Belarusian wrestlers victorious at international tournament for Aleksandr Medved’s prizes

The 51^st edition of the international freestyle wrestling tournament for the prizes of three-time Olympic champion Aleksandr Medved wrapped up in Minsk.

The final bouts in 10 weight classes (five for men and women each) were held on the last day of the tournament.

The Belarusian team clinched 14 medals: 3 gold, 2 silver and 9 bronze.

The Belarusian winners of the Grand Prix were Veranika Ivanova (62kg), Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau (7 kg) and Dzianis Khramiankou (125kg).

Silver went to Iryna Kurachkina (57kg) and Andrei Karpach (79kg).

All in all, athletes from Belarus won 26 medals (6-6-14) at the international grand prix tournament for Aleksandr Medved’s prizes.

In 1994 the tournament was assigned the Grand Prix status by decision of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA, now UWW). The tournament had the record number of participating countries (47) at its 30th edition in 2000.

Aleksandr Medved is a three-time Olympic champion (1964, 1968, 1972), seven-time world champion (1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1969-1971), four-time European champion and nine-time champion of the USSR. The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles named him best freestyle wrestler of the 20^th century.

The legendary wrestler is featured in the pilot video of the Belarusian Athletes’ Rules of Life project of the NOC of Belarus and the International Olympic Committee.

Press service of the NOC of Belarus

Photos by the NOC of Belarus