Yuliana Yaneva won a fourth Olympic quota for Bulgarian wrestling after defeating Mongolian Davanasan Enkh Amar in the qualifying match at 76 kg from the tournament in Istanbul, Turkey. Mimi Hristova lost her fight and is waiting for repechages, and Miglena Selishka was pulled by her opponent, reports BTA.
Bilyana Dudova at 62 kg, Semyon Novikov at 87 kg classical style and Ike Mnatsakanyan at 77 kg still have quotas for Paris.
Janeva received the first point for her opponent's passivity, and the first part ended with a score of 1:0. The Mongolian was punished again after the break and the Bulgarian led by two points, after which Janeva's passivity followed. However, she made a successful counterattack for two more points and the final 4:1, with which the national up to 76 kg deserved the fourth Olympic quota for Bulgaria and the second for women's wrestling.
Hristova stopped her perfect streak in the semifinals at 68 kg. The Bulgarian got to him with flair and technical superiority in her first two bouts, and in the decisive battle she took the first two points against China's Feng Zhou. However, the three-time champion of Asia responded with a successful attack and after several transfers won with 12:2.
Hristova will have a second chance in the repechages, where she will meet the winner of the match between Linda Moraes (Canada) and O-yun Ha (Republic of Korea). If she wins, the Bulgarian will fight against the best athlete from the other part of the quota scheme for Paris 2024.
Seliska reached the repechage after North Korea's Son-hyang Kim produced one of the biggest surprises of the tournament with a 10-3 win against 11-time European champion Maria Stadnik of Azerbaijan. Thus, the Bulgarian must successively eliminate Julie Sabati (France) and Nguyen Thi Xuan (Vietnam) in order to get to a match with Stadnik, and then eventually to a clash for qualifying at the Olympics.
Irena Binkova was eliminated at 53 kg, after Stalvira Orsos (Hungary), who defeated her earlier, lost in the semi-finals against Mariana Dragutan (Moldova) with 2:9.