At the ongoing European Wrestling Championship in Slovakia, Armenian wrestler Malkhas Amoyan claimed the gold medal in the 77 kg weight category for the fourth time in his career, defeating Georgian Ramaz Zoidze with a confident 3:1 victory in the final.
Olympic bronze medalist and world champion Amoyan began his competition from the Round of 16, where he earned a technical superiority victory (9:0) over Polish wrestler Mateusz Bernatek, a silver medalist at both the World and European Championships.
In the quarterfinals, Amoyan defeated Moldova’s Alexandr Solovei with a score of 7:2. In the semifinals, he outclassed Bulgaria’s Hayk Mnatsakanyan with a 5:1 win.
Another Armenian representative, Karen Aslanyan, competing in the 63 kg weight class, won a silver medal after a hard-fought final against Turkey’s Kerem Kamal.
Aslanyan began in the quarterfinals, where he achieved an 8:0 technical superiority win in just 30 seconds against Poland’s Mayrbek Salimov. In the semifinals, he once again won by technical superiority (8:0) against Ukrainian wrestler Andriy Semenchuk.
In the 55 kg Greco-Roman category, Manvel Khachatryan lost in the bronze medal match. In the decisive bout, he was defeated 1:3 by Georgian wrestler Vakhtang Lolua.
Olympic gold, double silver, and bronze medalist, four-time world and seven-time European champion Artur Aleksanyan will compete for a bronze medal at this year’s European Championship.
In the 97 kg semifinals, Aleksanyan suffered a narrow 1:2 loss to Bulgaria’s Kiril Milov, a two-time world silver medalist and European champion. Aleksanyan started from the Round of 16 with a 5:1 win over Estonia’s Richard Karelson and then beat Georgia’s (representing Italy) Nikoloz Kakhelashvili 5:2 in the quarterfinals.
