The Athlete of the Week

Wrestler Nicu Ojog

Florin Orban, 20.11.2018, 13:20

Romania’s record at the World Under-23 Wrestling Championships amounts to eight medals. At the event held last week in Bucharest, Romanian wrestlers walked away with three silver and five bronze medals. The Romanian delegation was made up of 30 wrestlers, the Romanian Wrestling Federation’s stated aim being the winning of at least two medals.

In the Greek-Roman style, winners were Nicu Ojog, who grabbed silver in the 82-kilogram category and Mihai Radu Mihut, who snatched the bronze medal in the 63-kilogram category. In freestyle wrestling, stepping onto the second step of the podium was Maxim Vasilioglo, who won silver in the 74-kilogram category. Stepping onto the third step of the podium were Omaraskhab Nazhmudinov, who grabbed bronze in the 79 kilogram category and Nikolai Okhlopov who also won bronze in the 61-kilogram category.

In the women’s version of the same competition, Alexandra Anghel walked away with silver in the 72-kilogram category, Stefania Priceputu snatched bronze in the 50-kilogram category and Andreea Ana also won bronze in the 53-kilogram category.

Nicu Ojog was a whisker away from winning the gold medal. In the finals, Ojog sustained a defeat by Georgias’s Ghela Bolkvadze, who won on technical points, as the final score was 3-all and Ojog had a 3-1 lead until the last minute of the fight. In an interview, the president of the Romanian Wrestling Federation Razvan Pircalabu praised Ojog’s noteworthy performance, QUOTE I think in the forthcoming confrontations , when he faces the Georgian for a second time around, he’s sure to defeat him. And that, despite the three-year age gap between them. Ojog turned 20, while the Georgian is 23. So our wrestler’s performance is all the more important, UNQUOTE.

Because of his notable performance in Bucharest, RRI has designated Nicu Ojog the Athlete of the Week. Nicu Ojog was born on December 16, 1998, in Bacau. So far Ojog has won a great number of medals in the cadets and juniors’ competitions. Ojog is one of Romania’s great hopefuls ahead of the Olympics Games, to be held in Japan in 2020.