site.btaThree Bulgarian Wrestlers to Compete on First Day of U23 World Championships in Albania

Three Bulgarian wrestlers will compete on the first day of the U23 World Wrestling Championships in Tirana (Albania). 

In the men’s freestyle 61 kg category, Kostadin Gutsev will face Belarusian Ivan Hramika, who will compete under a neutral flag.

In the 74 kg category, Nikolay Dimitrov will start from the eighth finals. In the 125 kg, Georgi Velev will start from the quarterfinals.  

The bouts will start at 11.30 am on October 23, the semi-finals at 7 pm.

The Iranian wrestlers will not compete at the Championships because the delegation was refused visas at the last moment due to the strained political relations between Iran and Albania. Representatives of Russia and Belarus, however, will take part in the competition.

The event was originally scheduled to be held in Finland, but it was relocated as Finland was obstructing Russia and Belarus’s participation.

A total of 587 wrestlers from 58 countries will take part in the Championships. Bulgaria will be represented by seven wrestlers - three in each of the two men's categories, and one in the women's division. Female wrestler Nazife Tair (55kg) will compete on Wednesday.

Elina Vaseva will be the referee from Bulgaria.