Alexandru Gaidarla's medal (left) was the fourth for Moldova at the World Youth Championships
Gaidarli was represented in the weight category up to 70 kg. The Moldovan athlete gained confident victories over Orislandi Brooks (Cuba), Adis Rahat Uulu (Kyrgyzstan), but was defeated in the semifinal fight with Sina Khalili from Iran. A high position in the world ranking allowed the 20-year-old athlete to continue his performance at the tournament and compete for the bronze medal.
In the small final Alexander Gaidarly defeated Mais Aliyev from Kazakhstan with the score 10:3. The second bronze medal was won by Peter Duke (USA). World champion in this weight category was Kenan Heibatov (Azerbaijan), silver medalist was Khalili, Gaidarly’s offender.
The bronze medal was the third in the professional career of the Moldovan athlete. Gaidarli is twice vice-champion of the world among athletes under 20 years old (2025) and vice-champion of Europe in the same age category (2024).
Among the other Moldovan wrestlers the highest position was occupied by Ion Demian, who became fourth in the category up to 92 kg. The results of Gaidarla and Demian allowed the national freestyle wrestling team of Moldova to rise to the ninth position among 45 participating countries. The teams of the USA, Iran and Azerbaijan were at the top of the ranking.
Logos Press earlier reported that three Moldovan Greco-Roman wrestlers became medalists of the World Youth Championships. Alexandrin Gutsu won a gold medal in the weight category up to 82 kg, Vitalii Eremenko – silver (up to 63 kg), and Alexander Solovei – bronze (up to 77 kg).
Three Moldovan athletes represented Moldova in the women’s wrestling competitions – Mihaela Samoil, Madelina Prisacari and Gabriela Rudoi. Samoil showed the best result, losing the fight for the bronze medal to her rival. In the team medal standings, our girls took 23rd place among 39 national teams. Representatives of India, Japan and the USA performed better than the rest.
The World Championship in Olympic wrestling among athletes under 23 years old ended in Novi Sad (Serbia) on October 27. Moldova was represented by 21 athletes among more than 700 participants.
