Riza Kayaalp was one of two gold medal winners for Turkey on the second day of action at the 2015 Wrestling World Championships ©Tony Rotundo/UWW

Turkey fired themselves to the top of the medal standings here at the Wrestling World Championships, claiming two gold medals on day two of Greco-Roman action.

Selcuk Cebi was the first to make his mark for Turkey, winning his third world title with a 2-0 triumph against Belarus' Viktar Sasunouski in the 80 kilograms final.

Compatriot Riza Kayaalp followed this up with a 1-0 victory against Cuba's five-time world champion Mijain Lopez Nunez, who he also beat to 120kg gold at the 2011 World Championships in Istanbul.

The world number two, ranked behind Lopez Nunez, widely considered the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world, was awarded a penalty point for a second passivity call against his opponent and made it stand over the final two minutes to claim a second world title.

"I prepared to wrestle non-stop for six minutes and push the pace throughout that time," said Kayaalp,

Asked about the difference between his two world titles, Kayaalp added: "I think the big differences were that the weight has changed to 130kg and I’m at my peak.

"I’m younger and [Lopez] is getting older."

The 80kg bronze medals were won by Iran's Yousef Ahmad Ghaderian and Georgia's Lasha Gobadze, beating Kazakhstan's Askhat Dilmukhamedov and Kyrgyzstan's Samat Shirdakov respectively.

Ukraine's Oleksandr Chernetskyy and Russia's Bilyal Makhov shared the bronze medals in the 130kg category as Azerbaijan's Sabahi Shariati and the United States' Robert Smith just missed out on a podium place. 

Azerbaijan's Rasul Chunayev came away with the 71kg gold medal
Azerbaijan's Rasul Chunayev came away with the 71kg gold medal ©Martin Gabor/UWW

Earlier in the 59kg final, Cuba's Ismael Borrero Molina made short work of his showdown with Azerbaijan's Rovshan Bayramov, winning by technical fall inside 32 seconds to take the gold medal.

Borrero Molina’s world title is the first for a Cuban wrestler other than Lopez Nunez in 13 years.

North Korea's Won Chol Yun beat Kyrgyzstan's Arsen Eraliev in the weight category's first bronze medal match, after which Belarus' Soslan Daurov lost out to Kazakhstan's Almat Kebispayev.

The other weight class to be decided was 71kg as Azerbaijan's Rasul Chunayev, the Baku 2015 European Games gold medallist, held off a late surge from Ukraine's Armen Vardanyan to win the final, 6-4.

Chunayev held a 6-0 lead with approximately 90 seconds remaining and, although Vardanyan managed to force his way back in contention, the deficit ultimately proved too much to make up. 

"I trained hard and prepared diligently throughout the year and the win tonight was thanks to my preparation," said Chunayev, adding he now plans a move to 66kg in a bid for a berth at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Adam Kurak of Russia won the bronze medal, beating Belarus' Tsimur Berdyieu, before Sweden's Knut Zakarias Tallroth secured third-place honours with victory against Germany's Matthias Maasch. 

Tomorrow's action is due to see the last Greco-Roman weight category, 85kg, take centre stage along with women's freestyle at 48kg, 53kg and 69kg.


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