Two Armenian wrestlers reach U20 World Championships semifinals in Bratislava

The 2026 U20 World Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling kicked off in Bratislava on August 16. Wrestlers in the 63, 77, 87 and 130 kg weight categories took to the mat on the opening day of competition.

Armenia was represented by four athletes. Two of them — Samvel Terteryan (77 kg) and Yurik Petrosyan (87 kg) — successfully made it through the quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals.

Terteryan opened his campaign with a convincing 8-0 victory over Egypt’s Mohamed Ibrahim. In the round of 16, the Armenian wrestler defeated American Leister Bowling 6-0, before shutting out Hungary’s Zalan Toplak 5-0 in the quarterfinals.

Terteryan will face Georgia’s Giorgi Gogelashvili in the semifinal.

Yurik Petrosyan also produced confident performances in his opening bouts. In the round of 16, he secured an early 8-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Mirsaid Yunusov before defeating Iran’s Amirhossein Nematzadeh 5-1 in the quarterfinals.

Petrosyan will face Austria’s Paul Mayer in the semifinal. Mayer has already defeated two Armenians today: Tigran Manukyan of Lithuania and Manvel Harutyunyan of Russia.

In the 63 kg category, Alex Margaryan earned two victories before losing 4-12 to Iran’s Ali Gharibi in the quarterfinals.

In the 130 kg category, Seyran Kirakosyan ended his campaign in the round of 16 after a 0-9 defeat to Ali Ilyasov.

Results of Armenian wrestlers so far

63 kg

Round of 32: Alex Margaryan — Ionit Mereuta (Romania) — 10:4
Round of 16: Alex Margaryan — Levente Fige (Hungary) — 2:1
Quarterfinal: Alex Margaryan — Ali Gharibi (Iran) — 4:12

77 kg

Round of 32: Samvel Terteryan — Mohamed Ibrahim (Egypt) — 8:0
Round of 16: Samvel Terteryan — Leister Bowling (USA) — 6:0
Quarterfinal: Samvel Terteryan — Zalan Toplak (Hungary) — 5:0

Terteryan will face Giorgi Gogelashvili (Georgia) in the semifinal.

87 kg

Round of 16: Yurik Petrosyan — Mirsaid Yunusov (Kyrgyzstan) — 8:0
Quarterfinal: Yurik Petrosyan — Amirhossein Nematzadeh (Iran) — 5:1

Petrosyan will face Paul Mayer (Austria) in the semifinal. Mayer has already defeated two Armenians today: Tigran Manukyan of Lithuania and Manvel Harutyunyan of Russia.

130 kg

Round of 16: Seyran Kirakosyan — Ali Ilyasov — 0:9