On September 16-20, World Championship in arm wrestling was held in the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius. Our athletes honorably participated in this tournament. 14 gold, 5 silver, 7 bronze – our athletes won 26 medals in total. Georgia occupied the 4th place among 46 countries, by the number of gold medals they stayed only behind Russia.
Participation in the lightest and heavy weight is notably. Imeda Chincharauli added one gold in seniors to the gold-silver in youth. Gela Arabuli pleasantly surprised us in -60 kg weight category. Previously 40-year-old athlete could not reach the gold medal, but this time really pleased the fans of arm-wrestling. Being a world champion at the age of 40 really means a lot!
Heavy-weight Levan Saginashvili added two gold medals to this year’s silver. He successfully completed the qualifying draw and also easily defeated Giorgi Cvetkov (in the right) and Farit Usmanli (in the left) in final.
Here is the list of Georgian medalists:
U-18: Left: Tornike Gigauri (-70kg, gold), Niko Bajaladze (+80kg, gold); Right: Aleksi Zavrashvili (-60kg, gold), Tornike Gigauri (-70kg, bronze);
U-21: Left: Imeda Chincharauli (-55kg, gold), Giorgi Jashiashvili (-55kg, bronze), Guram Abulashvili (-65kg, silver), Merab Kakabadze (-75kg, gold), Vako Meladze (-80kg, gold), Elchin Binatov (-85kg, gold), Dato Teneishvili (+90kg, bronze); Right: Giorgi Jashiashvili (-55kg, gold), Imeda Chincharauli (-55kg, silver), Levan Pogosiani (-60kg, bronze), Guram Abulashvili (-65kg, gold), Zaza Okrotsvaridze (-75kg, silver), Vako Meladze (-80kg, gold), Elchin Binatov (-85kg, bronze);
Seniors: Left: Imeda Chincharauli (-55kg, gold), Vileni Gabrava (-60kg, silver), Racho Gakharia (-100kg, bronze), Levan Saginashvili (heavy, gold); Right: Aleksi Pretsuashvili (-55kg, gold), Gela Arabuli (-60kg, gold), Jambul Vibliani (-65kg, silver), Levan Saginashvili (heavy, gold);
Final outcome: Seniors: 5 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze – 8 medals; U-21: 6 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze – 14 medals; U-18: 3 gold, 1 bronze – 4 medals;
Oto Chulukhadze
