#WrestleBucharest

Two Olympic Champs, Two World Champs Headline Wednesday Night’s Freestyle Finals

Tuesday, April 9, 2019 - 19:43 By Eric Olanowski

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BUCHAREST, Romania (April 9) – Olympic champions Taha AKGUL (TUR) and Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE), and two-time world champions Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) and Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) won their semifinal matches on Tuesday night and will wrestle for a European gold medal on the third day of wrestling in Bucharest, Romania. 

Rivals Akgul and Petriashvili both scored semifinals wins against opponents who they’ve previously lost to, setting up a rematch of last year’s European finals. 

Akgul, the reigning European champion, avenged his Ivan Yariguin finals loss to Russia’s Anzor KHIZRIEV (RUS). In that January meeting, Khizriev used a pair of second-period counter-offensive crotch lifts to win his first Ranking Series title, 7-3. But on Tuesday night, it was a different story when the Turkish superstar took his Russian opponent down four times, inserting himself into the finals with the 8-1 win.  

He’ll wrestle two-time world champion Geno Petriashvili in a rematch of last year’s European finals. 

Petriashvili edged his semifinals opponent Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR), 3-2, and gained the 2-1 match advantage on the Ukranian wrestler. The pair split their two previous career meetings. The Georgian won their 2015 European Games meeting, but most recently, it was the Ukrainian wrestler who came out on top of the pair’s 2018 International Ukrainian Tournament finals meeting. 

On Tuesday night, Petriashvili was able to skate past Khotsianivskyi, 3-2. 

The second Olympic champion that won their Tuesday night semifinals match was Azerbaijan’s  Sharif Sharifov. The Azeri, who dropped last year’s 92kg finals to Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS), defeated Georgia’s Irakli MTSITURI and made his third European finals appearance. 

In his first match of the day, Sharifov defeated Russia’s Magomed KURBANOV, 6-2, then defeated his Georgian semifinal opponent 8-2. 

He’ll wrestle Poland’s Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL), who scored the 6-5 come-from-behind win over Turkey’s Ibrahim BOLUKBASI (TUR) with a late takedown. 

At 74kg, Italy’s two-time world champion Frank Chamzio made it back to the European finals for the first time since 2017 after he defeated Azerbaijan’s Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE), 6-2. With that win, Chamzio, the two-time European champion, improved on his third-place finish from a year ago. 

He’ll wrestle Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA), who knocked off Ukraine’s Vasyl MYKHAILOV and Georgia’s Budapest runner-up Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), 3-3.  

Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM), who is making his senior-level debut, will wrestle for a European gold medal on Wednesday night. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

The other two finals spots that were claimed came at 61kg and 86kg. 

At 61kg, returning European finalist Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) will meet Armenia's senior-level rookie Arsen HARUTYUNYAN for the gold medal. 

Lomtadze topped Switzerland’s Randy Adrian VOCK on the top half of the bracket, and Hartuyunyan took down Romania’s Nikolai OKHLOPKOV (ROU) on the bottom half of the bracket. 

The final weight of the night, 86kg, featured one of the biggest upsets up the day when Moldova’s Piotr IANULOV flattened reigning world runner-up and current world No. 1 Fatih ERDIN (TUR) to reach the finals. 

He’ll take on 2017 world bronze medalist Vladislav VALIEV (RUS), who stopped Murad SULEYMANOV (AZE) to reach the continental finals. 

Wednesday nights final are expected to begin at 17:15 (local time) and can be followed on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

RESULTS 
61kg 
GOLD - Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) vs. Beka LOMTADZE (GEO)
SEMIFINAL - Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) df. Nikolai OKHLOPKOV (ROU), 10-4 
SEMIFINAL - Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) df. Randy Adrian VOCK (SUI), 10-0 

74kg
GOLD - Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) vs. Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA)
SEMIFINAL - Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) df. Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE), 6-2
SEMIFINAL - Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) df. Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)  , 4-2 

86kg
GOLD - Vladislav VALIEV (RUS) vs. Piotr IANULOV (MDA)
SEMIFINAL - Vladislav VALIEV (RUS) df. Murad SULEYMANOV (AZE), 7-0 
SEMIFINAL - Piotr IANULOV (MDA) df. Fatih ERDIN (TUR), via fall 

92kg
GOLD -  Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) vs. Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE)
SEMIFINAL - Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) df. Ibrahim BOLUKBASI (TUR), 6-5 
SEMIFINAL - Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) df. Irakli MTSITURI (GEO), 6-0 

125kg
GOLD - Taha AKGUL (TUR) vs. Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)  
SEMIFINAL - Taha AKGUL (TUR) df. Anzor Ruslanovitch KHIZRIEV (RUS), 8-1 
SEMIFINAL - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) df. Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR), 3-2 

#WrestlingHistory

Wrestling History: Who was Ivan Yarygin?

Monday, March 24, 2025 - 11:49 By United World Wrestling Press

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For most, a trip to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia on the last weekend of January each year would sound chilling. Afterall, it is one of the coldest regions on the planet.

But for the past 35 years, wrestlers from around the world attend the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in January, the tournament which kicks off the season for most countries.

The prestigious tournament sees close to 1000 wrestlers vying for the gold medals in Freestyle and Women's Wrestling. But who was Ivan Yarygin after whom the tournament is named?

Born in Kemerovo, Soviet Union on November 7, 1948, Yarygin was a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a world champion who went on to became the coach of the Soviet Union team and later the Russian national team.

In 1966, aged 18, Yarygin was stationed in Krasnoyarsk with the army and began training with legendary coach Dmitry MINDIASHVILI to polish his technique.

Famous for winning his Olympic bouts via fall, Yarygin won seven bouts at the 1972 Games in just over seven minutes. Those were days when a bout could extend till nine minutes. He pinned all seven wrestlers before time and no one has come close to matching that record.

How did Yarygin begin training in wrestling?

Yarygin played football in his village. His big built made him a perfect goalkeeper, a position he continued to play during his driving school training in Abakan. Vladimir CHARKOV, a wrestling club trainer, saw Yarygin and asked him to try wrestling. And just by chance, Yarygin began his wrestling career.

The Freestyle wrestler primarily competed at 100kg and was known for his dynamic training and ditching traditional methods in wrestling. He quickly rose through the ranks in Soviet wrestling circles. He debuted internationally in 1970 at the European Championships and finished with a silver medal. Ahmet AYIK (TUR) defeated him in the 100kg final. But Yarygin won the European gold in 1972, the first of his three continental titles.

Later that year, Yarygin participated in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and won gold medal in 100kg without giving up a single point in seven bouts. He defeated Khorloo BAYANMUNKH (MGL) and Jozsef CSATARI (HUN) in the finals round.

His results dipped after the Munich Olympics, with 1974 being a humbling year, Yarygin moved back to village. "I trained in the village every day like a peasant," Yarygin had famously said. "I chopped enough firewood for three winters ahead."

Yarygin returned and made sure he was still the winner. The gold medal in Montreal was not as simple as Munich but there was still no match for Yarygin. He went on to win the gold medal in 1976, his second in Olympic Games.

In the first bout of the 1976 Games, Yarygin faced Harald BUTTNER who had defeated him in the European Championships. However, Yarygin managed to keep Buttner at bay and won 13-5.

Yarygin's results soon declined and he failed to top the standings in USSR. He would finally make way for younger generation before the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

After his retirement, Yarygin tried his hand at coaching and administration. Yarygin was the coach of the Soviet Freestyle team from 1982 to 1992 and later became the president of the wrestling federation from 1993 to 1997. Russia hosted the 1997 World Championships in Krasnoyarsk which Yarygin led in organization.

Yarygin died on October 11, 1997 in a car accident. United World Wrestling inducted him into the UWW Hall of Fame in 2010.