Moldova’s Victor Ciobanu and Denmark’s Rajbek Bisultanov reached the top of the European championship podium and made history for their countries on the closing day of the wrestling in Bucharest. In the 60kg finals, Victor Ciobanu pulled off perhaps the biggest upset of these European Championships, defeating defending world and European champion Sergey Emelin (RUS), 5-5, on criteria, and became the first-ever Moldovan Greco-Roman European champion.
The Moldovan caught the Russian off balance in the opening period, capitalizing on a four-point offensive maneuver, and took the 4-0 lead into the second period. In the final period, the Russian fired back and gained the 5-4 lead, but a late stepout handed the Moldovan wrestler the 5-5 criteria advantage, and ultimately his nations first continental title.
And in the 82kg finals, Rajbek Bisultanov ended Denmark’s 93-year drought without a European gold medal, becoming the first wrestler from his nation to circle the mat with a Danish flag since Johannes Jacobsen did so at the Riga European title in 1926.
Bisultanov fell behind 1-0 to Georgia’s Lasha Gobadze (GEO) but scored two exposure points and a takedown, ending the opening frame with a 4-1 lead. In the closing period, the Danish wrestler was dinged for a caution-and-two but held on to win 4-3.
Big Move(s) From Day 7 // #WrestleBucharest pic.twitter.com/5hAMvcmyky
— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) April 14, 2019
Meanwhile, Abuiazid Mantsigov and Musa Evloev capped off the 2019 European Championships with individual gold medals, bringing their overall total to five golds, and helping the Russian Federation repeat as Greco-Roman team champions, 60 points ahead of second-place Turkey.
Russia, who entered Day 7 with a 34 point lead, extended their lead on the final day with their two champions, a second place finish from Sergey Emelin, and bronze medal wins from Artem Surkov and Aleksandr Komarov. In total, Russia closed out the European Championships with medals in nine of ten weight classes. They had five champions, a second-place finisher, and three bronze medal winners.
Big Move From Day 6 // #WrestleBucharest pic.twitter.com/t0PXhJZibq
— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) April 13, 2019
RESULTS
GOLD – Russia (192 points)
SILVER – Turkey (132 points)
BRONZE – Azerbaijan (76 points)
Fourth – Germany (72 points)
Fifth – Georgia (71 points)
60kg
GOLD – Victor CIOBANU (MDA) df. Sergey EMELIN (RUS), 5-5
BRONZE – Kerem KAMAL (TUR) df. Virgil MUNTEANU (ROU), 4-1
BRONZE – Lenur TEMIROV (UKR) df. Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO), 9-0
67kg
GOLD – Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) df. Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL), 5-1
BRONZE – Artem SURKOV (RUS) df. Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO), 2-1
BRONZE – Karen ASLANYAN (ARM) df. Mate NEMES (SRB), 4-2
72kg
GOLD – Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) vs. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR), 9-6
BRONZE – Dominik ETLINGER (CRO) df. Hrant KALACHYAN (ARM), 4-3
BRONZE – Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL) df. Ilie COJOCARI (ROU), 2-1
82kg
GOLD – Rajbek BISULTANOV (DEN) df. Lasha GOBADZE (GEO), 4-3
BRONZE – Emrah KUS (TUR) df. Hannes WAGNER (GER), 2-1
BRONZE – Aleksandr KOMAROV (RUS) df. Vili Tapio ROPPONEN (FIN), 8-0
97kg
GOLD – Musa EVLOEV (RUS) df. Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL), 8-0
BRONZE – Matti KUOSMANEN (FIN) df. Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE) , 3-2
BRONZE – Daigoro TIMONCINI (ITA) df. Fatih BASKOY (TUR), 2-1
Source: www.unitedworldwrestling.org
