The European Championship has kicked off in Rome (Italy) today. The draws for the Greco-Roman tournament were released and the Russians will have a lot of early finals early in the competition. There are five categories in Greco-Roman namely 55, 63, 77, 87 and 130 kg.
In the 55kg weight category, Vitaly Kabaloev is the defending European Champion. In the first match, he will face Doguz Ayazchi (Turkey). World Champion, Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan) and Edmond Nazaryan (Bulgaria) have been seeded into the ¼ final. In Kabaloev’s grid is Tsurtsumiya (Georgia) and he is the likely opponent for the former in the semi-finals.
In the 63 kg category, Ibrahim Labazanov (Russia) can lock horns with Mihai Mihut (Romania) in the semis. He will begin his campaign against Mammadov (Azerbaijan). In quarter-finals, he could face the European Champion Victor Ciobanu (Moldova).
The favourites in the 77kg category are Islam Opiev (Russia) and Victory Nemesh (Serbia). Opiev’s biggest challenge would be Alex Kessidis (Sweden) for his road to semis.
The most interesting weight category is 87kg. Alexander Komarov, 2019 European Champion, and Maxin Manikyan, World Champion 2017 and European Champion 2018 will meet in the second fight of the weight category.
The headline grabber would the semis of 87kgs if Metekhan Beshar (Turkey), two-time world champion manages to overcome the Semyon Novikov (Ukraine) challenge early in the competition.
In the later part of the tournament bracket have the likes of Zurab Datunshvili (Serbia), Lorinz (Hungary) and Abbasov (Azerbaijan).
In the heavyweight category of 130 kg, Zurabi Gedehauri with be tesed for strength. In his second match, Gedehauri is likely to face 2016 Olympic gold medallist, Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan). If the Russian national qualifies for the semis, he will might meet world champion Riza Kayyalp (Turkey).
