Cuba’s Gabriel Rossio pulled off one of the biggest surprises at the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade after dethroning four-time champion and Olympic gold medalist Artur Aleksanyan in the 97kg classic style category. Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, climbed to third place in the ranking of medals with Zholaman Sharshenbekov’s gold at 60 kg.
Japan are the surefire World Cup champions in Serbia as the Asian side cannot be dislodged from the top spot. The Americans are two gold medals short and no finalists in the final three categories, with Azerbaijan able to match the U.S. with two titles from its two finalists on Sunday. Bulgaria is in 20th place and can climb in the ranking if Semyon Novikov wins a bronze medal at 87 kg.
Rossio won the first gold for the Cubans after defeating the “White Bear” in the final with the last point criterion after a 3:3 draw. He took his country’s first gold medal at the world championships and first title since 1991, when Hector Miyan won the historic 97 kg category.
Last year, Aleksanyan defeated the Bulgarian wrestler Kiril Milov in the final, who was injured on the eve of the championship and was unable to compete.
The Czech Artur Omarov and the Iranian Mohammad Hadi Saravi remained third in the 97 kg classical style.
Sharshenbekov became the champion at 60 kg after a fantastic fight with Kenichiro Fumita. The wrestler from Kyrgyzstan took the first four points and maintained his lead until the end, although the Japanese came close on several occasions. In the end, the score was 11:6 for Sharshenbekov, who last year defeated Edmond Nazaryan in the final. This time the Bulgarian dropped out at the start.
Bronze medals went to Islomjon Bahramov from Uzbekistan and Cao Liguo from China.
At 72 kg, Frenchman Ibrahim Ghanem became the champion, who yesterday defeated Stoyan Kubatov in the round of 16. The new world champion won 3:0 against the Hungarian Robert Fritsch, and the third places in the category went to the Serbian Ali Arsalan and the Turkish Selcuk Can, who defeated Kubatov in a battle for the bronze.
Photo: Facebook – United World Wrestling
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