Soner Demirtas of Turkey celebrates gold medal after winning against Zelimkhan Khadjiev (not seen) of France in the men's freestyle 74kg category match within the 2018 European Wrestling Championships in Dagestan, Russia on May 06, 2018. ( Said Tsarnaev - Anadolu Agency )
By Halil İbrahim Avsar
KASPIYSK, Russia
Turkish wrestler Soner Demirtas won the gold medal in the European Wrestling Championship after beating his French counterpart Zelimkhan Khadjiev in the Russian city of Kaspiysk on Sunday.
Demirtas became a gold medalist for the third time in a row when he beat Khadjiev 2-0 in the men's freestyle 70-kilogram category.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Demirtas said he wanted to dedicate this medal to his family.
"Because my father had a dream when I started wrestling. He wanted to see [me as] a champion," said Demirtas.
Later, another Turkish athlete Taha Akgul also won a gold medal in the same tournament.
Akgul clinched the victory beating his Georgian competitor Geno Petriashvili in the men’s freestyle 125-kilogram category in the final match of the tournament.
He led the game 1-0 in the first set of the game in the Ali Aliyev Sport Complex and won the competition 2-1.
With Sunday’s victory, the national wrestler of Turkey repeated his record in the European championship for the sixth time.
Akgul told Anadolu Agency the victory was a revenge against his Georgian rival to whom he had lost the World Cup last year.
"I had lost the World Championship to the same athlete in a dramatic way. I had to win in the return match. I had promised to my country, to the nation, to our coaches, especially to our President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan]. He was also very upset.”
The national athlete said he was dedicating the gold medal to the family of the troops martyred in the Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s Afrin region and the veterans.
Turkish team’s coach Abdullah Cakmar congratulated Akgul for his gold medal and said: “We got the gold medal that we had left in France,” referring to last year’s world cup tournament.
"We dedicate our medals as present to you and the president,” he added.
