The Wrestling Federation of Armenia has appealed against the wrestling final of Greco-Roman style wrestler 98 kg Artur Aleksanyan at the Summer Olympics in Paris.
In the 2024 Olympic Games finals, Aleksanyan wrestled with Iran’s Mohammad Hadhi Saravi, bronze medalist, world and Asian champion, and Asian Games winner. He lost 1:4 to his opponent, winning the silver medal.
Artur Aleksanyan, Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medalist, four-time world and seven-time European champion, expresses hope that justice will be restored.
“I came here for a gold medal, but you all saw what happened during my wrestling. In one episode, an Iranian wrestler with both feet went completely outside our wrestling area, and I told the coaches to appeal. In that case, they should have given me one point, but instead, they gave the Iranian wrestler two points and another point for the appeal. I’m sure one point in that episode should have been mine. There was no tension as this was my third and fourth final Olympics. It’s just that in such tournaments, even in the finals, even minor details can solve serious issues,” says Artur Aleksanyan.
Nevertheless, Artur Aleksanyan emphasizes that he will continue his sports career, even though refereeing biases and injustices are disappointing. “Yes, I am very disappointed by these injustices, but I will still stay in wrestling. Moreover, biases were not only in my case. Slavik Galstyan had a clean victory; the referee recorded the victory, and he could have gone to the finals, securing at least a silver medal, but today, Slavik was left without a medal because, for some reason, the result of the wrestling match was changed. The same was the case with Arsen Harutyunyan today. It is the feeling that there was tension against our team. I know there was an appeal. I hope justice will be restored,” Aleksanyan said.
Karen Giloyan, the deputy minister of ESCS, who is following the course of the Olympic Games in Paris, also noted that the government will join the appeal process.
“We are waiting for the written answer, which will be attached to the complaint of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia and will be sent to the relevant courts. I assure you that we will try to restore justice,” said RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Karen Giloyan.
At the start of Paris-2024, Aleksanyan had a 9:0 advantage over the South Korean representative Shinjun Kim ahead of time. In the quarterfinals, the Armenian wrestler wrestled with the representative of Uzbekistan, world vice-champion, 40-year-old Rustam Asakalov, and in the last seconds, thanks to his willful qualities, won an impressive victory with a score of 9:5. In the semifinals, he won a brilliant victory with a score of 5:3 over Cuban Gabriel Rusillo.
Armenia still won 2 silver and one bronze medals at the 33rd Summer Olympic Games. Gymnast Artur Davtyan also became the OG vice-champion, and Greco-Roman wrestler Malkhas Amoyan won a bronze medal.
