Aleksanyan says was robbed of Olympic gold at wrestling finals

PanARMENIAN.Net - Team Armenia’s Artur Aleksanyan has spoken out for the first time after his controversial defeat in the final bout of the 97kg Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling event at the Paris Olympics.

The judge scored the fight 4:1 (technical scores) in favor of Aleksanyan’s rival, Iran’s Mohammad Hadi Saravi, who was awarded the gold medal.

The Armenian athlete was awarded silver. Visibly upset, he took off the medal at the awarding ceremony as a sign of protest.

“I came here for gold,” Aleksanyan told reporters Friday, August 9, according to Armenpress.

“But during the match you all saw what happened. At one point the Iranian wrestler was outside the mat with both legs. I saw that moment and I myself told the coaches to challenge. If you go out with both legs, I should have been rewarded one point. But instead, they gave two points to the Iranian athlete, and added one more for the challenge. Everyone is asking me why I took off the medal, this is why! That one point was supposed to be mine and the final score was supposed to be 2:1 in my favor,” Aleksanyan said, adding that he is disappointed by “refereeing injustice.”

He said he is uncertain about his future, but added “I am very disappointed by these injustices. I will remain in wrestling. I hope justice will be restored.”

The 2016 Olympic gold winner added that he has noticed similar injustice against fellow Armenian wrestler Slavik Galstyan, which makes him believe that there were some "tensions" against the Armenian team.

Aleksanyan also thanked the Armenian fans who were present in the arena.

The Aleksanyan-Saravi match was referred by Ferenc Gyarmati (Romania). The judge was Nedyalko Kirov Kireziev of Bulgaria, and the Mat Chairman was Stanislav Sernek of Slovenia.