BUCHAREST, Romania (April 13) – The final five Greco-Roman gold-medal bouts are settled, and it was the Russian Federation, who again placed three wrestlers into the finals. Russia leads second-place Azerbaijan by 34 points heading into the final session of wrestling at Bucharest’s Polyvalent Hall.
The three Russian Day 7 finalists are Sergey EMELIN, Abuiazid MANTSIGOV, and Musa EVLOEV, who’ll wrestle for gold at 60kg, 72kg, and 97kg respectively.
Emelin and Evloev will both wrestle the men they defeated in Budapest to capture their world titles last October. Tonight, Emelin will wrestle Moldova’s Victor CIOBANU in the 60kg finals, and Evloev will wrestle Bulgaria's Kiril MILOV in the finals at 97kg.
The third Russian gold-medal hopeful is Abduiazid Mantsigov. He’ll wrestle Turkey’s reigning U23 world champion Cengiz ARSLAN for the 72kg European title.
The two weights not featuring a wrestler from the Russian Federation are 67kg and 82kg.
Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) inserted himself into the 67kg finals with a 5-3 semifinals win over Mate NEMES (SRB). Sahakyan trailed 3-0, but closed out the first period with a takedown and trailed 3-2. In the final period, the Polish wrestled scored an inactivity point and an exposure to seal up his spot in the 67kg finals.
Sahakyan will meet Turkey’s Atakan YUKSEL (TUR), who scored the 3-1 semifinals win over Georgia’s Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO).
At 82kg, Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) put away Finland's Vili Tapio ROPPONEN with a pair of highlight reel five-point moves and will take on Denmark's Rajbek BISULTANOV, who shocked reigning world runner-up Emrah KUS (TUR), 5-5, in the semifinals. Bisultanov led 5-0, but gave up five straight points (an inactivity point, and two exposures), and held on to win on criteria.
If Bisultanov reaches the top of the podium tonight in Bucharest, he'll become Denmark’s first European champion since Johannes JACOBSEN won the Riga European title in 1926.
The Day 7 finals begin at 18:00 (local time) and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.
RESULTS
60kg
GOLD - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) vs. Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
SEMIFNIAL - Victor CIOBANU (MDA) df. Lenur TEMIROV (UKR), 6-4
SEMIFNIAL - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) vs. Kerem KAMAL (TUR), 7-0
67kg
GOLD - Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) vs. Atakan YUKSEL (TUR)
SEMIFINAL - Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) df. Mate NEMES (SRB), 5-3
SEMIFINAL - Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) df. Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO), 3-1
72kg
GOLD - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) vs. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)
SEMIFINAL - Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR) df. Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL), 2-1
SEMIFINAL - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) df. Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), 9-0
82kg
GOLD - Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) vs. Rajbek BISULTANOV (DEN)
SEMIFINAL -. Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) df. Vili Tapio ROPPONEN (FIN) df 11-0
SEMIFINAL - Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN) df. Emrah KUS (TUR), 5-5
97kg
GOLD - Musa EVLOEV (RUS) vs. Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL)
SEMIFINAL - Musa EVLOEV (RUS) df. Daigoro TIMONCINI (ITA), 3-1
SEMIFINAL - Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL) df. Matti Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN), 4-1
