The European Championships in Bucharest will be held from 12-18 February and the competition is tougher this year as the door has once again been opened to Russia and Belarus. At the same time, Alex Kessidis points to one of the sports’ talking points at the moment – Russian wrestlers who change nations.
In the Swede’s weight class, 87 kilos, there is, for example, Russian Aleksandr Komarov, who has chosen to compete for Serbia.
– Since you can only send one wrestler per country, they have taken care in connection with corona and the war to represent other countries. There are several inferior nations that now have Russian wrestlers. An example is Brazil, which may not be a super nation in wrestling, but now they have a Russian in my weight class who maintains a very high level, says Kessidis.
– If you represent one country, you should not be able to represent another a few months later. I do not think so.
Kessidis chose to change from 77 kilos to 87 kilos after the Olympics in Tokyo. When the EC started today, there was victory in the first match.
For Kessidis, Olympic qualification awaits in Baku April 5-7, and then in Istanbul May 9-12 if necessary. The top five at the last WC are already ready for the Olympics, and the finalists in the European qualifiers in April also each get a ticket. Then the first, second and best third each get an Olympic ticket at the world qualifiers in May.
– The Olympics is the main goal this year, says Kessidis.