Azerbaijan's Togrul Asgarov gave the baying crowd in the Heydar Aliyev arena further reason to cheer with a spectacular pinfall move two minutes into the final of the 65kg Freestyle Wrestling competition. Two points down, he flipped the Italian Chamizo Marquez onto his head and then pinned him for a four-point manoeuvre that set him on course for the gold. 

Jade Jones had been out of form since exploding on to the world Taekwondo scene at the London 2012 Olympics, but she showed that she still has plenty to offer as the British 22 year-old despatched the Croatian Ana Zaninovic 9-12 to take the -57kg European Games gold at the Crystal Hall. 

Some of Europe's most experienced marksmen have struggled to deal with the pressure of the European Games stage. Not so Russia's Alexey Alipov, who delivered a remarkable finale to take the trap title. His nearest competitor missed only one shot in the final, but a composed Alipov was on a roll, hitting 34 targets in succession en route to gold. 

The grace of the Russian gymnastics team is never in any doubt, but the ribbon routine that they delivered on Wednesday morning to score an impressive 18.000 and open up a comfortable lead over Spain and Israel was sublime. It is just a shame that we have to wait until Sunday afternoon to see what they will produce in the final. 

 

(baku2015.com)