Kayaalp Turks win their 10th European Greco-Roman wrestling title
Turkey’s Rıza Kayaalp won the European title for the 10th time after beating Georgian Iakobi Kajaia 3-1 in the 130kg Greco-Roman wrestling event. final Saturday.
Kayaalp, 31, beat Kajaia in Warsaw, Poland to win the gold medal.
Kayaalp said he was determined to win his first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. The road to Olympic success began with a bronze medal in London 2012. He followed it with a silver medal at Rio 2016. The Olympic championship is all that remains for the ambitious wrestler, who also owns the two best titles of the Mediterranean Games. At its worst, Kayaalp got two silver medals at the world championships, as well as a bronze medal and a silver medal at the European championships.
The Turkish athlete has already won European titles in 2010 as well as every year from 2012 to 2019.
He has also competed in two Olympics, winning a bronze medal at the London 2012 Games and a silver at Rio 2016.
Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu, Turkey’s Minister of Youth and Sports, posted a message on Twitter congratulating the four-time world champion on winning his 10th European title.
Also on Saturday, Turkey’s Yunus Emre Başar clinched the silver medal after losing 8-0 to Hungary’s Tamas Lorincz in men’s Greco-Roman wrestling at 77kg. final in Warsaw. Earlier, Turkish wrestler Ekrem Öztürk also won a silver medal at the tournament.
The 2021 European Wrestling Championships will end on Sunday.
