Dávid Losonczi in the 87-kilogram category of grappling reached the finals, thereby earning an Olympic quota at the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade on Saturday.
The 23-year-old ESMTK athlete wrestled in inspired form in the morning program, in which he first defeated the Kyrgyz Azat Szaldinov, then the Azeri Islam Abbasov by technical knockout, and among the eight, he beat the Belarusian Kiril Maskevich 6-1. In the semi-finals of the early evening, he faced the Bulgarian Semen Novikov, who practically had less resistance than his previous rivals.
Losonczi was clearly the better player in the usual "standing one minute" of tie-break matches, who at the beginning of the second minute recovered beautifully from his rival's headlock, took over the attack and turned his opponent on his back.
The judges initially gave him four points, but the Bulgarian complaint was accepted by the jury, thus classifying the action as two points (2-0).
In the continuation, Belarus was warned for passivity (3-0), so the parter situation came, which also meant the end of the match. Losonczi was able to lift his opponent, then threw him in a big arc on the edge of the mat (7-0). In the meantime, Novikov also committed a foul, for which he was suspended and the Hungarian got two more points (9-0).
The Bulgarians asked for a video referee again, but Losonczi and national team captain Péter Módos already celebrated during the video, the situation seemed so clear. And the jury confirmed this, so Dávid Losonczi won 10-0 in the Sunday evening final.
"I am unspeakably happy, my dream has come true"
Losonczi said happily in the mixed zone.
"Today nothing could shake me, I had that kind of day. I lost almost all the challenges though. Today went very well, I was fine in body and mind. Here, after just one minute, I felt that he was tired and that I was going to destroy him."
The young tightrope walker will face the Turkish Ali Cengiz in Sunday's final, whom Losonczi noted was defeated by István Takács in the finals of the European Championship in April and will be defeated by him.
Among the other two Hungarian contestants on Saturday, the 67-kilogram István Váncza can continue the fight on Sunday, because the Azerbaijani Hasrat Jafarov, who defeated him in the round of 16, made it to the finals.
Featured image: Winner Dávid Losonczi against Szemen Novikov of Bulgaria after their men's grappling 87kg semi-final match at the World Olympic Qualifying Championships in Belgrade on September 23, 2023. The Hungarian competitor made it to the finals, earning an Olympic quota. MTI/Tamás Kovács
