World wrestling championships: Malkhas Amoyan exits without a medal
Armenia’s defending 77 kg champion is out after Merey Maulitkanov failed to reach the semifinals, closing Amoyan’s route back into the bronze-medal contest.
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Armenia’s defending 77 kg champion is out after Merey Maulitkanov failed to reach the semifinals, closing Amoyan’s route back into the bronze-medal contest.
Armenia’s defending 77 kg champion Malkhas Amoyan has finished the 2026 Greco-Roman World Championships in Astana without a medal. Merey Maulitkanov, who beat him in the last 16, failed to reach the semifinals on 24 October, ending Amoyan’s remaining route to bronze.
The completed semifinals left Suren Aghajanyan, at 60 kg, as the only wrestler still in medal contention among Armenia’s four opening-day entrants. Koto Gomi’s place in the final qualified Aghajanyan for repechage, while defeats for Vakhtang Lolua and Gamzat Gadzhiev eliminated Norayr Hakhoyan and Samvel Grigoryan respectively.
The 23 October draw in Astana, Kazakhstan, set Armenia’s opening opponents across all ten Greco-Roman weight categories. Amoyan entered as the second seed, seeking his third world gold medal.
A wrestler beaten by an eventual finalist can return through repechage: additional bouts that offer a route to bronze. Hakhoyan, Aghajanyan and Grigoryan therefore needed the opponents who defeated them to win their semifinals on 24 October.
| Armenian wrestler | Weight | Result involving the wrestler who beat him | Consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norayr Hakhoyan |
Armenia’s Karen Aslanyan wins his first 63 kg world title in Astana, beating Nihat Mammadli 8–4. Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi pins Aitzhan Khalmakhanov at 8–0 for 67 kg gold, and Semen Novikov beats Alireza Mohamadipiani 4–0 for 87 kg gold. In the bronze bouts, Sergey Emelin beats Aref Mohammadi 9–0 and Ozodbek Khalimboyev beats Edmond Nazaryan 7–3 at 63 kg; Bagdat Sabaz beats Hasrat Jafarov 8–5 and Luis Orta Sánchez beats Slavik Galstyan 10–6 at 67 kg; and Lasha Gobadze beats Mukhammadkodir Rasulov 5–1 and Gevorg Tadevosyan beats Yaroslav Filchakov at 87 kg. Galstyan finishes fifth; Armenia ends with one gold and one bronze.
| 55 kg |
| Vakhtang Lolua (Georgia) lost 1–5 to Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan) |
| Eliminated from medal contention |
| Suren Aghajanyan | 60 kg | Koto Gomi (Japan) beat Aidos Sultangali (Kazakhstan) 5–1 | Qualified for repechage |
| Samvel Grigoryan | 82 kg | Gamzat Gadzhiev (Russia) drew 3–3 with Gholamreza Farokhisenjani (Iran), who won on criteria | Eliminated from medal contention |
A victory on criteria is decided by the sport’s tie-breaking rules when the points are level. Gomi’s win gives Aghajanyan a route back into competition, not a bronze medal.
None of Armenia’s four opening-day entrants reached the quarterfinals; together they recorded two wins in six bouts.
| Wrestler | Weight | Round of 32 | Last 16 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norayr Hakhoyan | 55 kg | Entered in the last 16 | Lost 1–2 to Vakhtang Lolua (Georgia) |
| Suren Aghajanyan | 60 kg | Beat Dimitri Khachidze (Georgia), 9–6 | Lost 4–12 to Koto Gomi (Japan) before the time limit |
| Malkhas Amoyan | 77 kg | Beat Sergey Kutuzov (Russia), 1–1 on criteria | Lost 2–4 to Merey Maulitkanov (Kazakhstan) |
| Samvel Grigoryan | 82 kg | Lost 1–2 to Gamzat Gadzhiev (Russia) | Did not advance |
Aghajanyan, the 2026 European silver medallist, was making his senior World Championships debut. Against Gomi, Armenia’s coaches successfully challenged a scoring sequence: a video review changed Aghajanyan’s deficit from 0–8 to 4–6. Gomi then secured the early win. Hakhoyan’s opponent, Lolua, entered as the reigning 55 kg world champion.
In its 23 October draw report, Sportaran described Kutuzov as one of the most dangerous unseeded wrestlers and Hakhoyan’s draw against top-seeded Lolua as difficult.
The draw announced on 23 October set the following opening pairings for Armenia’s other six wrestlers, with three scheduled to begin on 25 October and three on 26 October.
| Scheduled date | Weight | Armenian wrestler | Opponent | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 October | 72 kg | Ashot Khachatryan | Mihai Petic (Moldova) | Round of 32 |
| 25 October | 97 kg | Hayk Khloyan | Hamza Boumadiene (Morocco) | Round of 32 |
| 25 October | 130 kg | Razmik Kurdyan | Heiki Nabi (Estonia) | Round of 32 |
| 26 October | 63 kg | Karen Aslanyan | Corneliu Rusu (Moldova) | Round of 32 |
| 26 October | 67 kg | Slavik Galstyan | Gagik Sndjoyan (France) | Round of 32 |
| 26 October | 87 kg | Gevorg Tadevosyan | Milad Alirzayev (Russia) | Round of 32 |
The World Championships began on 24 October and run until 1 November. The Greco-Roman competition is scheduled to conclude on 27 October, with women’s wrestling and men’s freestyle wrestling to follow.
Repechage and medal bouts in the 55, 60, 77 and 82 kg divisions are scheduled for 25 October. Aghajanyan must advance through repechage to earn a bronze-medal bout.
The Armenian wrestler won his 87 kg quarterfinal in Astana, joining teammates Slavik Galstyan and Karen Aslanyan in the semifinals.
1 min
Iran’s Seyed Sohrabi beat Krisztian Vancza 4–0 for the 72 kg title and Fardin Hedayati beat Darius Vitek 8–0 at 130 kg; Belarus’s Kirill Maskevich beat Artur Sargsyan 7–1 at 97 kg. In the 26 October bronze bouts, Iuri Lomadze beat Parviz Nasibov 7–4, Amantur Ismailov beat Mingiyan Goryaev 10–0, Kiril Milov beat Markus Ragginger 10–0, Mohammad Hadi Saravi beat Alex Kessidis 3–0, Pavel Glinchuk beat Rafael Tsitsuashvili 3–1 and Wenhao Jiang beat Elias Kuosmanen 9–4. In the semifinals, Karen Aslanyan beat Edmond Nazaryan 12–4, Nihat Mammadli beat Sergey Emelin on criteria at 2–2, Aytjan Khalmakhanov beat Slavik Galstyan 4–0, Saeid Esmaeili Leivesi beat Hasrat Jafarov on criteria at 1–1, Alireza Azizkhoon Mohmadipiani beat Gevorg Tadevosyan 10–1 and Semen Novikov beat Muhammadqodir Rasulov 2–0. Aslanyan’s final against Mammadli and bronze bouts for Galstyan and Tadevosyan are scheduled for 27 October.
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