Levan, tell us how did you prepare for Europeans?

My preparation for European Championships took place in a tense situation. I didn’t know if I would go to the championship in Romania or not to the last moment. We had corrected the situation, so I had to miss a lot of trainings. This problem touched not only me but our whole team. Anyway, I came to the competition in good shape with a weight of 140 kg.

You can easily cope with all on your left hand, but who was the strongest rival? Who has surprised you?

Arif Ertem was in good shape, and we had a good fight with him. I can’t notice somebody else, who surprised me.

Right hand fights were totally different. Tell us about the fight with Krasimir Kostadinov. What did you need to win?

In general, Krasimir pulls in a comfortable way. After Krasimir had won the category of 110 kg on the left hand, I realized that he was in very good shape. But in the fight with him on the right hand, I made childish mistakes; I had not enough patience to win.

Arif Ertem won right hand category, what could you say about it? You had no chance to fight with him at this European Championship, but had you fought with him before?

Yes, Arif won the category of 110+ on the right hand and I think he is a good champion. We fought with him last year at the European Championship. He won at elimination fights and it was a big surprise for me. Then pulled myself together and beat him in the semifinals. So we met at the World Championship in Malaysia and I had won easily. Arif progresses very quickly and I think it will be difficult to deal with him at Worlds.

Which competition do you want to visit next?

I will compete at the World Cup. Then I want to take part in Zloty Tur, but I don’t know for sure.

What can you say about the upcoming Vendetta? Who do you think will win in the major pairs?

This Vendetta will be hot definitely. Igor Mazurenko makes a lot for armwrestling and we respect him for that. My predictions are: Andrey Pushkar win Dmitry Trubin, Michael Todd win Denis Tsyplenkov, Tim Bresnan win Dmitry Silaev, Khadzhimurat  Zoloyev win in his pair. It's my opinion.