SPORTS

Wrestlers qualify for Athens Games

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) – Olympic gold medalist Alireza Dabir of Iran qualified for the 2004 Games on Sunday, placed among the top five in the 66-kilogram category at an Olympic freestyle wrestling qualifying tournament. Dabir won the gold in Sydney at 58 kilograms. Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan, Artur Tavkazakhov of Uzbekistan, Chris Bono of the United States and Baek Jin-kuk Baek of South Korea also qualified at 66 kilograms. Daniel Igali, who won the gold in 2000 at 69 kilograms, qualified for the 74-kilogram class, along with Joe Williams of the United States, Ivan Fundora of Cuba, Arayik Gevorgya of Armenia and Krystian Brzozowski of Poland. At 55 kilograms, Rene Montero of Cuba led the way with Kerman Kantoyeu of Belarus, Martin Berberyan of Armenia, Namig Abdullayev of Azerbaijan and Li Zhengyu of China. Kamal Ustarkhanov of Russia qualified in the 60-kilogram category with Anatolie Guidea of Bulgaria, Vasyl Fedoryshyn of Ukraine, Guivi Sissaouri of Canada and Gokar Mostafa of Iran. Eldar Asanov of Ukraine topped the list at 84 kilograms, followed by Yokohama Hidekazu of Japan, Chanbaripirsari Feridoun of Iran, Moon Eui-jae of South Korea and Arkadiy Tzopa of Bulgaria. Magomed Ibragimov of Uzbekistan led the 96-kilogram group, followed by Cakiroglu of Turkey, Rustam Aghayev of Azerbaijan, Wang Yuanyuan of China and Rolf Scherrer of Switzerland. Alexis Rodriguez of Cuba, bronze medal winner at the 2000 Olympics in the 130-kilogram category, will compete at 120 kilograms in Athens. Kuramagomed Kuramagomedov of Russia, Francesco Miano of Italy, Marek Garmulewicz of Poland and V. Kara of Turkey will also compete.

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