U23 European champion in freestyle wrestling Vazgen Tevanyan summed up the European Championship and told about future plans in an interview with the ANOC press office. At the U23 Senior European Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia the 19- year old wrestler started the struggle from the 1/8 finals where he won France representative Ilman Mukhtarov 8:6. In the quarterfinals he was stronger than Turk Salim Kosman (17:4) and in the semifinals defeated Moldova’s Maksim Sakultan 2:1. In the final Tevanyan competed with Georgian Edemi Bolkvadze wining 2:1. Vazgen Tevanyan is a winner of European Youth and Junior Championships, last year he became a bronze medalist of the World Youth Championship.

-Vazgen, what preparatory phase did you go through before the U23 European Championship?

-We spent three training camps, one in Tsakhkadzor and two in Olympavan. With the help of the coaches I got in a good shape.

-You spent four fights at the European Championship. Which one was the toughest?

-The toughest fight was the first one with France representative Ilman Mukhtarov. It was a little difficult and tense as it was the first. After it, we may say, I “warmed up”. The final fight was tense, too. I won the Georgian wrestler 2:1 which was a bit dangerous because you can lose the fight with one trick but I was sure I would win.

-In 2015 Valodya Frangulyan was named the U23 European champion, too. At present you both perform in the same weight class. It will be a pretty tough rivalry.

-As it is an Olympic weight class and there are many athletes, it’s more complicated. There is a great rivalry and I must do my best.

-Are you going to participate in the European Championship?

-We will soon have a training camp in Olympavan after which I will join the European Championship.