Anushavan Sahakyan (, born 23 January 1972) is a retired

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

Freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

wrestler. He became a European Champion in 1994.

Biography

Sahakyan was born on 23 January 1972 in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. He began to practice

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

at the age of 12 under the coaching of Yuri Babayan. In 1990 he became a Junior World Champion. From 1993 to 1999, he was a member of the national freestyle wrestling team of Armenia. The largest success in his career was winning the gold medal at the 1994

European Wrestling Championships The European Wrestling Championships is the second oldest international wrestling competition of the modern world and the main wrestling championships in Europe. It predates World Wrestling Championships and other regional wrestling championships ...

. In the finals he defeated Russian Bagavdin Umakhanov, a two-time European Champion. Sahakyan and Armen Mkrtchyan are both the first ever European Wrestling Champions in freestyle wrestling from the independent Republic of Armenia. He finished his career in 1999. Since 2010 he has been coaching at the Yerevan wrestling club Malatia named after Vahan Zatikyan. From 2010 to 2012 he coached European Championship medalist Grigor Grigoryan.

References

1972 births Living people Sport wrestlers from Yerevan Armenian male sport wrestlers European Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century Armenian people {{Armenia-wrestling-bio-stub