The 28-year-old silver medalist in the 77-kilogram weight group at the 2022 World Championships in Belgrade Zoltán Lévai even in his first match he had a tough opponent, the world and European champion in 82 kg Burhan Akbudak was waiting for him. At the beginning of the match, the Turk was first warned for passivity, which meant a point for our competitor (1-0), but he could not deal with his opponent in the parter situation. It could be expected that, according to custom, he would be sent down in the second round. however, our competitor really pushed himself at the end of the first three minutes, after an unsuccessful push-out attempt, he attacked the waist again and took the Turk off the mat with a vigorous action (2-0). In the second round, Lévai was also warned for passivity, but the Turk, ready with his strength, could not move him, so Zoltán Lévai advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory.
Zoltán Lévai won his match against the Turkish Burhan Akbudak Photo: MTI/Zsolt Czeglédi
Here is the second ranked, 27-year-old Azeri Sanan Suleimanov was waiting for him, who was also a silver medalist at the 2021 Oslo and 2023 Belgrade World Cups, but won the 2020 Rome European Championships and just defeated Lévait in the final. Just like against the Turks, Lévai, who started more actively, was able to try for the first time from the bottom position, but he was not successful, and even though he led 1-0 at the break, we could not rest easy. With 2:19 minutes before the end, Lévai was also sent to the penalty spot, and the score became 1-1. And that was all that was left, which meant that with the point he scored later, Suleimanov made it to the semi-finals.
Zoltán Lévai: My opponent defended very well in the position below
– I had the same tactics as in the first match, to get my opponent to be sent down first. It turned out that way, but unfortunately I couldn’t do an action, even though I’ve been practicing the situation below a lot lately. In the end, the Azeri went on with the point he scored later. I could have chosen the tactics he did, but I came to wrestle. I came for Olympic gold, but there are situations that cannot be controlled. Of course, I could have controlled the situation below, but my opponent defended very well…
