On June 10, Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) fought against Revaz Nadareishvili (Georgia) in the Tbilisi Grand Prix final for 98kg category.
A dispute broke out in the stands in the second round of the wrestling match, and the referees gave default loss to the Armenian athlete.
Mediamax Sport talked with head coach of the Armenia Greco-Roman wrestling team Levon Julfalakyan, who provided his comments on the situation.
It was clear from the beginning of the match that the referee wasn’t fair towards Aleksanyan. Artur was attacking non-stop for 5 minutes and 17 seconds, but the referee gave him 1 point against 2 points to his opponent. There was 45s left and we were sure that our athlete could still win points, because his superiority in the match was obvious.
The fans didn’t accept the unfair treatment. They grew anxious and angry, and so the Armenian-Georgian dispute broke out. The match went on and we didn’t want to stop it. However, the referee did stop it. I was the assistant and Gevorg Aleksanyan was the coach. Some people suddenly began pushing him. Artur saw that and left the mat. He was out for 30 seconds when I noticed him and immediately told him to go back, as wrestlers mustn’t leave until the match if finished.
Artur didn’t do anything in that half-minute. He simply tried to calm everyone down so he could continue the match. He didn’t touch anyone. The referees used his short absence as a reason to gift the victory to the Georgian athlete.
We spoke with the instructor from United World Wrestling, a Turk. Even Georgians present insisted the decision was unfair. Nothing changed, though, because they already had a pretext of Artur stepping off the mat.
I don’t think this will affect Aleksanyan. He didn’t do anything; he even congratulated his opponent and took part in the award ceremony. If United World Wrestling tries to disqualify him, that will cast serious doubts over its credibility. As for our federation, government and the National Olympic Committee, I hope they will take measures. I believe this won’t affect Artur’s future performance.