The greatest moment for the hosts, Greek, happened tonight (18/10) with Emzarios Betinidis winning the gold at the 88k. (Veterans C) of the World Veterans Championships.
The great Greek olympian was in complete rule of his category, by destroying all of his opponents and winning his second gold in the competition after the first, two years ago.
He wasn’t the only Greek to get to the podium since Andreas Kleiousis won the bronze.
Besides the two Greeks, USA, Iran and Turkey had a very productive day 2 at the beautiful city of Loutraki.
Tomorrow (19/10) the freestyle categories will conclude with Veterans A category.
The medal matches
VETERANS C
62k. Jaanek Lips of Estonia and Ahmad Mohammad Mohammadisales of Iran were the couple with the fastest final of the day. It took him 46 seconds to win the gold by fall.
Two athletes got the bronze medals from the 3-5 finals. It was David Yi of USA and Khurts Janchiv of Mongolia
70k. Aslan Kaitov (AIN) and Reza Mohammadali Akbarpour Bahnamiri of Iran were the two finalists for the gold. It was a final with a dramatic finish. Kaitov had a 2-1 lead just 15 seconds before the and, but Bahnamiri managed to get two points with 10 seconds left. Both got injured at that moment, but Kaitov couldn’t finish the final and the Iranian got the gold.
Seyed Hashem Shazadeh Safawi of Germany and Marcus Mair of Germany won both bronze medals. Mair won Tomas Edwin Donahue of USA thanks to technical points after a tied game (5-5). He got the last point, just 15 seconds before the end and managed to get to the podium
78k. Rudolph John James was unbeatable and got easily the gold medal. It was between Greece’s Andreas Kleiousis and France’s Anis Gharbi would get the silver. Gharbi has a quick victory and got the second place, while Greece had its first (bronze) medal during the World Veterans Championships.
88k. The moment the Greeks were waiting for, was the final of this category with Emzarios Betinidis against Romanian Adrian Recorean, the last two world champions. Betinidis had won 28 points and lost only two in three games, and needed one more win to get his title back from the Romanian. He did it in fashion, with having a 4-0 lead just seconds after the start of the final and finish the gold medal match with the same
Bayrmangal Norjin of Mongolia and Ibrahim Zengin of France won both the bronze.
100k. Behzad Nourollah Abdolvand of Iran and Slovakian Henrich Pietrik wrestle for the gold medal. It was a close one, with Pietrik winning the gold with a 3-2 score.
Kazakhstan’s Serik Amanshiyev and Nazmi Kahveciler of Turkey won the two bronze medals.
130k. Turkish athletes were in complete command on this category. Mustafa Basdemir of Turkey is the new world champion. In the final he won 7-3 Lkhagvasuren Tsogtoo of Mongolia. Another Turkish athlete, Mustafa Bayram won the bronze.
VETERANS D
62k. Remzi Osman of Bulgaria against Marin Hamoza of Moldova were the two finalists. Osman had a one point lead after the first half of the final and Hamoza had to attack. But it was Bulgarian who managed to get two extra points and win by fall, with just 43 seconds left in the game.
Shogo Morimoto and Satoshi Izumida of Japan won bot bronze medals.
70k. Antonino Calandra of Italy and Sayat Yesbatyrov of Kazakhstan had one of the most entertaining finals of the day. Yesbatyrov had a 3-0 lead, Calandra won one points and he was pretty close to tie the final, but the time expired and he got the silver. Marc Tadelman of USA and Nyamdorj Nhayankhyarvaa of Mongolia got a spot on the podium with a bronze medal each.
78k. Sergei Shaniavskii (AIN) and Mohammadkazem Narimani Kenari of Iran played for the gold medal. The Iranian had an early 4-0 lead, which was the final score and he became the new world champion.
Pakherdin Tokhtiyev of Kazakhstan and Ibragim Estamirov (AIN) got the third spot on the podium.
88k. Yoshikazu Takahata of Japan and Ali Abdollah Ghassemi Sabour of Iran battled for the gold but it didn’t took more than 2 minutes to have a winner. It was the Iranian who won by fall. His compatriot Seyedhosseid Sadati and Karim Hammiche of France won the bronze medal.
100k. The Georgian legend and world champion, Eldar Kurtanidze and Igor Samusonokss of Latvia were the most fascinating couples of the day, fighting for the gold. The Latvian had the lead (1-0) after the first 2 minutes, but the Georgian two times medalist at Olympic Games, tied the final. Samusonokss though won two extra points with just 10 second left and won the gold.
Chynarbek Izabekov of Kyrgyzstan won the bronze by fall and Aleksandr Rumin (AIN) also got a second bronze.
130k. USA’s George Orlando Porter won the gold by fall against Saleh Mohammad Al Zriqat of Jordan. Bronze medal went to Kuanysh Myrza of Kazakhstan and Janos Szlavik of Hungary.
