Russia Wins Pair of Golds, While Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine Each Have Solo Euro Junior Champion
Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - 18:38 By Eric Olanowski
ROME, Italy (July 31) - Russia, along with Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine each had at least one wrestler claim a gold medal on the second day of competition at the 2018 European Junior Champions in Rome, Italy. Russia led the way with two champions, while each of the other three nations each had a solo gold medalist.
Of the five newly crowned champions, nearly all had European Championship experience, but none had previously won a continental championship, and for that matter, even had a finals appearance under their belt.
But, there were no signs of lack of experience in those five matchups, as four bouts wrapped up before the time expired, as three finished via technical superiority and one ended early with a fall.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr HRUSHYN, Russia’s Egor KADIROV, and Armenia’s Tigran MINASYAN kicked off the championship finals with back-to-back-to-back technical superiority victories.
At 55kg, Tigran Minasyan only needed 41 seconds to score the 8-0 technical superiority victory over Giovanni FRENI (ITA).
Oleksandr Hrushyn followed that up by scoring 11 unanswered points to defeat Maksim NEHODA (BLR), 11-3 in the 63kg gold medal bout. Russia's Egor Kadirov was right behind him, as he made quick work of Zahari ZASHEV (BUL), scoring the 9-0 win to grab the 77kg gold medal.
The only match that didn’t finish before the six minutes expired was the 87kg finals match-up, where Temuri TCHKUASELIDZE (GEO) overpowered Alex Gergo SZOKE (HUN), 7-1 to win his first continental championship.
Oleg AGAKHANOV (RUS) closed out the second day of competition, giving Russia their second gold medal of the day after sticking Germany’s Franz RICHTER in the opening period of the 130kg gold medal match.
Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling action resumes tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM (local time). The women’s wrestling semifinals start at 5:15 PM and will be followed by the Greco-Roman medal round which begins at 6:00 PM.
RESULTS
55kg
GOLD - Tigran MINASYAN (ARM) df. Giovanni FRENI (ITA), 8-0
BRONZE - Cihat Ahmet LIMAN (TUR) df. Dimitar Ivaylov SANDOV (SUI), 7-6
BRONZE - Andrei IVANOV (RUS) df. Vladyslav KUZKO (UKR), 3-1
63kg
GOLD - Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR) df. Maksim NEHODA (BLR), 4-1
BRONZE - Krisztian Istvan VANCZA (HUN) df. Mateusz Radoslaw SZEWCZUK (POL), 4-1
BRONZE - Leri ABULADZE (GEO) df. Emil ZIGANSHIN (RUS), 6-2
77kg
GOLD - Egor KADIROV (RUS) df. Zahari Rosenov ZASHEV (BUL), 9-0
BRONZE - Beka GURULI (GEO) df. Dmytro VASETSKYI (UKR), 5-0
BRONZE - Vahe POGHOSYAN (ARM) df. Per Anders KURE (NOR), 7-5
87kg
GOLD - Temuri TCHKUASELIDZE (GEO) df. Alex Gergo SZOKE (HUN), 7-1
BRONZE - Ihar YARASHEVICH (BLR) df. Michal Andrzej DYBKA (POL), 9-0
BRONZE - Sayd Magomed Romanovitch ABUBAKAROV (RUS) df. Ramon Rainer BETSCHART (SUI), 10-0
130kg
GOLD - Oleg Kahaberovitch AGAKHANOV (RUS) df. Franz RICHTER (GER), via fall
BRONZE - Lenard Istvan BEREI (ROU) df. Beka MAKARIDZE (GEO), 8-0
BRONZE - David OVASAPYAN (ARM) df. Artsiom SHUMSKI (BLR), 6-0
Gold medalist at 79kg in 2024, Nan CAO (CHN) will be wrestling at 86kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov) 
Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) is the defending champion at 87kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)
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