The struggles of the Finns in the European Championships in Bucharest started badly. Arvi Savolainen’s competitions start on Tuesday.
Timo Uusitalo,
Anni Jämsä
shows the European Championship of Greco-Roman wrestling. Monday’s wrestling broadcast starts at Areena at 17:55 and Tuesday’s wrestling broadcast at 16:40.
Akseli Yli-Hannuksela and Konsta Mäenpää bowed right away in their opening matches at the European Greco-Roman wrestling championships in Romania.
Yli-Hannuksela, competing in the 77-kilogram category, lost to Hungary To Robert Fritsch 5–7.
– The beginning was good, but then an acid attack hit. After that, the match turned into survival. After three minutes, the hands and feet were no longer playing, and neither was the brain, Yli-Hannuksela admitted.
Azerbaijan in Mäenpää’s 130-kilogram series Beka Kandelaki was stronger and won the match 8–6.
– In the first episode, the fight could have already ended with my victory, but it didn’t. The second episode then went to the guy’s bag, Mäenpää, who suffered from a shoulder injury, was once again disappointed.
The Olympic places will not be distributed until later in the spring
In the Olympic year, the EC competitions are mostly an intermediate stage on the way to the important Olympic qualifiers in the spring. In the big picture, the top wrestlers’ goals are set for the Paris Olympics.
The European Championships do not share places for the top event of the summer, and therefore the eyes of the wrestlers are directed in Baku from the 4th to the 7th. April and in Istanbul 9–12 for the tournaments that take place in May, where there are a total of five Olympic spots available for each weight class.
Currently, Finland does not have a single wrestling spot for the Paris Olympics. Despite the low value of the European Championships, it is still about valuable competition medals that interest most athletes.
Arvi Savolainen: “Back on track”
The possible success of the Finnish team is that of the European Championship medalists from two years ago Arvi Savolainen (97 kg) on the shoulders.
Savolainen, who suffered a lot from injuries, had less than one successful competition in Zagreb in January before the European Championships, where he beat many tough players and only lost in the final.
– Now I have been able to train healthily and the injuries have started to disappear from the back of my head. I’ve had enough intact training days that I feel like I’m back on track, says Savolainen.
– Let’s hope that the good momentum of the previous race will continue. In Zagreb, it felt like there was no problem, and there was no stress in the different phases of the match. In other words, I didn’t have to wrestle too hard, so to speak, and I could only do my own thing by doing the basics.
The wrestler from Ahkera in Lahti was eighth in the World Championships in Belgrade last fall.
– This EC competition in the Olympic year is completely a training competition and at the same time a review of where I am going at the moment. For the European Olympic qualifiers, I’m trying to get in top shape, advised Savolainen, and said that he only prepared for the European Championships for a week.
Nestori Mannila (67 kg), Matias Lipasti (72 kg) and Savolainen (97 kg) will start their EC competition on Tuesday. Finland’s only freestyle wrestler Miko Elkala (86 kg) will compete on Saturday.