Arvi Savolainen will compete for the 97-kilogram European Championship bronze in Greco-Roman wrestling on Wednesday night in Bucharest, Romania.
Arvi Savolainen in the 97-kilogram men’s EC semi-final, he met a Russian, who was competing without country symbols Magmomed Murtazaliev, who beat the Finnish wrestler by 6–4. Murtazaliev, 22, is last fall’s under-23 world champion.
Savolainen will wrestle for the EC medal at the evening event on Wednesday from 18:00. The opponent will be the winner of Wednesday’s collection rounds.
The wrestler from Ahkera in Lahti defeated the Georgian in the opening match of his series by Roberti Kobliashvili with a score of 3-2. In the semifinals, Savolainen defeated the Serbian Mihail Kajaian 4-0.
Savolainen is the European Championship silver medalist from two years ago, who finished eighth in the World Championships in Belgrade last fall.
Nestori Mannila lost to a Russian in the 67-kilogram draw match To Ruslan Bitshurin, who took an overwhelming point victory 9-0. Mannila will still be seen in the collection matches, because Bitshurin reached the final match. Mannila’s opponent on Wednesday is Denmark William Reenberg.
In the 72-kilogram category Matias Lipasti didn’t make it to Wednesday’s collection. Finland beat Germany by Michail Widmayer with the last performance score (1–1). Instead of Ukraine Parviz Nasibov was stronger than Lipast 9-0.
The European Championship does not share places for the summer’s top event, the Paris Olympics, and therefore the wrestlers’ eyes are directed to Baku from the 4th to the 7th. April and in Istanbul 9–12 to the qualifying tournaments in May, where a total of five Olympic spots are available for each weight class.
– 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, said Savolainen before his job in Bucharest and revealed that he had only prepared for the European Championships for a week.
Finland currently does not have a single wrestling spot for the Summer Olympics.