01. 01. 2020
On November 17 and 18, the 20th edition of the Olympic Hopes tournament, which also includes the tournament for the Cup of the Director of OŠG, was held in Košice. On our home mats, we welcomed wrestlers from the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and of course, clubs from the Slovak Republic, although in smaller numbers than expected. We were pleased by the visit of the president of U.S. Steel, Scott D. BUCKISO, Ján BAČO, director of external relations, the sports director of our club, Jozef LOHYŇA, and other fans, former wrestlers, and sympathizers of our club.
From the home team of Košice, the following competed in the junior category: Jozef MESIARKIN, in the 84kg weight category, who was the only one to win all his matches in the tough competition and won the gold medal at the home tournament. In this weight category, Tomáš KRUPJAK, who placed 9th, and Samuel KORŠŇÁK, in 6th place, also competed. The heavyweight category was also won by Matúš SÝKORA, but without a fight, as his weight category was unoccupied. He confirmed his victory in a friendly match with an opponent from Poland from a lower weight category, whom he managed to defeat by fall at the beginning of the match. Jakub SÝKORA in the 74 kg weight category lost his match just before the end of the final, due to his own mistake, and so instead of a gold medal, he was left with a silver one. Hany AL-KUBATI in this weight category placed 10th.
In the cadet category, the following wrestled: Makar VYHIVSKYI, in the 69kg weight category, who was the only one to stand on the podium, winning a bronze medal with one loss and three wins. In this weight category, Lukáš NEUPAUER placed a nice 5th and Martin KUBELA 8th. In the lowest weight category of 50kg, Samuel BUČKO wrestled, who lost the fight for bronze against a Ukrainian competitor and finished in 4th place. Roland KAPITANČÍK in the 63kg weight category placed 8th and in the 85kg category, Patrik TOMLEIN placed 6th.
In the team ranking, we placed 6th among the cadets, a result we were disappointed with. In the junior category, we did better, and the boys won a beautiful 2nd place in the overall evaluation, where we were overtaken by the dominant Polish national team. mb
Congratulations on the achieved results and we wish you good luck at the next international events!