Alexandrin Gutu brought Moldova its first gold medal at the championship // Photo: uww.org
Before reaching the final, the 22-year-old Gutsu defeated Reon Kakegawa (Japan), Omar Sataev (Kazakhstan) and Ibrahim Tabaev, representing Belgium. The Moldovan athlete did not give his opponents a single point and confidently entered the final.
In the deciding bout, Gutsu faced Ruslan Abdiev of Ukraine. The bout ended in a draw (1:1), but Gutsu won thanks to classification points (3:1). Sataev and Abolfazl Mohmedi from Iran won bronze medals.
Alexandrin Gutsu’s victory was his third consecutive win at the Youth World Championships. In 2023 and 2024 he also won gold medals, but in a lighter category – up to 77 kg. He is also European Youth Champion (2023), Under-20 World Champion (2022), silver medalist at the Youth World Championships (2022), twice bronze medalist at the European Youth Championships (2024, 2025) and bronze medalist at the Under-20 World Championships (2022).
The medal in the weight category up to 82 kg was the third for the Moldovan Greco-Roman wrestling team at the tournament. Logos Press reported that earlier Vitalii Eremenko became silver medalist (up to 63 kg), and Alexander Solovei – bronze medalist (up to 77 kg).
In the final team medal standings, the Moldovan Greco-Roman wrestlers took the eighth place among 44 participating countries. The top three were the national teams of Iran, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.
The World Championship on Olympic wrestling among athletes under 23 years old is held in Novi Sad (Serbia) till October 27. More than 700 wrestlers from 50 countries are playing 30 sets of medals. The national team of Moldova is represented by 21 athletes.
