ISTANBUL (June 27) – Junior world champions Orkhan NURIEV (AZE) and Furkan BAYRAK (TUR) marched into the gold medal finals on the opening day of Greco-Roman events at the European junior wrestling championships.

Nuriev, fifth place at the recent European Games in Baku, racked up technical falls in three of his four wins at Bagcilar Sports Complex on Saturday and will face Evgeni GENCHEV (BUL) in the day’s finale at 96kg.

Genchev won a bronze medal at the inaugural European under-23 championships in March and won the 2013 European cadet title at 100kg.

Bayrak, meanwhile, prevailed in three hard-fought and bloody battles – with repeated medical breaks -- to make to the final at 74kg, where he will square off with Hannes WAGNER (GER), who edged defending European champion Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 4-2, in the semifinals.

Nuriev and Bayrak will also be joined in the parade of finalists by compatriots Nofal BABAEV (AZE) at 50kg and Murat FIRAT (TUR) at 60kg.  Babaev and Firat were both members of their respective national teams at the 2014 European cadet championships in Samokov, Bulgaria.

Babaev faces the daunting task of trying to slow down 2014 European junior bronze medal winner Aleksei KINZHIGALIEV (RUS), who won all three of his bouts in the morning session by technical fall and a combined score of 31-3.

Firat defeated junior world bronze medalist Aslan VISAITOV (RUS), 6-3, in the semifinals and will meet 2014 world cadet silver medal winner Parviz NAZIBOV (UKR).

The championships continue Saturday evening with the medal matches and awards ceremonies for Greco-Roman in the weight categories 50, 60, 74 and 96kg.

Greco-Roman

50kg (9 entries)
Gold – Nofal BABAEV (AZE) v Aleksei KHINZHIGALIEV (RUS)
Bronze – Nedyalko PETROV (BUL) v Joszef ANDRASI (HUN)
Bronze – Dogus AYAZCI (TUR) v Nugzar TSURTSUMIA (GEO)

60kg (23 entries)
Gold – Parviz NASIBOV (UKR) v Murat FIRAT (TUR)
Bronze – Igor BELIAK (BLR) v Levan KAVJARADZE (GEO)
Bronze – Avgustin SPASOV (BUL) v Aslan VISAITOV (RUS)

74kg (26 entries)
Gold – Hannes WAGNER (GER) v Furkan BAYRAK (TUR)
Bronze – Denis HORVATH (SVK) v Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Bronze – Sidek KURBANOV (RUS) v Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)

96kg (19 entries)
Gold – Evgeni GENCHEV (BUL) v Orkhan NURIEV (AZE)
Bronze – Harutyun MIKAELYAN (ARM) v Szolt TOROK (HUN)
Bronze – Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (GEO) v Dmitri KAMINSKI (BLR)