The U-23 World Wrestling Championship has kicked off in Tirana, the capital of Albania.

Axar.az reports that according to the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation (AWF), Greco-Roman wrestlers competed in the 60, 67, 72, 82, and 97 kg categories.

Nihad Quluzade (60 kg) defeated Japan's Yasuhito Mori (6-3), America's Maxwell Black (9-0), and Iran's Mohammadmehdi Golampur (10-5) to reach the semifinals. However, he fell short in the final against Uzbekistan's Alisher Ganiev (0-9) but won a bronze medal by defeating Romania's Denis Mihai decisively (9-0) in the match for third place.

Farid Khalilov (67 kg) won against Sweden's Niklas Oehlen (4-2) but lost in the 1/8 finals to Kyrgyzstan's Razzak Beyshekev (1-4). In the consolation matches, he triumphed over Albania's Daniel Dayani (8-0) and Japan's Haruto Yabe (6-4). Farid lost in the bronze medal match to Poland's Arslanbek Salimov (4-8).

Ruslan Nurullayev (72 kg) eliminated Belarus's Ilya Valeuski (8-7) but lost a tight match in the 1/8 finals to Uzbekistan's Abror Atabayev (2-3).

Elmin Aliyev (82 kg) secured victories over Poland's Islam Aliyev (9-0) and China's Kun Huang (8-0) to advance to the semifinals. He narrowly lost to America’s Beka Melelashvili on the last point principle (3-3) in the semifinals. In the match for third place, Elmin lost to Georgia's Data Tskhaidze (1-9).

Murad Ahmadiev (97 kg) eliminated Ukraine's Yuri Dorohan (5-2) but was narrowly defeated by Sweden's Algot Kaellman (3-4) in the 1/8 finals.