Freestyle wrestlers from Mongolia compete in Qualifying Tournament for London Olympics

The London Olympics come a step closer even whilst talks about the Beijing Olympics have not yet faded away.
The qualifying Tournament of European Freestyle Wrestling for the London Summer Olympics 2012 took place on April 20-22 in the Arena ‘Armeec’ Sofia, Bulgaria. In the tournament, over 500 hundred wrestlers from 41 countries such as Austria, Azerbaijan, England, Romania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Holland, Spain, Italy, Russia, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary and Germany have competed against each other. 26 wrestlers who earned the first and second places in the Women’s seven and Men’s seven weight classes will gain places in the London Olympics. The Mongolian Freestyle Wrestling Team headed to Taiyuang to take part in the Asian Qualifying Tournament on April 22. Wrestlers of countries without places in the upcoming Olympics would compete in this tournament.

Following is an interview with Ts.Sereeter, Secretary General of Mongolian Freestyle Wrestling Association.
-In the tournament, wrestlers of what weight classes competed?

-In the male category; 55kg International Master of Sports T.Davaakhuyag, 60kg International Master of Sports B.Bayanmunkh, 66kg Candidate for Master of Sport B.Myanganbayar, 74kg International Master of Sport P.Unurbat, 84kg International Master of Sport P.Usukhbaatar, 96kg International Master of Sport Ch.Ganzorig. In the female category; 48kg International Master of Sport D.Otgontsetseg, 55kg International Master of Sport S.Byambatseren, 72kg Merit Athlete O.Burmaa will take part. The senior Coach of our national team will be A.Tserensodnom, male team assistant coach Ts.Bayarsaikhan and female team coach T.Sukhbaatar. Coaches and judges are heading to Taiyuang today following our athletes who got there last Monday.

-How many places are you planning to earn from the tournament?

-Just like other countries, we want to earn as many as possible, but at least three spots we are planning to win.

-In which weight classes are you paying attention to the most?

-The light weight male classes and three female classes, I would say.

-Has the tournament bracket come out yet?

-Brackets comes out the day before the match, so our athletes will find out when and with whom they are going to wrestle on April 26th.

-Which places will guarantee that they earn a place in the London Olympics?

-Male wrestlers by taking the top three spots and female wrestlers by taking the top two spots would earn places at the Olympics.

-Mongolian Freestyle Wrestling Team has won 2 spots in the London Olympics so far. Overall, how many athletes do you want to take part in the Olympics?

-We intend to increase this number. After this tournament, a competition which will be held on May 2-5 in Finland will grant more places for the Olympics. We have to earn them in these two competitions. In the previous Olympics, our athletes competed in three weight classes each male and female. We hope to retain those places this time.

-How is the training of our athletes?

-They trained for the Olympics permanently. Their training is good enough.

-Before the Olympics, will there be any joint training with wrestlers of other countries?

-Of course. We are planning to have a joint training with athletes that are highly praised worldwide from countries such as Russia, Japan and China.