Armenia has a last chance to win an Olympic licence in freestyle wrestling. Leva Gevorgyan got the last chance, but he still has to go through a difficult path to get the quota.
On the first day of the world qualification tournament in Istanbul, Leva Gevorgyan (125kg) won against Gennady Kudinovich (Germany) 7-0 before losing to China's Dei Zhiwei (0-4) in the 1/8 finals.
Fortunately, Deng Zhiwei managed to reach the semi-finals, where he defeated Venezuelan Jose Diaz and won the Olympic quota. This gave Gevorgyan the right to take part in the consolation block and fight for one last Olympic licence at 125kg.
The 22-year-old Armenian's first opponent will be Shamil Sharipov from Bahrain, then Leva will have to fight Jose Diaz for the bronze medal, followed by a bout against the second bronze medallist from the opposite grid. The winner will get the quota. Thus, Leva Gevorgyan will need three victories.
The consolation block will be held on 12 May, starting at 16:00 Yerevan time.
Unfortunately, the other wrestlers from Armenia have lost their chances to get a ticket. At the moment Armenia has 2 quotas in freestyle wrestling (Arsen Harutyunyan and Vazgen Tevanyan) and 3 quotas in Greco-Roman wrestling (Arter Aleksanyan, Slavik Galstyan and Malkhas Amoyan).
