With lots of drama, wonderful finals and an extremely noisy crowd (especially from Ukrainian fans who create a fantastic atmosphere), the 1st day of the Veteran and U15 Grappling World Championships at the Georgios Galanopoulos Indoor Stadium, at Loutraki Corinthe, in Greece, came to a conclusion.
More than 200 athletes from 19 countries are participating in Grappling, with the Ukrainian athletes at U15 categories having the best results during the first day of competition.
In total they won 18 medals (7 golds, 9 silvers and 2 bronzes).
In Veterans category during the evening session, Greece had a major success with 2 golds, 2 silvers and one bronze medal.
Spain had some great moments as well with 5 golds, 2 silvers and one bronze, while Kazakhstan won a bunch of medals as well.
The winners
U15
Girls
80k.: Αfter a great round robin, Spaniard Mercedes Garcia Rodrigues was unbeatable and won the gold medal with Daryna Tomachynska winning the silver medal with 3 wins and one lost game. The bronze was won by the Greek Anastasia Mylona who had two wins, one against Tatyana Tkachyk by 8-7, a win that came in the last 1:31 when the score was 2-6 for the Ukrainian.
48k.: On a Round Robin event, Aikunium Ruslanskyzy from Kazakhstan was the one who finished without a loss. She beat both Anastasiia Hrynevych of Ukraine and Romanian Nikol Bathori, with Hrynevych winning the silver thanks to her win against Romanian by superiority. Ruslanskyzy won both games by fall.
52k.: Sara Cicio of Romania got the gold medal after a fantastic performance against Aidana Suleiman of Kazakhstan (13-2). We had a huge drama for the bronze. Viktoriia Lavruk from Ukraine was winning 6-5 Petra Szalay of Hungary. But at the last second of the bronze medal game, Szalay’s coach challenged the referees decision and thanks to that, Szalay got 2 points and the bronze.
40k.: Aruzhan Almatbayeva from Kazakhstan is the world champion. She beat Katerina Serbova from Ukraine by 11-3.
44k: Two Ukrainians were the only participants here. Sofiia Andriichuk manage to win the gold against Vladyslava Smilianska by 7-2.
57k. Diana Jetpispayeva of Kazakhstan became the new world champion. She won Alejandra Boixander Banol of Spain by fall, while the Spaniard had the lead with 2-0. Daiana Hotiu of Romania won the bronze against Viktoriia Polishchuk with the exact same way (she was losing 5-0 before she managed to win by fall)
Boys
59k.: Armenian Hrachya Ghazakhyan in a very intense final against Abdula Uzhakov (Kazakhstan) won the gold medal with a 2-1 score. Izan Rodriguez Sosa won the bronze medal
35k.: With two contestants from Ukraine, it was a celebration for the nation. The winner was Daniil Tshyankov who won 5-0 Roman Shostak.
53k.: Ismail Kenzhetrayev from Kazakhstan was the winner of the category. He beat in the final Yevhen Protsiv by 6-1, while Massimiliano Massa won the only medal (bronze) for Italy, after winning Ukrainian Vladyslav Hubanov 5-4.
66k.: Oleksii Bolbochan from Ukraine won another gold for his country. His opponent in the final was also from Ukraine. Ivan Sofronii lost by 6-0.
Greece won the bronze medal thanks to Athanasios Efraim Kastanas, who had a major win against Keylian Planque, an excellent athlete from France. Kastanas won by 5-3, while Udai Kabral Garcia won also the bronze via repechage.
38k. Ukrainian Denys Hunda was the world champion. At the final he won Gimran Mukhit from Kazakhstan by 5-0.
42k. It was a fantastic final between Assanali Abayev from Kazakhstan and Vadym Kostreba from Ukraine. Kostreba had the lead by 2-0, but Abayev managed to win by fall and grab the gold medal.
47k: Zakhar Dremliuha from Ukraine is the new World champion. He had 3 wins in RR against three opponents, with Radmir An winning the silver thanks to his classification points, while Maksym Savchuk won the bronze.
73k.Yaroslav Fedyna from Ukraine is the World champion of this category. During the final he won Eduardo Rosario Sosa by 6-0, while Anton Yutish, also from Ukraine, won the bronze.
100k.: It was… all Ukraine once again. Antonii Sherstiuk was the winner against Hurhen Mkrtchian by 5-1.
VETERANS
MEN
Veterans A
66k. Bekbolat Bainazarov had to fight against two Greeks and he managed to win the gold medal in Round Robin. Georgios Kelasidis and Dimitrios Bechlioulis had to wrestle for the silver medal and Kelasidis was the one who got the win with a 13-2 score.
77k. USA’s D. Rodriguez won the title of world champion. In the final he fought against S. Khurdayan and he won 4-1.
84k. Jaouad Karbal Assila is the world champion since he won both games against Richard Radi of Hungary and Ulassar Mushkash of Kazakhstan. Radi won the silver after his win with 2-0 against Mushkash.
92k. Savvas Karypidis of Greece had the control of the final against Ramazan Kussainov of Kazakhstan. He got an early lead of 2-0 and he stayed in front, to win the gold medal with a 5-2 score.
100k. Eidar Rafigaev went for the gold against Greek Ilias Boukis. The Greek champion had an injury and he decide to try to participate in the final, which he lost 18 to 1.
130k: Hosts Greece got their first gold medal at the World veterans grappling championships. Ioannis Kargiotakis played in Round robin and got two easy wins, to get the gold medal. At first he won 10-0 the Iranian Nezhadpoorhossein and one hour later he beat 6-0 the American Ike Okori.
Veterans B
62κ. The final was a great derby for the first 3 of four minutes. France’s Philippe Alilat and Spaniard Jose Julio Santana Delgado were tied at 2-2. Then it was Delgado who managed to get the win with 5 points an the end of the final.
71k.:On a tough Round Robin, Juan Miguel Valles Garcia was the one who stood up on the top of the podium. He won 3 out of his 4 matches and won the gold, in front of Oleksii Oliinik of Ukraine and Abu Dastan Zinalyev of Kazakhstan.
77k. Canadian Brend Fryia was pretty close to win the gold but Ukraine’s Maksym Zhuravlov won with a dramatic way. He was behind with e 3-1 score, until he won two technical point, to grab the gold medal from his opponent. Fryia couldn’t believe it, but still he left with the silver medal, while Kairat Yerzhekenov of Kazakhstan was 3rd.
84k.: H pure thriller on this category with Romanian Ion Cojocaru, Aidar Makhmedov of Kazakhstan and Myzhasar Alpamyssov, on a 1-1 tie! Cojocaru and Makmedov went for the last game of RR, on which the athlete of Kazakhstan needed a win with a fall to get the gold. And he did it, leaving Romanian to the second place.
100k. It was clear that the last match between the Greek Dimitrios Zafeiratos and Romanian Vasile Cublesan will decide the world champion. And the Romanian made a statement from the first seconds of the match, winning with a 5-0 margin. Ahmed Mansour won the bronze.
130k.: In a pretty close final that could go each way, Ihor Okuniev of Ukraine, won with a 2-1 score Yeray Perez Rodriguez of Spain to get the gold.
Veterans C
71k. Between three athletes from Kazakhstan, Daniel Perez Higuero of Spain managed to beat them all and get the gold with 3 wins. Sabyrzan Zholdayev and Bolat Turginbayev winning silver and bronze.
92k. Jose Miguel Tamayo Mejias was a clear favorite and he finished the business unbeatable. Michael Kelly and Steven Nagklosky of USA, and Nikolaos Panoutsos of Greece could not deal with the Spaniard who won the gold medal. Nagkolsky got the silver and Kelly the bronze.
130k. Gabriel Armand Beauperthuy of USA was the winner of the gold medal final against Moises Gomez Lopez of Spain with a victory by fall.
Veterans D
130k. Two athletes from Kazakhstan matched up for the final. Kuanysh Myrza and Sergey Tymchenko had a great final, with Myrza having the lead with 5-2. He beat his compatriot with a fall second before the end of the final.
Veterans E
71k. Dominic Sejason of France and Istvan Kleber from Hungary fought for the gold for the category. The French managed to hold his lead and take the gold with the score of 11-7.
130k.
WOMEN
Veterans B
58k. M. Amigo Abeled of Spain and her compatriot N. Garcia Dorro were the two finalist of the only women’s category for the opening day. Garcia Dorro got the gold medal.
