Petriashvili Repeats as Turkey Takes Men’s Freestyle Title at European Juniors

By William May

KATOWICE, Poland – Reigning junior world and European champ Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) capped a dominating performance at 120kg with a fall over Yunus Emre DEDE (TUR) as the men’s freestyle competition came to a close at European junior wrestling championships.

Petriashvili, who took a bronze medal at last September’s senior world championships, notched three technical falls on his way to the final at Hala Spodek arena and then dropped Yasar Dogu bronze medal winner Dede to his back for the fall at 4:55 in the freestyle finale.

Petriashvili, however, was unable to lift Georgia to the team title, as Turkey advanced all eight of its wrestlers into the medal finals to edge Georgia 63-62 in the team rankings. Turkey finished with one champion, one runner-up and four bronze medal winners.

Georgia led all countries with three individual champions – Petriashvili, 2012 cadet world champion Omari GURJIDZE (GEO) at 66kg and Tarzan MAISURADZE (GEO), who blew past junior world bronze medalist Gadjimurad OMAROV (AZE) with a technical fall in the 74kg semifinals.

Russia was the only other country with more than one champion as cadet world champion Abdulgav SHAKHBANOV (RUS) won at 50kg and Imam ADZHIEV (RUS) outscored four opponents 47-2 on his way to the 60kg crown.

Baris KAYA (TUR) was Turkey’s only individual champ, taking the 55kg title with a technical fall, while 2013 European cadet champion Nurmagomed GADZHIEV (AZE) won at 84kg and Murazi MCHELIDZE (UKR), a silver medalist one year ago, stood atop the medals podium at 96kg.

Men’s Freestyle

50kg
Gold – Abdulgav SHAKHBANOV (RUS) df. Ivan ZAMFIROV (MDA) by TF, 12-0
Bronze – Evgeni REBIKOV (BLR) df. Robert DOBRODZIEJ (POL) by TF, 15-5
Bronze – Emre DEMIRCAN (TUR) df. Viktor LYZEN (GER), 10-2

Semifinal – Zamfirov df. Demircan by fall
Semifinal – Shakhbanov df. Dobrodziej by fall

55kg
Gold – Baris KAYA (TUR) df. Tamir GARMAEV (RUS) by TF, 13-3
Bronze – Tomasz OGONOWSKI (POL) df. Igor CHICHIOI (MDA), 4-2
Bronze – Taras MARKOVICH (UKR) df. Ramazi DARCHIDZE (GEO) by fall

Semifinal – Garmaev df. Darchidze by fall
Semifinal – Kaya df. Ogonowski, 12-6

60kg
Gold – Imam ADZHIEV (RUS) df. Giorgi BERGADZE (GEO) by TF, 10-0
Bronze – Gor GRIGORYAN (ARM) df. Mehmet Ali DAYLAK (TUR), 4-2
Bronze – Ivan BILEYCHUK (UKR) df. Dawid WOLNY (GER), 12-8

Semifinal – Bergadze df. Bileychuk, 11-7
Semifinal – Adzhiev df. Daylak by TF, 12-0

66kg
Gold – Omari GURJIDZE (GEO) df. Murad SULEYMANOV (AZE), 5-5
Bronze – Kamil RYBICKI (POL) df. Walter ANDREAS (GER), 6-4
Bronze – Surko RASHITKHANOV (BLR) df. Haydar YAVUZ (TUR) by TF, 18-7

Semifinal – Gurjidze df. Andreas by TF, 11-1
Semifinal – Suleymanov df. Yavuz, 7-6

74kg
Gold – Tarzan MAISURADZE (GEO) df. Aleksey SHCHERBAK (UKR), 2-1
Bronze – Georghe BODISTEANU (ROU) df. Stefan REICHMUTH (SUI) by default
Bronze – Murat ERTURK (TUR) df. Gadjimurad OMAROV (AZE), 4-2

Semifinal – Maisuradze df. Omarov by TF, 10-0
Semifinal – Shcherbak df. Reichmuth, 10-3

84kg
Gold – Nurmagomed GADZHIEV (AZE) df. Giorgi CHKHARTISHVILI (GEO), 8-6
Bronze – Mraz DZHAFARYAN (UKR) df. Mladen VASILEV (BUL), 8-0
Bronze – Fatih ERDAN (TUR) df. Alibek SHADOV (BLR), 3-0

Semifinal – Chkhartishvili df. Shadov by TF, 16-3
Semifinal – Gadzhiev df. Dzhafaryan, 5-2

96kg
Gold – Murazi MCHELIDZE (UKR) df. Zainulla KURBANOV (RUS), 1-1
Bronze – Gennadij CUDINOVIC (GER) df. Said GAMIDOV (AZE) by TF, 11-0
Bronze – Yusuf ZEYBEK (TUR) df. Vlad CARAS (ROU), 5-3

Semifinal – Kurbanov df. Zeybek, 6-2
Semifinal – Mchelidze df. Cudinovic, 3-0

120kg
Gold – Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) df. Yunus Emre DEDE (TUR) by fall
Bronze – Kazbek KHUBULOV (RUS) df. Oyan NAZARYANI (AZE), 7-2
Bronze – Mihaly NAGY (HUN) df. Christos MAVRIDIS (GRE), 5-4

Semifinal – Petriashvili df. Khubulov by TF, 10-0
Semifinal – Dede df. Nagy by TF, 10-0