Five titles were won by Bulgarian wrestlers on the second day of the 63rd edition of the “Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov“ tournament, which is held in the “Kolodruma“ hall in Plovdiv, BTA reports.
In the classical style, Stoyan Kubatov (77), fifth at the 2023 World Championships, became the champion, who defeated Oleg Khalilov (Ukraine) 8:0 in the final. Before that, he recorded two victories – over Hristo Valentinov (5:1) and over Janusz Bashar (Turkey) – 4:3. Kiril Milov (97) is also first after a victory by pinfall over Vladlen Kozlyuk (Ukraine). Earlier, the two-time European champion defeated two Bulgarian wrestlers - Nikolay Lazaridis 8:0 and Kaloyan Ivanov (2:0). In the same category, Kaloyan Ivanov took bronze.
Olympic champion Semen Novikov won bronze in the 87-kg category, after defeating Igor Yaroshevich (Ukraine) 4:0. Novikov lost in the semifinals 3:7 to Yaroslav Filchakov, also from Ukraine. The winner in the category was the only Russian at the tournament, Alexander Krikuha, who competes under the flag of the World Wrestling Federation.
In the women's category, Bilyana Dudova triumphed in the 62 kg category after defeating Amelie Dur (France) 5:1. She recorded two victories before the final - over Desislava Ivanova (10:0) and Ilona Prokoplevnyuk (Ukraine) - 5:2.
Yuliana Yaneva (68) dropped out of the competition at the last minute due to a minor injury.
In the freestyle, two Bulgarian representatives also became champions - Shamil Mamedov (65) after winning the decisive bout over the European vice-champion Khamzat Arsenberzuev (France) - 6:0. The naturalized Dagestani previously defeated Nikolay Stefanov (10:0) and Mikayi Naim (10:0), and later the Turkish Ahmed Duman with 14:2.
Mikhail Georgiev triumphed in the 74-kilogram category, defeating Omer Kayer (Turkey) in the final. The Bulgarian also recorded two victories before - over the Algerian Abdelrahman Benansa and the Ukrainian Igor Nikiforyuk - 3:1.
For the second year in a row, the champion in the 86-kilogram category was American Zahid Valencia, who last season was also named the best foreigner in the freestyle of the tournament, and then became No. 1 in the world and at the Pan American Championship. Now Valencia has recorded 4 victories - over Simon Marchal (Austria) by pinfall, Umar Mavlaev (Switzerland) - 11:0, Osman Gochen (Turkey) and a pinfall against Oleksandr Mamrosh (Ukraine).
Today the competition ends with the last categories: 97 and 125 kg in the freestyle, 60-67 kg in the classic style and 50-53 kg for women.