From left to right: Hakob Mkrtchyan, Shant Sargsyan, and Arthur Avetisyan
Armenian athletes garnered gold and bronze medals at various competitions this week. Armenian weightlifter Hakob Mkrtchyan won gold, while Shant Sargsyan and Arthur Avetisyan won bronze medals in chess and gymnastics respectively.
Hakob Mkrtchyan of Armenian Youth Weightlifting Team won gold while setting a record at the U23 European Championship. This year, the championships were held in Bucharest, Romania. With 363 lbs in the snatch and 462 lbs in the clean & jerk, Mkrtchyan became champion of the 196 lbs division, with a total result of 826 lbs. In the same division, the bronze medal was won by Armenia’s Davit Hovhannisyan.
Shant Sargsyan, who was the runner-up of the 2019 World Youth Chess Championship, in Mumbai, India, came in second at the 2019 World Junior Chess Championship in New Delhi, India. He won the silver medal after defeating Spain’s Ruiz Santos in the last round of the event, with a total score of 8.5 points out of 11. Armenia’s Aram Hakobyan was the second runner up.
Arthur Avetisyan of Armenia’s Gymnastics Team won bronze at the 2019 Military World Games – the first international military multi-sport event held in China. Avetisyan scored 14,533 points in the rings competition – an artistic gymnastics event – where he won bronze. Avetisyan’s win marks the second bronze medal won by an Armenian at the 7th Military World Games, with the first being won by freestyle wrestler Mher Markosyan.
