The 2016 European OG Qualifying tournament has kicked off in Zrenjanin, Serbia.

On April 15 freestyle wrestlers Garnik Mnatcakanyan (57kg), world and European former champion Davit Safaryan (65kg) and 2016 European silver medalist, Greco-Roman wrestler Roman Amoyan (59kg) competed.

Garnik Mnatcakanyan (57kg) started with victory the 1/8 finals gaining advantage over an Italian opponent (6:4). In the quarter-finals Mnatcakanyan defeated Turk Suleyman Atli by fall in a spectacular bout. In the semifinals the Armenian wrestler won 5:3 Moldova’s Anatoli Buruian and qualified for the finals.

Davit Safaryan (65kg) won 10:0 Hungary’s Norbert Lucas. In the quarter-finals the Armenian athlete prevailed on Romania’s Georg Buchur (9:0). But Safaryan failed to overcome the semifinals where he was defeated 2:7 by Poland’s Mogamedmurad Gajiev. He will fight for bronze.

Roman Amoyan began the fight from the qualification round where he defeated a Romanian opponent (8:0) but conceded to Bulgaria’s Aleksander Kostantinov (0:5) and was knocked out of the competition.

Let us recall that this is the first Olympic qualifier where only finalists gain qualification.

ANOC press service