behind at third with 55.

After missing out in the final in the first two weight classes, Ramtin RAVANBAKHSH (IRI) and Mersad SHAKERI (IRI) made sure Iran doesn't miss out on the finals by reaching the gold medal bouts at 90kg and +90kg respectively.

Ravanbakhsh showed impeccable defense in the final against Alexandru BORS (MDA), a former U17 World Championships silver medalist in Freestyle, at 90kg to win the gold medal. In fact, he had to beat Bors twice.

The two first met in a Group A match, which Ravanbakhsh won 1-0, before facing again in the final, where the Iranian repeated the result.

Shakeri was more active in his matches but was tested by Kostiantyn ZADOIANCHUK (UKR) in the final. He, however, managed to hold on to a 2-0 victory.

Shakeri hit a powerful snap which completely unbalanced Zadoianchuk who touched the sand with his knee and Shakeri got the first point. Shakeri got his second point with a stepout which Zadoianchuk had no chance to defend.

At 70kg, Eduard LENARD (ROU) dashed the hopes of local fans by beating Ilias KARNAVAS (GRE) in the gold medal bout in just 44 seconds.

Karnavas was sure that he got the first point as he pushed Lenard towards the edge but Lenard managed to keep himself inside and not give up the point for stepout. As Karnavas kept pushing, Lenard hit a counter whizzer for a point to dramatically turn the advantage around and lead 1-0.

As Karnavas got on a single-leg attack in another sequence, Lenard dropped him on his back with a whizzer which was scored as three points, giving the win to the Romanian. Karnavas challenged the call but on review, the original call for three points was upheld and Lenard was announced as the winner.

Moldova earned itself a gold medal at 80kg as Gabriel OJOG (MDA) scored a victory via fall over Zurab MAMULADZE (GEO) in the final. Mamuladze tried to hit a big move on Ojog who blocked it and landed on top of Mamuladze to score three points and the victory.