In my opinion the toughest weight class of the WAF was 75kg right hand category. Raikhanov from Kazakstan, Samushia from Georgia and Dzitiev from Russia looked like the favorites of the class before the event but there were many top guys who could win the class. Janis Amolins and Krasovskis from Latvia, Hubaev from Russia, Sedrakyan from Armenia, Shamiev from Kazakstan and some other top pullers were the candidates for the medal. Raikhanov and Dzitiev to meet early and pull a tough match lowered their chance of winning the class and they ended up 10th and 11th place. After that point Samushia became the clear favorite of the class and won the gold easily. At the Europeans Dzitiev and Samushia had wars for the gold medal and that is why i thought that Raikhanov vs Dzitiev match changed many things in this category. Janis Amolins with his great experience succeed to take the bronze while Krasovskis was a strong silver medalist.
U21 category pullers in some weight classes are doing incredible things in senior divisions. Betkili Onani from Georgia won the U21 left hand after tough battles against Krasovskis and these two great pullers only 4 days later were again in the final but this time in senior category. These great pullers did the exact same thing in Europeans as well.
Another U21 puller Simeonov from Bulgaria won U21 80kg right hand category and then won senior 80kg with both hands. The U21 winner of 80kg left hand class Alizhan from Kazakstan was the 3. place of the senior category. The European Champion Viorel Dobrin to be out of top 6 with left hand was a surprise but he to win silver medal with right hand in such hard class was a great job. Esspecially his win over Tautiev was amazing.
U21 85kg left hand winner of Oguzhan Kocak competed seniors with right hand and easily won the class. People believes that Zoloev was in a terrible shape but i don’t think it was the case. The Russian puller Marat Aybazov put Zoloev’s wrist in a bad position as they had 3 starts with a few seconds each. In fact Aybazov caused the same problem against Zoloev in Russian nationals as well. Then Giorgi from Georgia beat Zoloev whose wrist was already softened. Giorgi from Georgia has flashed Zoloev in 2011 WAF in Kazakstan as well but Zoloev complaint and the match was repeated then Zoloev won. So to me Aybazov to damage Zoloev’s wrist and Giorgi to beat Zoloev while Zoloev’s wrist was tired are not surprising. Then Plamen Dmitrov also pinned Zoloev but lost on fouls. Anyone who has watched European final between Plamen and Zoloev, will know that that match ended by fouls while Zoloev did not have full control. Oguzhan Kocak from Turkey was above the other competitors and he won without any serious threat. In my objective opinion he would beat Zoloev even in Zoloev’s best WAF shape.
Sergei Bogoslovov to beat Sasho with left hand after a WAR was amazing success even though Prudnyk won the class. Sasho to win the class with right hand over Bogoslovov and Prudnyk was amazing as well.
Georgiy Dzeranov from Kazakstan won 100kg class with both hands over great pullers such as Matyushenko and Golemanov. It was great to see Golemanov after some years as he is one of the best toprollers in the history of armwrestling. Presence of such great athletes always add colour to the events.
Oleg Cherkasov dominated 65kg class with both hands. Last year he tried his chance in 70kg but he was not successful and his decision to make 65kg was a good choice.
Arthur Makarov clearly dominated 70kg right hand class while Daniel from Moldova pulled incredibily great to win left hand gold in the same class. i sent him to the B side on 3. round after a hard match but then he beat Zair Akhmedov, Hristo Delidjakov, Emil Amirshadyan, Valentin Gospodinov and Mindaugas Tarasaitis (twice) one after another to win the gold. The guy has the joints of steel. i had lost 22 kg in 3 months and also trained 3 months spesifically for armwrestling to pull WAF but my endurance was not enough to get a medal that i targeted.
It was a tough Worlds and the next big thing for the armwrestling World is Zloty Tur on November. Can not wait to watch it!