SZOMBATHELY, Hungary (March 25) – Tamas and Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) won gold medals together for the first time at the Polyak Imre Memorial wrestling tournament on Sunday, leaving the door open to the brothers wrestling together again at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Elder brother Tamas won the Polyak Memorial, also known as the Hungarian Grand Prix among other similar names, for the fifth time since 2012 while Viktor bagged his first title ever at this late winter event in Szombathely.
“It feels great to win this event along with my brother,” Tamas said at the conclusion of first-day events at Arena Savaria. “I wish we could have done it in Rio, but we missed out chance.”
Younger brother Viktor said the tandem victories were “the greatest thing,” and credited Tamas for his help with the win.
“I wanted to make more actions today; it’s not enough just to push your opponent around” Viktor said after a technical fall victory over Hossein SHOKRI (IRI) in the day’s finale.
Asked about Tokyo 2020, Viktor indicated that he would like to go again with his brother – just like at Rio 2016 last summer. Tamas, who turned 30 in December, said it would be nice but added that he would think about it.
Wrestling at 75kg for the first time in competition, the elder Lorincz hammered out a 2-0 victory on passivity points over former European under-23 silver medalist Kazbek KILOV (BLR) in the gold medal final – the first championship final of evening.
The younger Lorincz capped the evening with an 8-0 win over newcomer Shokri, stopping the clock at 4:20 after a go-behind takedown and a pair of gut wrenches in the 85kg final.
In other gold medal bouts, Danijel JANECIC (CRO) broke open a one-point match with a bodylock and back-arching throw for five points in the second period and cruised to a 12-3 technical superiority win over Mateusz BERNATEK (POL).
The tourney triumph was Janecic’s first in 14 months after the Zagreb Grand Prix in January 2012 and his second win in Szombathely after winning the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix.
At 130kg, Ukraine International runner-up Levan ARABULI (GEO) earned a pair of passivity points and an out-of-bounds point for a 3-0 win over Tuomas LAHTI (FIN).
In the opening session on Saturday morning, the Lorincz brothers forged semifinal wins against fellow Rio 2016 Olympians.
Tamas forced a passivity point on Viktor NEMES (SRB) in the second period of their 75kg semifinal for the last point and a 1-1 win over last year’s European silver medalist on criteria.
Viktor stepped up in the 85kg semifinal with a spin-behind takedown in the second period and made it stand for a 4-1 win over another 2016 European runner-up Robert KOBLIASHVILI (GEO).
Also, last year’s European under-23 champion Bernatek ran over European Games silver medalist Soslan DAUROV (BLR) for a takedown and a 4-2 victory in the 66kg semifinals.
At 130, Arabuli held on for a 2-0 victory over 2013 world champion Heiki NABI in the quarterfinals and hammered out a 5-0 win over world student champion Balint LAM (HUN) semifinals to advance to the final.
Results
66kg (14 entries)
Gold – Danijel JANECIC (CRO) df. Mateusz BERNATEK (POL) by TF, 12-3, 4:51
Bronze – Shogo TAKAHASHI (JPN) df. Hrachia MALKHASIAN (FRA), 3-0
Bronze – Katsuhiro KAWASE (JPN) df. Soslan DAUROV (BLR), 2-1
Semifinals – Danijel JANECIC (CRO) df. Hrachia MALKHASIAN (FRA) by TF, 11-0, 5:58
Semifinals – Mateusz BERNATEK (POL) df. Soslan DAUROV (BLR), 4-2
75kg (12 entries)
Gold – Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) df. Kazbek KILOV (BLR), 2-0
Bronze – Sami SLAMA (FRA) df. Francisco BARRIO (ARG), 14-10
Bronze – Viktor NEMES (SRB) df. Ilie COJOCARI (ROU), 4-1
Semifinals – Kazbek KILOV (BLR) df. Francisco BARRIO (ARG) by TF, 8-0, 1:04
Semifinals – Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) df. Viktor NEMES (SRB), 1-1
85kg (12 entries)
Gold – Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) df. Hossein SHOKRI (IRI) by TF, 8-0, 4:20
Bronze – Eerik APS (EST) df. Julius MATUZEVICIUS (LTU), 3-1
Bronze – Robert KOBLIASHVILI (GEO) df. Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL), 3-1
Semifinals – Hossein SHOKRI (IRI) df. Julius MATUZEVICIUS (LTU), 4-2
Semifinals – Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) df. Robert KOBLIASHVILI (GEO), 4-1
130kg (16 entries)
Gold – Levan ARABULI (GEO) df. Tuomas LAHTI (FIN), 3-0
Bronze – Vasil IMERISHVILI (GEO) df. Arata SONODA (JPN), 3-1
Bronze – Balint LAM (HUN) df. Heiki NABI (EST), 2-1
Semifinals – Tuomas LAHTI (FIN) df. Vasil IMERISHVILI (GEO), 5-3
Semifinals – Levan ARABULI (GEO) df. Balint LAM (HUN), 5-0
