Resounding message of peace at the U15 European Wrestling Championship ceremony

During the opening ceremony of the U15 European Wrestling Championship in Loutraki, all the representatives of the countries, holding the flags of their countries united in a circle, sent the message “we love wrestling, please stop wars”.

In the competitions, with three champions winning the “tickets” for the repechages, the first day of the event was completed at the indoor gym “G. Galanopoulos” in Loutraki. In the style of Elefthera, 13 Greek athletes competed, giving their best to place as high as possible in their categories.

At 38 kg, Alexandros Seretidis and at 48 kg Yiannis Zeitounian and Yiannis Kesidis will take part in the second chance matches.

Seretidis lost in the round of 16 to Bakaev, who, however, reached the final. In the repechages he will first face Georgian Dotiashvili. Then, Turkish Golkha awaits him, while Georgian Kareli is already in the “small” final.

At 48 kg, both our athletes failed in the repechage. Yiannis Zeitounian was defeated by Turkish Kaplan and in the repechage he will play Slovakian Vetrak, while in the short final Russian Ismail awaits.

Giannis Kesidis, who lost to the independent Gamidov, will face Roumanos Goran in the repechage.

Next, Armenian Iskhanian awaits the winner, and Bulgarian Tutarashvili qualified for the “small” final.

At 85 kg, Dimitris Loizidis started strongly, leaving Roumanos Mihai out of the way, but then he could not overcome the obstacle of the Russian Aliukaev. At 41 kg, Michalis Lanaras beat Ahmet Kouros in the Greek “civil war”, however, in the “16” phase, he did not succeed against the Hungarian Peksi.

Charalambos Topalov and Aaron Makridis took part in the 44 kg category, who were left out of the competition by Armenios Galinski and his compatriot Papikian respectively.

At 52 kg, Theodoros Tsiripov faced Bela from North Macedonia, at 57 kg Giorgos Alidis played against Pilisvili, while at 62 kg Savvas Iakovidis faced Moldovan Panfili.

Finally, at 75 kg, Alexandros Meindis did not succeed against the Bulgarian Georgiev and Konstantinos Mourtzilakis lost to the Turk Tserit.

The opening ceremony

The opening ceremony began with the parade of the flags of the countries participating in the European Championship, while the president of the Hellenic Wrestling Federation, Stergios Leonakis, welcomed the athletes and wished them success.

The Mayor of Loutraki, Perachora and Agios Theodoros, George Gionis, thanked the president of the Hellenic Federation and expressed his joy over the fact that Loutraki is hosting the European Championship.

The two-time Olympic champion, Petros Galaktopoulos, congratulated the organization of this huge event and reminded that wrestling is the sport that paved the way for Olympic medals, while the opening of the games was announced by the Vice-President of the World Wrestling Federation, Theodoris Hamakos.

“It is certain that at these ages the next Olympians, world and European champions will emerge who will honor their countries and our continent. Congratulations to the Hellenic Wrestling Federation and the organizing committee for the event.

Let’s not forget the Mayor of the area for his long-term help in the sport of wrestling. I am especially happy for the presence of the living history of Greek wrestling, former Olympic champion Petros Galaktopoulos, who is one of those who raised the Greek flag high during the difficult years. I wish you success and a good stay”, he emphasized.