Fri, Feb 10 2012

Second Olympic wrestling bronze for Bulgaria

Tue, Aug 19 2008 15:30 CET

byElitsa Savova

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Bulgarian wrestler Radoslav Velikov won Bulgaria's fourth medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, defeating Namig Sovdumov from Azerbaijan in the repechage bronze bout in the 55kg freestyle wrestling category.

In the first round, neither wrestler managed to score a point. Sovdumov won the lot for the clinch and won the round 2-0. Velikov bounced back to take the second round by three points to one.

The third round began well for the Bulgarian, who won one point and managed to defend it until the end to clinch the fight and the bronze medal.

Velikov dedicated his medal to his personal coach Simeon Shterev. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here," Velikov told Bulgarian National Television (BNT).

"We argued a lot over the last days because things were not working out the way they should have. My first fight against the American [Henry] Cejudo was the most difficult one. I was afraid of injury in my foot and failed to defeat him. I thought it would be better if he didn't continue, but he reached the final and dragged me into the repechage," he said.

Velikov added he was not sure whether he would continue wrestling until the next Olympic Games in London in 2012.

Cejudo won the Olympic medal, defeating Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga in the final. Russia's Besik Kudukhov won the other bronze.

Bulgaria medal count at the Beijing Olympics includes one gold medal in single sculls rowing, one silver and two bronze medals in wrestling.

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