Armenia’s Malkhas Amoyan: I really wanted to become world champion in 77kg weight category

By Lusine Shahbazyan

I really wanted to become the world champion in the 77kg weight category. Malkhas Amoyan, the bronze medalist of the Paris Olympics, two-time world champion, and four-time European champion, who returned to the capital Yerevan last night with the rest of Armenia’s Greco-Roman wrestling team, stated this at Zvartnots International Airport of Yerevan.

“I had gone to Croatia to win a gold medal. I didn’t think about a rematch with [Paris Olympic Games champion Nao] Kusaka [of Japan], as it didn’t matter to me who my opponent would be. My objective was one: to become the winner of the world championships, a two-time champion.

All my fights were difficult; the quarterfinals were even more difficult. I was already in a better mood in the final. I wrestled with the Japanese wrestler whom I had lost to at the [Paris] Olympics. That defeat was very painful for me. I defeated the Olympic champion thanks to the right training, being in good shape, which helped me wrestle well and win.

(…).

I really wanted to become the world champion in the 77 kg weight category, as if it were the first time, so my joy was different. After the victory, it seems to me that it was visible how happy I was,” said Amoyan.

At the World Wrestling Championships being held in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, Malkhas Amoyan won the Greco-Roman wrestling champion’s title for the second time in his professional sports career with a glorious victory. In the 77kg final, Amoyan defeated Paris Olympic Games champion Nao Kusaka (Japan) 9-1.