Turkish wrestlers get ready for European championships

Olympic champion Taha Akgul to miss European Wrestling Championships in Rome due to injury

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish wrestlers set their eyes on the 2020 European Championships to be held in Italy's Rome in February.

Athletes are preparing for the Rome 2020 but Turkey may lack an Olympic champion, Taha Akgul.

The 2016 Summer Olympics gold medalist, Akgul, 29, won't be in the 2020 European Wrestling Championships due to shoulder injury. He underwent surgery in Dec. 2019.

Akgul bagged a gold medal in the 2019 European Wrestling Championships in Romania.

In the men's 125-kg freestyle final, Akgul beat Georgian Geno Petriashvili to be the winner in Bucharest.

The Turkish freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women wrestlers will start their last training periods each in Turkey late January, the Turkish Wrestling Federation said in a statement on Monday.

Turkey won 16 medals - including six gold - in Bucharest 2019 to record its highest number of medals ever in the European championships.

Turkey's Riza Kayaalp won his ninth European title while Akgul claimed his seventh.

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