SOFIA, Bulgaria – The final five gold-medal matches of the 2019 Cadet World Championships have been set for Sunday evening in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Leading the field is 2018 Youth Olympic Games silver medalist and 2018 Cadet European champion Stepan STARODUBTSEV (RUS), who will wrestle for 71 kg gold in Greco-Roman.
Looking to challenge Starodubtsev is 2019 Cadet Asian runner-up Reza SAKI (IRI), who knocked off reigning World champion and 208 Youth Olympic champ Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) in the semifinals with a 6-6 win on criteria.
In addition to Starodubtsev, Russia put two other athletes into the gold-medal matches.
Also representing Russia in the gold-medal bout is Muhammed EVLOEV (RUS), who will make his second appearance in the Cadet World finals. In 2017, he finished with a World silver medal.
For gold, Evloev will face 2019 European silver and 2018 European bronze medalist Lachin VALIYEV (AZE).
At 60 kg, 2019 Cadet European champion Maksim SKURATOV (RUS) outlasted 2019 Cadet Asian silver winner Seyed SOHRABI (IRI), 3-0, in the semifinals.
Skuratov will go up against two-time European medalist Mert ILBARS (TUR) for the title.
Wrestling for the crown at 51 kg is Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) and Elmir ALIYEV (AZE).
Esmaeili Leivesi advanced to the finals with a 9-0 win, taking out hometown favorite and returning World bronze medalist and 2018 Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist Edmond NAZARYAN (BUL), son of legendary Armen Nazarian, a two-time Olympic champion and three-time World champion.
2019 Cadet Asian champion Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ) will compete for the gold medal at 45 kg. Looking to challenge him is Asadbek BAKHRAMAOV (UZB), who was eighth at Cadet Asian Championships earlier this year.
The finals will take place Sunday at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) live on unitedworldwrestling.org.
Finals matchups
45 kg: Asadbek BAKHRAMAOV (UZB) vs. Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ)
51 kg: Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) vs. Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)
60 kg: Mert ILBARS (TUR) vs. Maksim SKURATOV (RUS)
71 kg: Stepan STARODUBTSEV (RUS) vs. Reza SThe fAKI (IRI)
92 kg: Muhammed EVLOEV (RUS) vs. Lachin VALIYEV (AZE)
