Sahak Hovhannisyan: If we won silver we then we deserved it

13:51 - 20 Aug, 2019

The World Wrestling Junior Championship ended in Tallinn. The Armenia national team arrived in Yerevan at midnight.

President of Wrestling Federation of Armenia Robert Khachatryan and Secretary General Arayik Baghdadyan welcomed the team at the airport. The Greco-Roman wrestling team had won 2 silver medals at the World Championship. Sahak Hovhannisyan at 69 kg told the ANOC press service about his result.


“Every medal has its importance. I was disposed to win the Georgian wrestler and to have my revenge as I had conceded him at the European Championship with a slightest difference of points. This time I was well-prepared, the bout was very important to me and after it I mustered up my strength and managed to win the Russian wrestler.”

Before the final Sahak had spent four bouts and had given no point to his rivals.

“To tell the truth, I didn’t realize I hadn’t given any point. The coaches told me at the end of the Championship (laughs).”
Sahak Hovhannisyan singled out two tough bouts before the final.

“The first tough bout was with the Swiss wrestler and it was the first one. The first fight is the toughest for almost everybody. The second bout was with the Georgian wrestler who was a European champion,” he said.

In the semifinal the Armenian wrestler had had a confident win over Georgi Tibilov.

“After winning the Georgian wrestler I was more confident in my actions and I believed more I would be able to reach the final at any cost and my semifinal bout seemed easier,” he confessed.

In the final Sahak’s opponent had been five-time European, two-time world champion Kerem Kamal from Turkey. The Armenian wrestler commented on the bout noting that the opponent’s titles hadn’t depressed him.

“There wasn’t any depression or low spirits. I have the same disposition when wrestling no matter who the opponent is or how many medals he has. Simply I didn’t succeed this time, and he was an experienced athlete. There were positions where I yielded and when one yields in such shallow positions he loses the victory”.

Shant Khachatryan (67 kg), the winner of the second silver medal, also was present at the conversation. Sahak and Shant are childhood friends, alumni of the same coach. When asked if it had been difficult to participate in the same tournament with a friend and how it had helped them Shant answered.

“It’s true each of us prepares for his own bout but we keep an eye on each other, always help each other and think that helping each other we will become champions.”

At the end of the conversation Sahak Hovhannisyan said that wishes always differed from the reality.

“I think wishes differ from results. We wanted more but we have what we have. If today we have a silver medal then we deserved it. We must work more to win a champion title”, he said.

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