Nazarian, Yerlikaya, Lopez win World wrestling titles; Host Hungary wins team title over Russia in Greco-Roman

Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
10/02/2005

A pair of two-time Olympic champions were among the gold medal winners during the final night of the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Oct. 2.

Competition was held in Greco-Roman wrestling on the final night.

Two-time Olympic champions Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria at 60 kg/132 lbs. and Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. won World gold medals, both who are also previous World champions. Nazarian and Yerlikaya were both Olympic champions in 1996 in Atlanta, USA and 2000 in Sydney, Australia.Winning a first World title was Cuba’s Mijail Lopez.

Local fans left disappointed, as two Hungarian wrestlers were defeated in the finals and had to settle for silver medals.

Nazarian won by disqualification over Ali Ashkani of Iran, 6-0, 1:35. The first period was a technical fall for Nazarian, who hit a three-point reverse lift throw, and received a two-point penalty when Askhani did a leg block to stop his next throw.

In the second period, Ashani had a three-point reverse lift from the clinch position. Nazarian came back with a reverse life of his own, and received a caution on Askhani, his third of the bout which ends the match.

Yerlikaya defeated Lajos Virag of Hungary, 2-1, 4-1. His previous titles were at 84 kg/185 lbs., but he moved up in weight this season.

Yerlikaya won the first period on a takedown and a caution point. In the second period, he had a takedown, a step out, a reversal and a caution point to dominate the action.

Lopez was impressive in his win over Deak-Bardos, who won his fifth career World silver medal without ever winning a gold. In the first period, Lopez won by hitting a five-point throw, which automatically ends a period. In the second period, neither Lopez or Deak-Bardos could score from the clinch position, and both received a caution and one-point penalty. Lopez won the period because received the last point in the period.

Hungary won the team title with 41 points, well ahead of runner-up Russia with 27 points. Turkey was third, Cuba fourth and Bulgaria fifth in the standings. The United States finished in 16th place, with 10 points.

Earlier in the week, the men ´s freestyle and women´s freestyle tournament were completed. A total of 21 sets of medals were awarded, three sets a day for seven days.

FINAL STANDINGS

60 kg/132 lbs.
Gold – Armen Nazarian (Bulgaria)
Silver - Ali Askhani (Iran)
Bronze – Eusebiu Diaconu (Romania)
Bronze – Peter Svehla (Czech Republic)
5th – Vahan Juharyan (Armenia)
5th – Laszlo Kliment (Hungary)
7th – Oleksei Vakulenko (Ukraine)
8th – Dilsod Aripov (Uzbekistan)
9th – Joe Warren (USA)
10th – Makoto Sasamoto (Japan)

96 kg/211.5 lbs.
Gold –Hamza Yerlikaya (Turkey)
Silver – Lajos Virag (Hungary)
Bronze – Vasilliy Tepoulkhov (Russia)
Bronze – Justin Ruiz (USA)
5th – Mirko Englich (Germany)
5th – Margulan Assembekov (Kazakhstan)
7th – Mikhaylo Nikolaev (Ukraine)
8th – Vladislav Metodiev (Bulgaria)
9th – Shata Narmaniya (Belarus)
10th – Marek Svec (Czech Republic)

120 kg/264.5 lbs.
Gold – Mijial Lopez (Cuba)
Silver – Mihaly Deak-Bardos (Hungary)
Bronze – Sergei Artsiukin (Belarus)
Bronze – Yetka Yilmaz (Turkey)
5th – Mindaugas Mizgaitis (Lithuania)
7th – Juha Ahokas (Finland)
8th – Kostayantyn Stryzhak (Ukraine)
9th – David Vala (Czech Republic)
10th – Serguei Mourieko (Bulgaria)

GRECO-ROMAN TEAM STANDINGS

1.Hungary, 41 pts.
2. Russia, 27 pts.
3. Turkey, 26 pts.
4. Cuba, 25 pts.
5. Bulgaria, 24 pts.
6. Korea, 23 pts.
7. Ukraine, 23 pts.
8. Belarus, 20 pts.
9. Kazakhstan, 20 pts.
10. Iran, 19 pts.
11. Denmark, 15 pts.
12. Germany, 14 pts.
13. Azerbaijan, 13 pts.
14. Finland, 12 pts.
15. Czech Republic, 11 pts.
16. United States, 10 pts.
17. Sweden, 9 pts.
18. Armenia, 8 pts.
19. Romania, 8 pts.
20. North Korea, 7 pts.
(of 81 nations)