Minsk 2019. Belarusian sambo wrestlers secure 3 silver medals!

On June 23, the tournament in sambo wrestling at the 2nd European Games completed. The Belarusian team earned more silver medals. The team now has 15 medals in total.

Maryna Zharskaya lost to the Russian athlete Diana Riabova the Women’s -52 kg. The athlete applied submission technique - 0-0.

Maryna Zharskaya: “The most disappointing thing is to lose in the finals, especially when you are determined to win. My rival’s favorite technique was leg lock. I made a mistake, until the end I thought I could resist it. I got upset, of course. But I would like to thank the fans for their support.”

Andrei Kazusinok was also outperformed in the gold Medal match in the Men’s -90 kg. He fought with the Russian athlete Sergei Ryabov with a 1:3 win over.

Andrei Kazusionok : “I used to wrestle in 100 kg weight category, now I lost weight to 90 kg. We counted on unpredictability, but I didn’t have enough time to gain the speed that is necessary for this weight category. We should have chosen another tactic. I really like the atmosphere here - all my relatives and friends have arrived to support me.”

Family’s friend, the Olympic champion in freestyle skiing, Alla Tsuper came to support Andrei. Watching sambo from the grandstands was a new experience for her, she shared. “The first reason I’m here — I’ve never watched sambo in real life. Secondly my family and I are here primarily to root for Andrei Kazusenok — he’s a good friend of ours. We talked to him the day before, he is determined to win. It's so exciting to follow a great friend in real time from the grandstands. His spouse, daughter and many of our mutual friends are here to support him. ”

Three-Time Olympic champion in wrestling Aliaksandr Medved also watched the tournament from the grandstands at the Sports Palace.

In the heavyweight fight between the Belarusian athlete Yury Rybak and the Georgian athlete Beka Berdzenishvili, luck was on Beka’s side. He clinched gold with a 8-0 win over.

Yury Rybak: "I want to thank everyone who helped us on the way to the medal. This medal will be very dear to me. I want to congratulate our sambo national team on the contribution we managed to make to the Belarusian team. I think that in the next European games we will show the result will only improve”

At the end of the sambo tournament, the head coach Viachaslau Kot summed up: “We showed what we should have showed. But of course you always want more. Of course I am a bit saddened with the Andrei Kazusionok’s and Yury Rybak’s bouts. But Vera Harelikava, Anzhela Zhylinskaya, Aliaksandr Koksha showed good results. So the overall performance is great. But of course I wish we had one or two more gold medals."  

The Champion Anzhela Zhylinskaya and the head coach Viacheslau Kot

Congratulations to the athletes and the whole Belarusian sambo team with an outstanding performance (15 medals!) at the 2nd European Games.

Press Service of the NOC Belarus

Photos: Sergei Neverkevich