OMM Newsroom
Two Azerbaijani wrestlers will compete in medal bouts at the world championships in Astana today, October 31. Arseniy Cioyev will face American Kyle Dake in the 86kg final, while Georgi Meshvildishvili will meet Hungary’s Vladislav Baitsaev in the 125kg bronze-medal bout.
Twenty-four-year-old Cioyev has reached the senior world championships final for the first time. He beat Bahrain’s Khidir Saypudinov 7-1, India’s Pushpender Dalal 7-2, Greece’s Georgios Koukiousidis 3-1 and, in the semifinal, Georgia’s Vladimir Gamkrelidze 9-1. Cioyev is the 2025 world bronze medalist and the 2026 European silver medalist.
Four-time world champion Dake won titles in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. He also claimed bronze at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Dake lost 4-1 to Cioyev in the 86kg event at a tournament in Tirana in February. In Astana, he beat Ibrahim Gadiyev 6-3 in the semifinal, avenging his 4-11 defeat to Gadiyev in February. The final is expected to begin at around 6:30-7 p.m. Baku time.
Meshvildishvili lost 5-0 to Russian wrestler Abdulla Kurbanov in the semifinal. Baitsaev beat Kenya’s Joel Tukai and Poland’s Robert Baran in the repechage bouts. Meshvildishvili defeated Baitsaev 8-0 in the European championship final this April, and beat him 7-0 and 5-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2025 world and European championships, respectively.
The finals session will begin at 5 p.m., with medal bouts in the 61kg, 70kg, 86kg and 125kg categories. Azerbaijan’s team has won three medals in Astana so far: Eldaniz Azizli and Sanan Suleymanov became world champions, while Nihat Mammadli won silver. Cioyev’s place in the final has secured the team’s fourth medal.
