Head coach of the Armenia Greco-Roman wrestling youth team Armen Babalaryan summed up the Junior European Championship ended in Spanish Pontevedra where Armenian representatives won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

“In general, I’m pleased with the wrestlers of whom we expected medals and they did it but the team was capable of more. Karen Khachatryan at 82 kg could also have won a medal but we shouldn’t forget that he has become world cadet champion and has changed both the age group and the weight category which complicated things. Karen’s body mass is 79 kg while his opponents were 86-87 kg. In the quarter-finals Karen was defeating the current champion but lost on the last seconds. In the first repechage round he won the Polish wrestler but lost himself during the second repechage round and suffered defeat.

European cadet champion Sahak Hovhannisyan was very close to the victory. He could have reached the final and become a champion. But we should take into account that this is their first year in the junior age group and there are some difficulties. First instead of 2 minutes each round lasts 3 minutes and the opponents are more experienced and fit.

Hayk Melikyan did his best. During the final bout he failed to carry out the tactical task.

Malkhas Amoyan found a way in the semifinal and had a volitional win on the last seconds. By the way, he had lost to the Russian wrestler at the Kaspiysk International Tournament.

Till the World Championship we will organize training camps and probably will take part in an international tournament after which the lineup of the team will become clear,” the coach noted.

Let us recall Malkhas Amoyan (72 kg) was named a European junior champion, Hayk Melikyan (67 kg) became a silver medalist and Sahak Hovhannisyan (60 kg) and Hrachya Poghosyan (63 kg) won bronze medals.