Between the 3rd and the 8th of August, the “European Juniors (Greco Roman and Freestyle) Wrestling Championships” took place in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A Chechen wrestler won the bronze medal in his weight class as a member of the French national team.

Two Chechen athletes were among the members of the French national team for the Free Style wrestling event. One of them was Zelimkhan Khadzhiev, a wrestler of “Nice Lutte Club”, and represented France in the 58 kg (127lb) weight class. Our second wrestler was Ruslan Mukhtarov who performed in the 69 kg (152lb) weight class.

Zelimkhan Khadzhiev showed a good performance during the championship. In the quarterfinal match, he fought against a German wrestler. Zelimkhan presented a good game, but his rival managed to defeat him. It must be told that this German wrestler went on to win the entire tournament. After the defeat, Zelimkhan combated for the bronze medal. His rival was from Belarus. Zelimkhan outmatched the Belarussian wrestler and won the match with a great performance. As a result, Zelimkhan Khadzhiev won the bronze medal at the European Juniors Freestyle Wrestling Championship for the 58 kg (152lb) category. We must note that it is the only medal that was won by France national team.

Ruslan Mukhtarov defeated his Armenian rival in his first match. Unfortunately, he lost his second match against a Belarussian wrestler and ended up finishing 12th in his weight class.

*Text was written by authors of Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco