Four of our wrestlers reach the final of the European championships

April 25, 2026

The European Wrestling Championships in Tirana, the capital of Albania, are nearing their conclusion.

On the fifth day of competition, the freestyle wrestling events began in the 61 kg, 74 kg, 86 kg, 92 kg, and 125 kg weight categories.

Nureddin Novruzov (61 kg) faced Moldovan Leomid Kolesnik in his opening bout. After falling behind 0:6 in the first minute, our compatriot produced a remarkable comeback and secured an early victory by technical superiority, 17:6. Novruzov was then defeated in the semifinal by Albanian world champion Zelimkhan Abakarov, 3:14. Nureddin will compete for bronze tomorrow. His opponent will be the winner of the match between Simeone Piroddu (Italy) and Niklas Steschele (Germany).

Turan Bayramov (74 kg) narrowly defeated Farhad Nurikhorjestan, who competed under neutral athlete status, by a score of 3:2 in the opening round. In the quarterfinal, our wrestler gave no chance to Belarusian Nikita Mayevskiy, winning 8:0. Bayramov then overcame Georgian Giorgi Elbakidze in the semifinal by a score of 2:1 to advance to the final. Turan will face Slovakian Taymuraz Salkazanov in tomorrow’s decisive bout.

Arseniy Djioyev (86 kg) first defeated Ukrainian Denys Bykov (10:0), then earned another dominant win over Moldovan Evghenii Mihaelcan (11:0) to qualify for the semifinal. In that round, Latvian Ivars Samusonoks left the mat disappointed after an early defeat, 12:2. Arseniy will face Russian Ibrahim Kadiev in the final tomorrow.

Ali Tsokayev (92 kg) defeated Belarusian Yaraslav Yadkouski by technical superiority, 10:0, and then proved stronger than Georgian world and European medalist Miriani Maisuradze, 5:0. In the semifinal, Tsokayev also defeated Swiss wrestler Samuel Scherrer, 6:0. Ali will wrestle Bulgarian Ahmed Bataev in the final.

Giorgi Meshvildishvili (125 kg) entered the tournament from the quarterfinal stage. In his match against Armenian Khachatur Khachatryan, our representative executed a successful move in the final seconds and advanced to the semifinal based on the last-point rule (5:5). The most experienced member of the national team then defeated Turkish wrestler Hakan Buyukcingil by a score of 3:1 and will face Hungarian Vladislav Baitsaev in the final.