By Georgy Shablyuk
Belarusian Greco-Roman wrestlers successfully perform at a representative international tournament in memory of Władysław Pytlasiński in Polish Gdansk. Having earned six various medals, they’ve brought our country to the first place in the team standings.
Iosif Chugoshvili won the highest award among the Belarusian athletes in the super-heavy weight category under 130kg. He began the tournament by beating the host’s Łukasz Banak and then defeating Eduard Popp from Germany. In one of the semi-final matches, Chugoshvili faced his colleague from the Belarusian national squad — Kirill Grishchenko. The latter was defeated, yet became a bronze medalist, beating Eduard Popp in the small final. The final fight between Chugoshvili and Russian Vitaly Shchur brought success to Belarusian national team — 4:0.
Silver at the Władysław Pytlasiński tournament was also won by the representative of the domestic wrestling school, Victor Sosunovsky (under 80kg). Beating his fellow countryman Pavel Pominchuk, Sosnovsky then defeated Poland’s Tadeusz Michalik losing to Yevgeny Saleev from Russia in the final.
Belarusians have also claimed three bronze medals at the Gdansk wrestling tournament. These were won by Soslan Daurov (59kg), Nikolay Stadub and bronze winner at last year’s World Championship, Dzhavid Gamzatov (both performing in 85kg category).
The Belarusian squad lead the team standings, scoring 82 points and outstripping such leaders of world wrestling as Bulgaria and Russia.
This was the 57th international tournament, in memory of Władysław Pytlasiński, one of the founders of Greco-Roman (previously classical or French) wrestling in pre-revolutionary Russia, who was born in Warsaw. These competitions are registered in the calendar of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), and are one of the selection rounds for participation in the World Championships. This year, the planet’s strongest Greco-Roman wrestlers will be determined in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) from September 7th to 15th.
