The 2016 European OG Qualifying tournament is under way in Zrenjanin, Serbia.

Greco-Roman wrestlers Karapet Chalyan (75kg), Maksim Manukyan (85kg) (Manukyan had substituted Artur Shahinyan because of the injury of the last one), freestyle wrestlers Suren Khachatryan (74kg) and Musa Murtazaliev (86kg) continued fighting for qualifications.

European ruling bronze medalist Karapet Chalyan blew away (9:0) a Greek rival in the 1/8 finals, then gained advantage over a Bulgarian wrestler (7:0) In the semifinals the Armenian wrestler’s rival was Europe current champion, Georgia’s Zurabi Datunashvili.  Chalyan was ahead of the rival with 1:2 score but in the last seconds of the bout he made a mistake and lost 1:2. This defeat deprived our athlete of an Olympic qualification. In the fight for bronze Chalyan beat 3:0 Turk Emra Suleyman Kus.

Maksim Manukyan (85kg) started the struggle with a victory, but in the quarter-finals lost 2:4 to Bulgaria’s representative who reached the finals letting Manukyan fight for a bronze medal but Manukyan lost the bout.

Freestyle wrestler Suren Khachatryan (74kg) spent two victorious bouts, first winning 15:2 an Italian rival and then beating 8:4 an Austrian athlete. In the semifinals Khachatryan lost 0:10 to an Azerbaijani athlete. The Armenian wrestler was defeated in the fight for bronze, too.

Musa Murtazaliev at 86kg lost 1:3 to Poland’s athlete in the first bout and dropped out of the tournament.

On April 17 freestyle wrestler Egdar Yenokyan at 97kg and Greco-Roman wrestler Edgar Khachatryan will compete.

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

ANOC press service