Sergey Emelin got the ball rolling for the hosts with victory in the 60 kilograms category at the Ali Aliyev Sport Complex.

He was, however, pushed hard by Azerbaijan's Murad Mammadov, eventually winning by a 6-5 VPO1 scoreline.

Georgia's Dato Chkhartishvili and Italy's Jacopo Sandron won the bronze medals.

The home nation's success continued in the 67kg competition as Artem Surkov, winner of the gold medal in the 66kg category in last year's European Championships in Novi Sad in Serbia, thrashed Georgia's Shmagi Bolkvadze by an 8-0 VFA scoreline.

Turkey's Enes Başar and Armenia's Karen Aslanyan claimed the bronze medals.

Adam Kurak made it three out of three gold medals for Russia with his first European title since 2014, securing a 9-5 VPO1 win against Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan.

Iuri Lomadze of Georgia and Hungary's Balint Korpasi won the bronze medals.

Armenian athletes took the top prizes in the other two Greco-Roman finals today.

Maksim Manukyan beat Viktar Sasunouski of Belarus by virtue of a VSU after a 0-0 score in the regulation period.

Azerbaijan's Rafig Huseynov and Bulgaria's Daniel Tihomirov Aleksandrov won the bronze medals. 

The final bout of the day saw Armenia's Olympic champion Artur Aleksanyan win his first European Championship title since 2014 but sixth overall with a convincing 7-0 VPO win against Mikheil Kajaia of Serbia.

Balázs Kiss of Hungary and Matti Elias Kuosmanen of Finland won the bronze medals. 

Tomorrow is due to see the finals of the 50kg, 55kg, 59kg, 68kg and 76kg  women’s wrestling event take place.