Armenia took a 9-men freestyle wrestling team to the European Championship in Kaspiysk, but none of them returned home with a medal.
The team’s manager Habetnak Kurghinyan has talked with Mediamax Sport about the main reasons of this unsuccessful performance and current problems in freestyle wrestling.
The failed European Championship
Of course, a lot was expected from freestyle wrestlers. At the same time, we don’t a have an obvious leader or European, world champions in the team. If the draw were in our favor, perhaps, we could have won some medals. We were unlucky in that sense. We had shortcomings as well, which we must correct.
Photo: Mediamax
The wrestling countries
The main title challengers were Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, all of whom invest heavily in wrestling, compete in multiple tournaments, organize training camps abroad, and help their athletes recover well. Armenia, on the other hand, has one training camp at best.
Photo: unitedworldwrestling.org
The comparison to Greco-Roman wrestlers
Freestyle and Greco-Roman are two different styles. They require different approaches and physical peculiarities. That is why I believe comparing them is inappropriate. We praise the achievements of the Greco-Roman team. Their professionalism is evident.
The potential and problems of young athletes
We need to focus on our youngsters. They have to compete regularly, gain experience. A lot here depends on us, the team and personal coaches.
The problems we have in freestyle wrestling in Armenia are multiple: the coaches’ social conditions in sport schools needs to be improved, the issue of compulsory army service must be solved because many athletes don’t compete anymore after army discharge. All these issues create the state of affairs we have now. Considering each separately would be incorrect, because everything is interconnected in sport.
Photo: unitedworldwrestling.org
New tournaments
We will start a training camp on May 24 in Olympavan to get ready for the U23 European Championship, which will take place on June 4-10 in Istanbul. We will continue training in Tsaghkadzor.
I believe the performances in Kaspiysk will toughen the character of our athletes. They have seen their weak points and learned their lessons. I told them as much.
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