The heaviest category had some interesting battles especially between Levan, Georgi and Arif who fought really tough.
Any of these 3 athletes could have won the class with right arm.
Levan was strong enough to take Arif's wrist but Arif had the courage and strength to fight back even though he was in a bad position. Arif won the match but both athletes were very tired.
Arif was not only tired but also was hurt as he had to push his joints too much to win that match. Right after that match Arif and Georgi met and Georgi won the match even though it was not so easy. And from other side Levan was coming back by beating the guys at the B side. Levan looked determined to win the class and he beat Arif in semi final. He beat Georgi twice in the final and won the gold with right arm. The gold with left arm went to Georgi in this category.
In 110 kg class right hand dominated Krasimir Kostadinov while Ivan Matyushenko dominated in the left hand. We were expecting some wars between these two great athletes but Ivan was too much for Krasimir with left arm while Ivan did not participate the right hand competition because of an injury as far as I heard.
In 75kg class Sasho from Bulgaria has proved that he is the man to win with both right and left hands. He has lost one match against Vadim Akperov with right hand without the strap but in the final Sasho was able to slip and beat his opponent without much problem. I wonder how Sasho would do against Khadzimurat Zoloev if he would gain 5 more kg and become bigger & sronger.
In 65kg Jambul Vibliani proved again that he is a living legend of our sport by winning another European title. Oleg Cherkasov also showed that his European and World titles that he won last year with left hand were not temporary successes, by winning another European title.
In women 50kg Esra Kiraz from Turkey finally has defeated her tough opponent Alina Volkova from Russia with right hand, to take her second European title. In same class Alina was the winner against Esra with left hand. The return of Babayeva was another news to mention in this class.
During the absence of many female pullers from Sweden such as Heidi, Sarah Backman, Sara, Carolina, Emma, Malin, Felicia and many others, Fia Reisek has won the Europeans with left & right in 70kg class by proving how great the female pullers from Sweden are.
In senior women 55kg Victoria Ilyushina who is a Legend of our sport won the left hand title as it was expected while some surprises happened in right hand competition. While Sigita Terzi from Turkey (originally from Latvia) was beating the Russian and Belarussian pullers one after another, Illushina and the other Russian athlete had minutes long match with a few starts. After their match Sigita beat Illushina while the Russian athlete was eliminated by the Bulgarian puller.
In the semi final Illushina was expected to be tired but she flashed the Bulgarian puller. In the semi final Illushina beat Sigita in their first match. But the final match Illushina brought Sigita a few cm away from the pad but just was not able to finish. Sigita fought back and won her first European title after 50 seconds long tough battle.
It was a tough Europeans for sure.
Engin Terzi