Gold rush for Individual Neutral Athletes at European Grappling
Thursday, May 30, 2024 - 08:20 By Vinay Siwach
BAKU, Azerbaijan (May 28) -- Baku was expecting a grand show of grappling at the European Grappling Championships. But it was not ready for the Individual Neutral Athlete storm that hit.
Sweeping all 10 weight classes, Individual Neutral Athletes won 10 gold medals, making up for the previous championships they missed. Not only that, out of the 10 wins in the final, six of them were via submission.
The first day of the European Championships began with Akhmednabi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) winning the 58kg gold medal over Ilia ABRAMENKO (AIN). The gold medal rush continued with Magomed SHAKHBANOV (AIN) submitting Magomedbek TEMEEV (AIN) in the 62kg final. This was his third victory by submission in three matches.
Khabiob ATLUEV (AIN) at 66kg and Apandi AMAGAEV (AIN) at 71kg also won their gold medal via submission continuing the trend of one-sided finals in Baku.
It took Jakob NAJDEK (POL) to finally stop that trend. But that’s all he did. Ivan LISOGOROV (AIN) may not have gotten the submission but he dominated the 77kg final, beating Najdek 7-0 for the gold medal.
Pawel JAWORSKI (POL) took a step closer by scoring points on Murad ABDULATIPOV (AIN) but failed to go all the way, dropping the 84kg final 4-2. Mukhamed URUSOV (AIN) found it difficult to negate Piotr FRECHOWICZ (POL) but managed to hang on for a 2-2 win and claimed the 92kg gold medal.
100kg world champion Andrzej IWAT (POL) dropped a close semifinal against Shamil MAZHIDKHANOV (AIN) who went on to win the gold medal with a 6-3 win over Manuel PILATO (ITA) in the final.
In the 130kg weight, renamed from the 100+ kg, Daudgadzhi IBRAGIMOV (AIN) managed to hold off Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA) 5-3 to win the gold medal.
Olesia ZHURAVLEVA (AIN) won all four of her bouts via submission. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)
In the women’s grappling competition, Carlota PRENEDES (ESP) recovered from an early loss to Alicja STYPULKOWSKA (POL) in a round-robin to beat the Pole via submission in the 53kg final.
At 58kg, Olesia ZHURAVLEVA (AIN) showed her class, winning four bouts via submission to win the gold with no troubles. She defeated Victoria SHERHIIENKO (UKR) twice, once in round 3 and then in the final, to finish at the top of the podium. In another AIN vs Ukraine final, Irina CHERNYSHOVA (AIN) won the 64kg gold medal over Daria CHIBISOVA (UKR) 10-2.
Alsu IANSHINA (AIN) also dominated her weight class, winning the 71kg gold medal over Alycia QUENEE (FRA) via submission, her third in four bouts.
Justyna SITKO (POL) managed to clinch the 90kg gold medal with a victory by submission over Paula MARTINEZ (ESP).
RESULTS
Men's Grappling
58kg
GOLD: Akhmednabi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) df. Ilia ABRAMENKO (AIN), via submission
BRONZE: Illia SVIATUN (UKR) df. Alejandro REYES (ESP), via submission
BRONZE: Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL) df. Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR), 5-2
62kg
GOLD: Magomed SHAKHBANOV (AIN) df. Magomedbek TEMEEV (AIN), via submission
BRONZE: Loris ZANOLINI (ITA) df. Farhad BAGIROV (AZE), 10-0
BRONZE: Andrii TSVYK (UKR) df. Guillermo GUTIERREZ (ESP), 5-2
66kg
GOLD: Khabib ATLUEV (AIN) df. Artur AGASHIRINOV (AIN), via submission
BRONZE: Giorgi RAZMADZE (GEO) df. Abdulla ABSHAROV (AZE), via submission
BRONZE: Anthony DE OLIVEIRA (FRA) df. Adam VERES KOVACS (HUN), via submission
71kg
GOLD: Apandi AMAGAEV (AIN) df. Ihor DMYTRASH (UKR), via submission
BRONZE: Dzhimsher RAZMADZE (GEO) df. Arsen IBRAGIMOV (AIN), via submission (3-3)
BRONZE: Samuel CHAGNY (FRA) df. Samik RAMAZANOV (AZE), 3-2
77kg
GOLD: Ivan LISOGOROV (AIN) df. Jakub NAJDEK (POL), 7-0
BRONZE: Nikolaos POLYDOROS (GRE) df. Arthur LEROY (FRA), 3-1
BRONZE: Iker CAMARA (ESP) df. Serhii KUZMYCHOV (UKR), via submission
84kg
GOLD: Murad ABDULATIPOV (AIN) df. Pawel JAWORSKI (POL), 4-2
BRONZE: Pierre MANZO (FRA) df. Davud MAGOMEDOV (AIN), 4-4
BRONZE: Samy MEZACHE (FRA) df. Pavlo MAKSYMCHUK (UKR), via submission
92kg
GOLD: Mukhamed URUSOV (AIN) df. Piotr FRECHOWICZ (POL), 2-2
BRONZE: Mateusz MAZUR (POL) df. Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU), 5-3
BRONZE: Levente LAKY (HUN) df. Wilfried EDMUND (FRA), 8-3
100kg
GOLD: Shamil MAZHIDKHANOV (AIN) df. Manuel PILATO (ITA), 6-3
BRONZE: Andrzej IWAT (POL) df. Gamzat GAMZATOV (AIN), via submission (4-4)
BRONZE: Danielius GREBLIUNAS (LTU) df. Tural AZAYEV (AZE), 2-2 in overtime
130kg
GOLD: Daudgadzhi IBRAGIMOV (AIN) df. Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA), 5-3
BRONZE: Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE) df. Lukasz OLECH (POL), 8-3
BRONZE: Nizami GAFAROV (AZE) df. Mykola MATSEIKO (UKR), 5-3
Women's Grappling
53kg
GOLD: Carlota PRENDES (ESP) df. Alicja IRENA (POL), via submission
BRONZE: Zuzanna KOWALSKA (POL) df. Kristina RAU (GER), 9-7
58kg
GOLD: Olesia ZHURAVLEVA (AIN) df. Viktoriia SERHIIENKO (UKR), via submission
BRONZE: Irina KUPRINA (AIN) df. Jazmin ARJONA (ESP), 11-6
64kg
GOLD: Irina CHERNYSHOVA (AIN) df. Daria CHIBISOVA (UKR), 10-2
BRONZE: Julija STOLIARENKO (LTU) df. Veronika KARAKHONOVA (AIN), via submission
BRONZE: Giulia RODIO (ITA) df. Laila OHLHOFF (GER), 8-2
71kg
GOLD: Alsu IANSHINA (AIN) df. Alycia QUENEE (FRA), via submission
BRONZE: Emily GUENZLER (GER) df. Daniella SANTANA FABELO (ESP), via submission
90kg
GOLD: Justyna SITKO (POL) df. Paula MARTINEZ BORREGUERO (ESP), via submission
BRONZE: Alena VLASOVA (AIN) df. Janina CZYCZYN (POL), 6-2
Arseni KIKINIOU (USA), a medalist in both Greco-Roman and Freestyle in 2025, will make the run again in 2026. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)
2025 world champion at 48kg Bunyod HASANOV (UZB) will be at 51kg in Baku. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)
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