Kirill Denisov increases success for Russian men's team

Russia has an outstanding European Games so far. The men have won three gold medals as Kirill Denisov regained the European title that he won in 2013 in Budapest, his opponent then was the same as today in Baku; Varlam Liparteliani.

It was actually Liparteliani who had a slight advance as halfway Denisov had one penalty, but after three minutes both fighters were on the ground and Liparteliani made a seldom mistake turning to the direction of Denisov who could get the Georgian in a hold down. But Liparteliani moves and fought his way out and a yuko was the result for Denisov. Liparteliani put of the pressure but couldn’t prevent the Russian taking his second European title. After Beslan Mudranov and Kamal Khan-Magomedov, slowly the Russian team for the Olympic Games seems to unveil. This was a great test for those athletes opposed to participate in Rio. These 400 points for Denisov will help him to convince the technical in the case they still need to be convinced. Denisov won three World Championships medals and was fifth in London, could do it once more if he is fit. He struggles a lot with his hand, but today he could masters Liparteliani and Wenzinger, Facente, Iliadis and Toth in the previous bouts. With such result you can get back to Russia.

Just like 2009, 2010 and 2013 Liparteliani lost a European final. Comparable to 2013 in the same final it is interesting to know that Liparteliani also lost the world final.

Kirill DENISOV (RUS) had a rough day with good opponents:

"My last three bouts were against the men ranked one, two and three in the world. That shows that this is a very tough weight category."

"It was a very high standard competition. My toughest bout was the quarterfinal against Ilias Iliadis (GRE), an Olympic medallist and world champion. All my opponents were very strong, but I have worked hard and I was very pleased with my performance. Now I'm ready for the team competition and I want more medals."

Dutchman Guillaume Elmont won a bronze medal after he led on penalties against Toth Krisztian. The Hungarian tried everything he could but even in the last 20 seconds he couldn’t convince the referee to award a third penalty for the Dutchman. Elmont won bronze and was not expected to take the medal. He is still in a battle with World’s #3 Noel van ‘t End who is injured in this moment. This contest can still become interesting due to this unexpected medal for Elmont. The oldest Elmont of the family did it at the age of 33.

The second bronze was for Ilias Iliadis who also won on penalties against Beka Gviniashvili in an equal match. It’s all about the details and in this category you cannot afford to make the smallest mistake like Liparteliani against Denisov.