Maxim Sarmanov
The 19-year-old Sarmanov defeated Romanian wrestler Dragos Gabriel Braga (5:0) in the small final of the 55 kg weight category. His tournament journey began with a duel with Hungarian wrestler Peter Sigmond Totok, in which the Moldovan wrestler defeated his opponent with the score 3:1. In the 1/4 finals Sarmanov lost to Russian Ivan Solomin (0:9), who competed under a neutral flag. However, his 7:3 victory over Czech Republic’s Jakub Sedlak in the additional qualification round allowed him to compete for the bronze medal.
The European champion among youth in this weight category was Ivan Solomin, Sarmanov’s offender. In the final fight he was luckier than Azerbaijan’s Turan Dashdamirov. The Russian won by scoring the last point of the fight, which ended in a draw (1:1).
Maxim Sarmanov has repeatedly won medals in international tournaments. He is the silver medalist of the European Youth Championship, vice-champion of the European Junior Championship and bronze medalist of the European Youth Championship (U-17). He is a ward of coaches Fyodor Kovanzhi, Mikhail Kukul and Roman Zgardan.
In the weight category up to 77 kg, the Moldovan Greco-Roman wrestler Constantin Tasca was defeated with the score 0:8 in the small final against the Armenian Samvel Terteryan. Cristian Rusu in the 87 kg category lost the opportunity to reach the small final after defeating Yurik Petrosyan (Armenia). Maxim Karaush (under 60 kg) and Vladimir Paskar (under 72 kg) were eliminated in the 1/8 finals, while Dumitru Rapeshko (under 63 kg), Octavian Cernecchi (under 67 kg) and Marius Sorin Stiharu (under 82 kg) failed to overcome the qualification round.
The Moldovan Greco-Roman wrestling team took 14th place in the team standings among 32 participating countries. The European Youth Olympic Wrestling Championships will end on July 6.
