Historic success: Armenian wrestlers second at U20 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship

The Armenian U20 national team delivered a brilliant performance at the U20 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships, held in August 2025 in Samokov, Bulgaria. Armenian wrestlers won four medals and secured second place in the team standings, behind only Iran.

This is the best result in the history of the Armenian team in terms of both total points and number of medals. It should be noted that since 2022, Russia has not been included in the team rankings (although its wrestlers still compete in tournaments). If Russia were counted, Armenia would have placed third, repeating the success of 2018. Nevertheless, in terms of points and medals, 2025 became a record year for the Armenian team.

This result was especially unexpected after the European Championships in the same age category just a month earlier, where Armenia won only two medals (a silver and a bronze) and finished 5th in the team standings. A month later, however, Armenian wrestlers proved themselves at their very best at a tournament with even tougher competition.

For the Armenian Greco-Roman team, the tournament in Bulgaria began on a positive note: on the first day, Yurik Mkhitaryan (60 kg) reached the final after an incredible run against strong opponents, while Martik Petrosyan (82 kg) lost only in the semifinals. However, after the third day of competition, Armenia was only in 4th place in the team rankings, trailing behind Azerbaijan, Iran, and Uzbekistan. But Gaspar Terteryan’s championship title, Alex Margaryan’s silver, and Erik Ter-Matevosyan’s bronze lifted Armenia to a historic second place.

Armenian Greco-Roman wrestlers won 4 medals:

• Gold – Gaspar Terteryan (72 kg)

• Silver – Yurik Mkhitaryan (60 kg)

• Silver – Alex Margaryan (63 kg)

• Bronze – Erik Ter-Matevosyan (87 kg)

Armenia’s Results at U20 World Championships (2014–2025) in Greco-Roman Wrestling

2025:
4 medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
2nd place team – 98 points (1st place: Iran)

2024:
2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze)
4th place team – 75 points (1st place: Iran)

2023:
3 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
3rd place team – 88 points (1st place: Iran)

2022:
2 medals (1 gold, 1 silver)
4th place team – 83 points (1st place: Iran)

2021:
3 medals (2 silver, 1 bronze)
6th place team – 67 points (1st place: Russia)

2020: Cancelled due to the pandemic.

2019:
2 medals (2 silver)
6th place team – 62 points (1st place: Russia)

2018:
3 medals (1 gold, 2 silver)
3rd place team – 83 points (1st place: Iran)

Note: Until 2017, points were calculated differently (10 points for gold, 9 for silver, 8 for bronze).

2017:
1 medal (silver)
10th place team – 18 points (1st place: Iran)

2016:
2 medals (2 bronze)
8th place team – 23 points (1st place: Georgia)

2015:
1 medal (bronze)
7th place team – 27 points (1st place: Georgia)

2014:
3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze)
4th place team – 31 points (1st place: Azerbaijan)

Armenia’s Performances at the 2025 U20 World Championships

55 kg – Armen Gevorgyan – 13th place (0 points)
Round of 32: Armen Gevorgyan (Armenia) — Maksim Sarmanov (Moldova) 3:6

60 kg – Yurik Mkhitaryan – 2nd place (20 points)
Round of 32: Mkhitaryan — Lucas Lo Grasso (France) 9:1
Round of 16: Mkhitaryan — Augusto Vargas Valle (Chile) 8:0
Quarterfinal: Mkhitaryan — Maksut Sultanov (Ukraine) 11:2
Semifinal: Mkhitaryan — Suraj (India) 9:0
Final: Mkhitaryan — Ayhan Javadov (Azerbaijan) 5:12

63 kg – Alex Margaryan – 2nd place (20 points)
Round of 32: Margaryan — Hao Yang (China) 5:0 + pin
Round of 16: Margaryan — Landon Drury (USA) 8:0
Quarterfinal: Margaryan — Mohammad Abutalebi (Iran) 9:5
Semifinal: Margaryan — Kristian Milenkov (Bulgaria) 9:0
Final: Margaryan — Aytzhan Khalmakhanov (Uzbekistan)

67 kg – Narek Grigoryan – 19th place (0 points)
Round of 32: Grigoryan — Faraim Mustafayev (Azerbaijan) 1:3

72 kg – Gaspar Terteryan – 1st place (25 points)
Round of 32: Terteryan — Seymur Gasymov (Azerbaijan) 6:2
Round of 16: Terteryan — Yussuf Ashrapov (Kazakhstan) 3:1
Quarterfinal: Terteryan — Sergey Stoev (Bulgaria) 7:1
Semifinal: Terteryan — Arionas Kolitsopoulos (Greece) 5:1
Final: Terteryan — Ahmad Kodirov (Uzbekistan) 1:1 + criteria

77 kg – Samvel Terteryan – 7th place (8 points)
Round of 32: Terteryan — Davud Mammadov (Azerbaijan) 1:1 + criteria
Round of 16: Terteryan — Ruslan Nesterenko (Israel) 8:0
Quarterfinal: Terteryan — Zaur Beslekoev (Russia) 1:3

82 kg – Martik Petrosyan – 5th place (10 points)
Round of 16: Petrosyan — Oskar Ljubera (Poland) 10:1
Quarterfinal: Petrosyan — Seyed Azarshab (Iran) 7:3
Semifinal: Petrosyan — Mikhail Shkarin (Russia) 0:9
Bronze match: Petrosyan — Azimjon Soatullaev (Uzbekistan) 0:8

87 kg – Erik Ter-Matevosyan – 3rd place (15 points)
Round of 16: Ter-Matevosyan — Adilet Kenzhebekov (Kyrgyzstan) 9:0
Quarterfinal: Ter-Matevosyan — Luka Kochalidze (Georgia) 2:2 -/+
Repechage: Ter-Matevosyan — Branko Ilic (Serbia) 8:0
Bronze match: Ter-Matevosyan — Elias Lyyski (Finland) 1:1 + criteria

97 kg – Grisha Voskanyan – 12th place (0 points)
Round of 16: Voskanyan — Ismail Rzaev (Azerbaijan) 1:1 – criteria against

130 kg – Davit Baghramyan – 18th place (0 points)
Round of 16: Baghramyan — Mazaim Mardanov (Azerbaijan) 0:8

It is worth noting that under certain circumstances, Armenia could have scored even more points and surpassed Iran. For example, Armen Gevorgyan (55 kg) and Narek Grigoryan (67 kg) could have finished higher; both fought well in their opening bouts but narrowly lost. Also noteworthy was the strong performance of Samvel Terteryan (77 kg) — the U20 European bronze medalist could have expected at least bronze here as well, but fell just short in a close match against last year’s U20 world champion Zaur Beslekoev.

At the same time, some wrestlers exceeded expectations — notably Erik Ter-Matevosyan and Martik Petrosyan, while Gaspar Terteryan claimed the long-awaited U20 gold.

Final Team Standings – U20 World Championships 2025

1. Iran – 117 points

2. Armenia – 98 points

3. Azerbaijan – 90 points