It was an incredible day of wrestling in the sandy circles of Roses Park in the beautiful city of Timisoara. The Kings and Queens of the third leg of the Beach Wrestling World Series were coronated. With a home sand victory for Romania in the women’s 50kg to shocks like the end of Ukrainian Oleksii BORUTA’s gold run, this leg had everything in the mix. Let’s see how the action unfolded and who went home with the gold.

There was home sand joy in the women’s 50kg division as Ana Maria PIRVU (ROU) avenged her semi-final defeat to Viiktoria SLOBODENIUK (UKR) in Saint-Laurent-du-Var to take gold in her home country with a 4-1 victory over the Ukrainian in the gold medal match. Nicoleta Cristina BAJAN (ROU) picked up the bronze medal match as she beat Alevtyna LIASHENKO (UKR) making it a fine first and third place finish for the host nation.

Anastasiya KRAVCHENKO (UKR) has taken home gold in the last two legs of the women’s 60kg division, but she would have to make do with a silver from leg 3 losing out to her teammate, the impressive Sofiia KUSHNIR (UKR). Kushnir was awarded the opening point, which Kravchenko then challenged, but the challenge failed putting Kravchenko 0-2 down on the scoring with a lost challenge resulting in a point to your opponent. Kravchenko did then score a point of her own, but Kushnir secured the gold with 1 minute 21 remaining as she landed another point to give her a 3-1 victory. In the bronze medal match Francesca INDELICATO (ITA) went from joy to despair as she thought she had won third place as she was awarded a point that put her 3-1 ahead against Sofiia BORDINSKYKH (UKR) but the Ukrainian challenged the decision and won it to draw level at 2-2 before landing the winning point with 9 seconds left of the matchup to take third place.

Viktoriia HRYTSENKO (UKR) took gold in France last time out in the women’s 70kg category and she would be celebrating back-to-back golds at the end of the final day in Timisoara. She took the top step of the podium for the second leg in a row as she came out a 3-0 winner in a rematch of the second leg final against fellow Ukrainian Oksana HERHEL. Ukraine have had a monopoly of the medals in the division and this leg proved no different as Olena NIKITINSKA made it a 1-2-3 for Ukraine with a 3-0 3rd placed match win over Romanian Georgiana Florentina ANDRIES.

There were no shocks in the women’s +70kg division as American sand queen “The Bomm” Eliana BOMMARITO continued her dominance of the division winning the gold medal for a second leg in a row, taking just under 3 minutes in total in all her matchups to snatch the top prize. Bommarito needed only one minute three seconds to defeat Aikaterini Eirini PITSIAVA (GRE) in the final and twenty-four seconds to win her semi-final over Florentina Georgiana BIRU (ROU). Ukrainian Iryna PASICHNYK took home the bronze as she beat Biru 3-0 to take the third step on the podium.

There was somewhat of a shock though in the men’s 70kg category as Ukraine’s Oleksii BORUTA’s gold run came to an end when he was beaten in the semi-finals by the returning Younus COSKUN (TUR) who had missed the opening two legs of the Series. It would be Coskun who would go on to be crowned as king of the third leg, taking gold with a tight 1-0 win over Azerbaijan’s Rashid BABAZADE in the final. Boruta dusted himself down from the semi-final defeat to console himself with third place as he edged out compatriot Ivan SEMENOV in a similarly tight 1-0 victory.

Christos CHRISTOFORIDIS (GRE) will be the toast of the Greek Beach Wrestling team tonight as he took home the men’s 80kg division third leg gold medal, coming out on top over American Daniel CARDENAS in a closely contested final. A 3 point move by Christoforidis with 12 seconds remaining giving him the win in a 4-0 victory. Leg two winner Moldova’s Vasile DIACON took the bronze with a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan’s Ramiz HASANOV.

There was a repeat of the second leg final in the men’s 90kg division as Traian CAPATINA (MDA) and Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE) faced off in the final this time around. Here in Timisoara, it was the same ending as Capatina took the win with a 3 point move to come from 2-1 down to take the gold with a 4-2 victory over the reigning World Champion. The podium would also resemble that of the second leg with Oleksii YAKOVCHUK (UKR) picking up his second bronze in a row beating Moldovan Alexandru BORS 3-2 in a 3-4 placed matchup that could have gone either way but the Ukrainian’s experience in the sandy circle gave him the edge he needed.

The Glorious Georgian Mamuka KORDZAIA has been a constant feature in the elimination rounds and gold medal matches for several Beach Wrestling World Series’ seasons, and this year is no exception, with the Georgian claiming another leg victory. Kordzaia saw off the challenge of current men’s +90kg World Champion Fatih YASARALI (TUR), securing a 3-0 win over the Turkish athlete, who himself was making his first appearance in this year’s Beach Wrestling World Series, with 7 seconds left to spare.  American Nikolas Andrew STEMMET ensured that Team USA would make it two legs in a row they took 3 medals back across the pond with a bronze as he defeated Omar Ihab SAREM (SYR) in a thrilling 3rd 4th place match that saw him beat the sole Syrian competitor 3-2 much to the delight of his coaches and teammates.

The women’s top technique award was picked up by Georgiania Florentina ANDRIES (ROU) in the women’s 70kg and the men’s top technique award was taken home by Stefan COMAN (ROU) for a phenomenal throw the men’s 70kg division.

It's always a special stop in Romania and for the fourth year in a row they have delivered with a leg full of that special Beach Wrestling vibe and atmosphere coupled with the sheer strength agility and athleticism of the athletes that makes it the greatest show on sand. There’s a short break now until the next stop in Katerini in Greece when the Beach Wrestling World Series will return on the 21st and 22nd of September for the fifth leg of the season.

If you can’t wait that long for more of that Beach Wrestling World Series action, there’s plenty of videos of past events over on the Beach Wrestling YouTube channel.

Results Beach Wrestling World Series Timisoara

Women

50kg

1. Ana Marie PIRVU (ROU)
2. Viiktoria SLOBODENIUK (UKR)
3. Nicoleta Cristina BAJAN (ROU)

60kg

1. Sofiia KUSHNIR (UKR)
2. Anastasiya KRAVCHENKO (UKR)
3. Sofiia BORDINSKYKH (UKR)

70kg

1. Viktoriia HRYTSENKO (UKR)
2.  Oksana HERHEL (UKR)
3. Olena NIKITINSKA (UKR)

+70kg

1.  Eliana BOMMARITO (USA)
2.  Aikaterini Eirini PITSIAVA (GRE)
3. Iryna PASICHNYK (UKR)

Men

70kg 

1. Younus COSKUN (TUR)
2. Rashid BABAZADE (AZE)
3. Oleksii BORUTA (UKR)

80kg

1. CHRISTOFORIDIS Christos (GRE)
2. Daniel CARDENAS (USA)
3. Vasile DIACON (MDA)

90kg

1. Traian CAPATINA (MDA)
2. Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE)
3. Oleksii YAKOVCHUK (UKR)

+90kg

1. Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO)
2. Fatih YASARLI (TUR)
3. Nikolas Andrew STEMMET (USA)
 

Men’s Top Technique Winner – Stefan COMAN (ROU)
Women’s Top Technique Winner – Georgiania Florentina ANDRIES (ROU)