The 2009 European Wrestling Championships are underway in Vilnius, Lithuania and the Armenian team has had good success to open the tournament. Having sent seven freestyle wrestlers and seven Greco-Roman wrestlers, Team Armenia is well represented at the European Championships looking to repeat their 3rd place finish in the World Cup earlier in the year in the Greco-Roman category.

In the freestyle category, Armenia had seven wrestlers battling for top spots in their respective weight classes. Mihran Jaburyan (55kg) was successful in his first two bouts defeating Swiss and Ukranian opponents to reach the Semi-Finals, but he would eventually lose to the Russian Nariman Israpilov. In the repechage, Jaburyan would lose to Radoslav Velikov of Bulgaria and finish in 5th place.

In the 66kg. category, Zhirayr Hovhannisyan won the Bronze medal by defeating his first opponent from Great Britain, and his second opponent from Slovakia in the Quarterfinals, but he would lose to the eventual Champion from Ukraine in the Semifinals for a place in the Repechage. In the Repechage, Hovhannisyan defeated his opponent from Moldova to earn the bronze.

Edgar Yenokyan would bring home another bronze for Armenia in the 96kg. category by victories over wrestlers from Georgia and Belarus to reach the semi-finals, but would fall to the Russian Georgy Ketoev to earn a place in the repechage. Yenokyan defeated his Latvian opponent in the repechage to earn the second bronze for Team Armenia.

The most successful of the wrestlers from Team Armenia has been Ruslan Basiev by winning the Silver medal in the 120kg category. Basiev won victories over wrestlers from Latvia, Georgia, and Ukrain to make it to the final. In the final it was a battle between Basiev and Ali Isayev of Azerbaijan. Basiev took the first round with a 1-0 score, but Isayev would make a quick comeback and win rounds 2 and 3 to leave Armenia with the Silver medal.

In the 60kg. category Artur Arakelyan finished in 8th place, Harutyun Yenokyan (84kg.) finished in 7th place, and Suren Markosyan (74kg.) finished in 12th place. With the three medals, Armenia finished fifth in the Freestyle Wrestling category behind Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey respectively.

As there are no Female wrestlers from Team Armenia, we will have to wait until the weekend to see our Greco-Roman wrestlers in action, hoping to better their 3rd place result from the World Championships last month. The Greco-Roman team is made up of seven wrestlers: Olympic Bronze medalist Roman Amoyan 55kg, Artak Harutyunyan 60kg, Khosrov Melikyan 66kg, Arsen Julfalakyan 74kg, Denis Forov 84kg, Arman Geghamyan 96kg, and the other Olympic Bronze medalist Yuri Patrikeev in the 120kg category.

Stay tuned to Sporting-Armenia for results and videos of Team Armenia at the 2009 European Wrestling Championships.

Watch all of the matches by clicking on the links. Video will open in Windows Media Player.

ATHLETE	WT.	Rd.1	Rd.2	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Final	Repechage 1.	Repechage 2.
Mihran Jaburyan	55kg		vs. SUI	vs. UKR	vs. RUS			vs. BUL
Artur Arakelyan	60kg	vs. LTU	vs. RUS				vs. TUR
Zhirayr Hovhannisyan	66kg		vs. GBR	vs. SVK	vs. UKR			vs. MDA
Suren Markosyan	74kg	vs. GBR	vs. GEO
Harutyun Yenokyan	84kg	vs. HUN	vs. LTU	vs. POL
Edgar Yenokyan	96kg		vs. GEO	vs. BLR	vs. RUS			vs. LAT
Ruslan Basiev	120kg		vs. LAT	vs. GEO	vs. UKR	vs. AZE