23. 06. 2015
Košice, Warsaw (June 23-24, 2015) Last weekend, the Polish capital hosted the 24th edition of the "W. Ziolkowski Memorial" international tournament. The tournament, as in previous years, serves as a test for many national teams from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America before the upcoming world championships. This year's World Championships will be held in Las Vegas, USA. The championship will also be the first opportunity to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Many top wrestlers who will compete in Vegas participated in the tournament in Poland. For example, last year's world champions from Russia, Soslan Ramonov (65kg) and Khetag Tsabolov (70kg), and silver medalist Sosuke Takatani (74kg) from Japan, and many other successful wrestlers.
In Štefan Fernyák's national team selection, Michael Bodnár was the only one from Košice to compete, in the 86kg weight category. He was accompanied at the tournament by Jozef Lohyňa and Štefan Csorba. In a competition of 25 wrestlers, Mišo faced the eventual winner of the weight class, Turk Selim YASAR, in the first round, to whom he lost 10:0 in 4 minutes. In the repechage, Mišo met an opponent from the Czech Republic, Vratislav CHOTÁŠ, whom he defeated 3:1. In the next round, he was no match for a national team colleague from Dunajplavba Bratislava, René MATEJOV, with whom he lost 1:7 on points and was eliminated from further fights. Michael Bodnár finished in 12th place. js