Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) won the 77kg European title.
Amoyan, who won the gold in Oslo at 72kg, was making his debut at the 77kg and wrestled Yunus Basar (TUR) in the final. He was called passive and gave up a gut wrench to trail 3-0 at the break. But he got the same action using a chest wrap in the second period to lead 3-3 on criteria.
Turkey challenged the call asking for a leg foul but the judges found no negative wrestling which gave another point to Amoyan, extending his lead 4-3 with two minutes remaining.
The silver medalist from Warsaw European Championships was again called passive but this time Basar could not get any exposure from par terre as Amoyan let out a loud scream to celebrate his maiden gold at the continental championships.
"Last year I got second place and it was my fault," Amoyan said. "But here I was focused only on wrestling for the gold and used the instructions of the coaches correctly."
Since he has moved up to an Olympic weight class, Amoyan thinks that winning gold at 77kg is slightly more significant than his gold in Oslo which came at 72kg.
"At the Worlds, I wrestled at 72kg weight class which is not an Olympic weight," he said. "But this gold in Budapest has its Olympic significance. Well, each of them has a special purpose in my life."
The win was even more special as he had beaten 77kg Oslo silver medalist Sanan Suleymanov (AZE), 6-5, in the semifinals. It was his first win over the Azerbaijan wrestler in three meetings.
After his semifinal and final wins, Amoyan also got a special pat on the back from the Rio Olympic champion and Tokyo silver medalist Artur Aleksanyan (ARM) who was present during the celebrations.
"Artur helped me a lot, he was always close to our team, and his presence inspired our team to become winners," he said.
