Ziya Babashov in the final of the U23 European Championship

The U23 European Wrestling Championship continues in Tirana, the capital of Albania.

Today, the Greco-Roman wrestling competition has started.

Elmir Aliyev (55 kg) advanced to the semifinals by defeating Moldovan Maxim Sarmanov (9:1) and Albanian Andi Mukan (11:2). One step away from the final, Elmir, who lost the initiative at the end of a tense match with Russian Alibek Amirov, resigned himself to defeat on the last point principle (2:2). Aliyev will wrestle tomorrow with the winner of the match between Filip Bartosik (Czech Republic) and Vasileios Papageorgiu (Greece) for the bronze medal.

Ziya Babashov (63 kg) knocked out Swedish Alexander Vafai at the start – 3:1. Our compatriot defeated Marios Kapantais of Greece (10:2) in the quarterfinals and Miroslav Emilova of Bulgaria (8:0) in the semifinals, making his way to the finals. Zia will face Vitali Yeriomenko of Moldova in the decisive match.

Khasay Hasanli (77 kg) defeated Andreas Vasilakopula of Greece (9:0) with a complete advantage, but lost to Aaron Bellscheidt of Germany in the quarterfinals with a score of 3:7. Since his opponent advanced to the finals, Khasay will wrestle Albert Doyev of Bulgaria in a consolation match tomorrow.

Joju Samedov (87 kg) lost to Vigen Nazaryan of Armenia (0:7) in the qualifying round, while Aykhan Mardanov (130 kg) lost to Artur Sarkisyan of the Czech Republic (0:2) in the same round.