Armenian wrestler Karen Aslanyan is a world champion. On Tuesday, October 27, he beat Azerbaijan’s Nihat Mammadli 8:4 in the 63kg Greco-Roman final at the 2026 World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, to win the first world title of his career, reports Zartonk Sports.
The win carried an extra weight. Two years ago, Mammadli beat Aslanyan 6:1 in the semifinal at the 2024 World Championships and went on to take gold, leaving the Armenian with bronze. This time Aslanyan turned it around in the final.
He had to come from behind to do it. Mammadli opened with a four-point throw to lead 4:0. Aslanyan answered with a two-point throw, closed to 3:4, then hit a four-point throw of his own before the break to lead 7:4. He shut Mammadli out in the second period and added a step-out point to seal it 8:4.
Aslanyan tore through the rest of the tournament, winning all four of his earlier bouts by technical superiority and landing eight four-point throws along the way. In the semifinal he beat Bulgaria’s Edmond Nazaryan 12:4, then raised his beaten opponent’s hand in a show of respect. Nazaryan, a world silver medalist, is the son of Armen Nazaryan, the two-time Olympic and world champion born in Armenia who wrestled for both Bulgaria and Armenia.
The gold is the biggest result of the 31-year-old’s career. He had taken bronze at the 2024 World Championships, silver at the 2025 European Championships, and four European bronze medals.
His title turned Armenia’s championships around after a medal-less start. Gevorg Tadevosyan (87kg) and Slavik Galstyan (67kg) also wrestled for bronze on the same day.
