First day of Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship completed
16.01.2010 18:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship launched in
Armenia on January 16. Over 50 wrestlers in 55, 66, 84 and 120kg
weight categories competed on the first championship day. Sportsmen
from different Armenian regions participated.

Championship medals went to:

55 kg weight category
1st place Harutyun Hovhannesyan
2nd place Shavigh Gevorgyan
3rd place Narek Khachatryan and Robert Kirakosyan

66 kg weight category
1st place Arman Adikyan
2nd place Hovhannes Martirosyan
3rd place Armen Mikayelyan and Sasun Ghambaryan

84 kg weight category
1st place Denis Forov
2nd place Hrach Hovhannesyan
3rd place Tigran Sahakyan and Levon Geghamyan

120 kg weight category
1st place Vachik Yeghiazaryan
2nd place Ara Arakelyan
3rd place Grigor Merjanyan and Petros Abrahamyan

The championship will be continued tomorrow, January 17, with
wrestlers in 74, 60 and 96kg weight categories participating.

Greco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practiced
worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896
and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held
since 1908. Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in three
two-minute periods, which can be terminated early by a pinfall. This
style of wrestling forbids holds below the waist which is the major
difference between it and Freestyle wrestling, the other form of
wrestling at the Olympics. This restriction results in an emphasis on
throws, since a wrestler cannot use trips to take an opponent to the
ground or avoid throws by hooking or grabbing their opponent’s leg.

Arm drags, bear hugs, and headlocks found in Freestyle have greater
prominence in Greco-Roman and throws especially known as a suplex are
used, in which the offensive wrestler lifts his opponent in a high
arch while falling backward on his own neck to a bridge in order to
bring his opponent’s shoulders down to the mat. Even on the mat, a
Greco-Roman wrestler must still find several ways to turn his
opponent’s shoulders to the mat for a fall without legs, including
(but not limited to) techniques known as the bodylock and the
gut-wrench.

According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling
Styles (FILA), Greco-Roman wrestling is one of the six main forms of
amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress