BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 17. The U20 World Wrestling Championships have kicked off in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.
On the opening day of competition, the finalists in Greco-Roman wrestling were determined in the 63 kg, 77 kg, 87 kg, and 130 kg weight categories.
Azerbaijan's Tural Ahmadov (63 kg) defeated Greece's Marios Kapantaisou 6-1 but narrowly lost 2-3 to Uzbekistan's Kuvonchbek Ismailov in the quarterfinals. Since his opponent advanced to the final, Ahmadov will compete in the repechage on Monday.
Another Azerbaijani wrestler, Javidan Nehmatov (77 kg), made an impressive start to the tournament. He dominated Greece's Adamantios Papadatos 8-0 and Kyrgyzstan's Elkhan Choenbekov 9-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Nehmatov then defeated Kazakhstan's Yerkebulan Anapi 7-5 to advance to the semifinals, where he secured a convincing 7-1 victory over Iran's Amir Mehdi Nava. He will face Armenia's Samvel Terteryan in Monday's final for the gold medal.
Meanwhile, Orkhan Hajiyev (87 kg) was pinned by India's Akhil Akhil in the qualification round, while Mikayil Ismayilov (130 kg) lost his opening bout to Finland's Tomas Rusi on the first-point criterion after a 1-1 draw.
