Georgia’s Nino Odzelashvili was one of two female athletes to beat Russian opposition to a gold medal on the opening day of the 2017 European Sambo Championships ©FIAS

Georgia’s Nino Odzelashvili and Ukraine’s Anastasiya Shevchenko claimed the respective women’s 72 kilograms and 60kg titles here on the opening day of the 2017 European Sambo Championships to limit Russia’s gold medal tally to five.

Odzelashvili beat Irina Alekseeva 2-1 in their final after Shevchenko had come from behind to defeat Arina Pchelintseva 3-2 in Belarus’ capital.

Ukraine’s Nataliya Smal and home favourite Volha Namazava won the 72kg bronze medals, while Romania’s Daniela Poroineanu and Moldova’s Sabina Artemciuc shared the third step of the 60kg podium.

The one other women’s competition held today, that in the 48kg category, saw Elena Bondareva secure the first of Russia’s five triumphs by overcoming Belarus’ Leila Abbasava 1-0 in the final.

The bronze medals went the way of Bulgaria’s Tsvetelina Tsvetanova and Ukraine’s Anastasiia Novikova.

Russia dominated today’s combat sambo tournaments, winning all three gold medals thanks to the efforts of Kurban Magamedov at 57kg, Ovanes Abgaryan at 74kg and Mikhail Mokhnatkin at 100kg.

Magamedov thrashed Ukraine’s Andrii Kucherenko 11-0 in their final, while Abgaryan beat Belarus’ Eduard Muravitski 5-1 and Mokhnatkin defeated Lithuania’s Teodoras Aukstuolis 8-0 to round out the first day’s action.

Bronze medals were claimed by Armenia’s Harutyun Sargyan and Belarus’ Artur Kruhau at 57kg, Germany’s Michael Osmolowskij and Bulgaria’s Mihail Nikolov at 74kg, and Germany’s Bjorn Bachmann and Belarus’ Siarhei Firsau at 100kg.

Russia won all three of today's combat sambo competitions, including the 100kg through Mikhail Mokhnatkin ©FIAS
Russia won all three of today's combat sambo competitions, including the 100kg through Mikhail Mokhnatkin ©FIAS

Russia’s one other gold medal came through the performance of Michail Polyanskov, who prevailed in the men’s 90kg final by virtue of superior activity over Georgia’s Paata Ghviniashvili.

There was nothing to separate the pair on points with the scores tied at 1-1.

France’s Valentin Jourdan and Belarus’ Aliaksei Stsepankou were the bronze medallists.

It was not just silver and bronze medals that the hosts had settle for today as Aliaksandr Koksha earned men’s 68kg gold thanks to a narrow 2-1 victory at the expense of Azerbaijan’s Emil Hasanov.

Azerbaijan also suffered a loss in the men’s 52kg final with Aghasif Samadov falling to a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Armenia’s Tigran Kirakossyan.

The men’s 68kg podium was completed by Romania’s Laszlo-Zsoke Szoke and Russia’s Ramed Gukev, while Georgia’s Levani Bererashvili and Russia’s Aleksey Klyukin came away with the men’s 52kg bronze medals.

Action in Minsk is due to continue tomorrow when a further nine categories take centre stage, comprising the men’s 57kg, 74kg and 100kg, the women’s 52kg, 64kg and 80kg, and combat sambo’s 62kg, 82kg and over 100kg.