Olympic Qualifier: John ready for tough battles in Bulgaria

By Akeem Lawal      

FOUR-TIME African wrestling champion, Emmanuel John has said that he is ready to compete with the best for a ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games at the final qualification event, the World Olympic Games Qualifier which begins today in Sofia, Bulgaria.

                                             

“My target is an Olympic ticket of course. I know what is at stake and I know it is going to be a tough battle with the caliber of wrestlers that will be on parade in Bulgaria. I have learnt from the mistakes I made at the Africa/Oceania Olympic Qualifiers in Tunisia and I believe that to be the best you have to compete and beat the best,” the 23-year-old told Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com before departing Nigeria on Tuesday.

 

The 2019 African Games gold medalist, who begins his campaign today in the Qualification Round is facing an uphill task in a loaded 35-man 74kg weight class in Sofia that features a slew of world and Olympic medalists, including Olympic bronze medalist Soner Demirtas (Turkey) and world champion Hetik Cabolov (Serbia).

 

Rio bronze medalist Demirtas will be tasked with trying to book Turkey their fifth Olympic berth. He’s no stranger to being in this position. Demirtas was here in ’12 and ’16. He fell short in ’12 but got the job done and won gold at the Ulaan-Baatar Last Change Qualifier before running to a podium finish in Brazil.

 

Cabolov defeated two-time world champion Zaurbek Sidakov (Russia) in the ’20 Russian National semifinals but fell to Razambek Zhamalov in the finals – ending his hopes of representing Russia at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Shortly after that loss, he transferred to Serbia and competed for them at the ’21 European Championships. Cabolov had a wild back and forth match with Kentchadze but fell, 10-6, and dropped to a 14th-place finish.

 

Two other dark horses to keep an eye on are Ali Umarpashaev (Bulgaria) and Mitchell Finesilver (Israel).

 

In his last showing, Umarpashaev reached the semifinals European Olympic Qualifier and was four minutes away from punching Bulgaria’s ticket to the Olympic Games. He led Avtantil Kentchazde 6-0 but got caught in a cradle and surrendered the fall.

 

Finsilver is coming off a bronze-medal finish at the European Championships. He won three matches and became Israel’s first European medalist since ’91.

 

Other guys who can make some noise at 74kg are continental champions, Arsalan Budazhapov (Kyrgyzstan) (Asia) and Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau (Belarus) (Europe) are also entered at the weight.