Bulgaria’s Taybe Yusein retained her women's 62kg title ©United World Wrestling

Russia’s Stalvira Orshush defended her 53 kilogram title on the final day of women’s freestyle competition at the European Wrestling Championships in Romania’s capital Bucharest.

The 26-year-old triumphed in front of a home crowd at last year’s event in Kaspiysk, when she memorably beat two-time world champion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in the final.

Their rivalry had been renewed in yesterday’s semi-finals, with Orshush emerging the winner for the second consecutive year.

Orshush defended her title by securing a comfortable 13-3 win over Ukraine’s Lilya Horishna in today’s gold medal bout at Polyvalent Hall Bucharest.

Kaladzinskaya won the first bronze medal by beating Poland’s Roksana Zasina, while the Netherlands’ Jessica Blaszka clinched the final podium spot by winning 6-4 against France’s Tatiana Debien.

Bulgaria’s Taybe Yusein continued her recent run of success, having been crowned world and European champion last year.

Yusein retained her continental crown with a 4-0 win over Italy’s Aurora Campagna in the 62kg gold medal bout.


Hungary’s Marianna Sastin edged past Sweden’s Moa Nygren 3-2 in the first bronze medal bout, before Tetiana Omelchenko of Azerbaijan won 6-4 against Ukraine’s Ilona Prokopevniuk.

Emese Barka upgraded from the bronze medal she earned in the 57kg division last year.

The Hungarian wrestler emerged as a 4-2 winner over Ukraine’s Tetyana Kit to claim the gold medal, adding the European Games title she won in Baku in 2015.

Azerbaijan’s Alyona Kolesnik celebrated a victory by fall against Bulgaria’s Mimi Nikolova Hristova to secure a bronze medal.

Anastasia Nichita joined Kolesnik on the podium as the Moldovan won 8-7 against France’s Mathilde Hélène Riviere.

Hosts Romania were denied gold in the 65kg event as Kriszta Tunde Incze suffered defeat in the final.

Incze was beaten 6-4 by Azerbaijan’s Elis Manolova.

Defending champion Petra Olli of Finland was forced to settle for bronze this year, as she edged Sweden’s Henna Johansson.

Mariia Kuznetsova of Russia thrashed Turkey’s Asli Demir 14-3 in the second bronze medal match.

Ukraine’s Alina Stadnyk achieved a victory by fall in the women’s 72kg event against Germany’s  Anna Schell.

Russia’s Tatiana Morozova secured a 5-4 win over Romania’s Alexandra Anghel in the only bronze medal match.

The first men's Greco-Roman titles will be awarded tomorrow.