Your trusted source

Freestyle wrestlers Arsen Harutyunyan and Arman Andreasyan, who clinched gold medals at the European Championships in Bucharest, bronze medalist Mezhlum Mezhlumyan and other members of the Armenian team received a warm welcome at Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport on Tuesday.

"Every gold medal is earned with great difficulty. Maybe I easily beat my rivals on the mat, but I have traveled a difficult path. And I am ready to go through this difficult path 10 more times to be able to win an Olympic gold medal," four-time European champion Arsen Harutyunyan told reporters at the airport.

The champion credited all his victories to strong belief.

"The bouts with my Turkish and Azerbaijani opponents were psychologically difficult, but the victories were not so hard to achieve," said the athlete.

European champion Arman Andreasyan noted in turn: "I am happy that my hard work brought good results. I went to the European Championships for a gold medal, which I won.”

Arsen Harutyunyan defeated his Turkish rival 10-0 in the 57kg final of the European Championships to win the gold, while Arman Andreasyan claimed the European title after beating his Georgian rival 7-3 in the 70kg final.

Armenia finished fourth in the team standing.