BUCHAREST (June 21) – Defending team champion Georgia took the first-day lead in Greco-Roman at the European Junior Wrestling Championships on Tuesday, despite coming up short in two out of three gold medal finals.

Junior world silver medalist Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) led off the evening with a come-from-behind 10-8 victory in the gold medal final at 50kg, but Levani KAVJARADZE (60kg) and Georgi MELIA (96kg) could not dig themselves out of early holes and were stung with one-sided losses.

Tsurtsumia, also a bronze medal at last year’s European meet in Istanbul,
surrendered headlocks to Azar NASIBLI (AZE) at the start of each period of their final, but overcame a six-point deficit with headlock variations of his own for a 10-8 triumph.

Kavjaradze, another bronze medalist in Istanbul, stumbled out of the gate against former cadet world champion Mikhail RAHMANOV (AZE) before being thrown for a headlock and a technical fall, 11-2, early in the second period of the 60kg final.

Melia, meanwhile, who won his four earlier bouts inside of regulation time, was dropped with an arm throw in an early flurry with Ruslan BEKUZAROV (RUS) in the 96kg final and never recovered on his way to an 11-5 loss.

Despite the losses, Georgia emerged the first-day leader in the team standings with 28 points, followed by Ukraine (26) and Russia (21). Reigning junior world champions Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO) and Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO) on deck for Georgia on Wednesday.

Also on Tuesday, Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) ended his string of five bronze medals in age-group competitions with a 2-0 victory over 2015 bronze medalist Artem MARTIASH (UKR) in the 74kg final.

Levai’s string of bronze medals includes a pair of third-place finishes at the junior world meets (2014, 2015) and two more from the European under-23 championships (2015, 2016).

Meanwhile, local favorite George-Vlad MARIEA (ROU) had a chance to recover from an exhausting morning session, which included an upset win over junior world silver medalist Akhmed KAYTSUKOV (RUS), and finessed his way to a 7-1 win in the bronze medal final over Roland SCHWARZ (GER) at 74kg.

Also in the bronze medal finals, cadet world champion Giovanni FRENI (ITA), scored a late drop to the back for four points against Sergey SIMONYAN (ARM) for a 5-3 win at 50kg, while Artem BELAUSOV (BLR) emerged the survivor in a 15-14 duel with Csaba HORVATH (HUN).

Results of Medal Finals & Semifinals

Greco-Roman

50kg (12 entries)
Gold – Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) df. Azar NASIBLI (AZE), 10-8 
Bronze – Artem BELAUSOV (BLR) df. Csaba HORVATH (HUN), 15-14 
Bronze – Giovanni FRENI (ITA) df. Sergey SIMONYAN (ARM), 5-3

Semifinal – Azar NASIBLI (AZE) df. Artem BELAUSOV (BLR) by TF, 8-0, 1:47
Semifinal – Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) df. Giovanni FRENI (ITA), 6-3

60kg (21 entries)
Gold – Mikhail RAHMANOV (AZE) df. Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO) by TF, 11-2, 3:17
Bronze – Etienne KINSINGER (GER) df. Nestar NESTAROV (BUL), 8-1
Bronze – Gevorg KHUMARYAN (ARM) df. Aleksander HRUSHYN (UKR), 10-8

Semifinal – Mikhail RAHMANOV (AZE) df. Nestar NESTAROV (BUL), 7-1
Semifinal – Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO) df. Aleksander HRUSHYN (UKR), 4-0 

74kg (26 entries)
Gold – Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) df. Artem MATIASH (UKR), 2-0 
Bronze – George-Vlad MARIEA (ROU) df. Roland SCHWARZ (GER), 7-1
Bronze – Serkan AKKOYUN (TUR) df. Arman BAGHDASARYAN (ARM) by TF, 8-0, 4:14

Semifinal – Artem MATIASH (UKR) df. George-Vlad MARIEA (ROU), 8-1
Semifinal – Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) df. Serkan AKKOYUN (TUR), 5-0

96kg (20 entries)
Gold – Ruslan BEKUZAROV (RUS) df. Georgi MELIA (GEO), 11-5
Bronze – Ibrahim TIGCI (TUR) df. Kevin BAUMANN (EST), 6-0 
Bronze – Vladlen KOZLIUK (UKR) df. Erkan CELIK (GER) by TF, 10-0, 1:09

Semifinal – Ruslan BEKUZAROV (RUS) df. Ibragim TIGCI (TUR), 6-3
Semifinal – Georgi MELIA (GEO) df. Erkan CELIK (GER) by TF, 9-0, 0:28