Lajos Virág

Lajos Virág (born June 27, 1977 in Eger , Heves, Hungary) is a former Hungarian wrestler . It was 2005 vice world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in heavyweight .

Career

Lajos Virág started wrestling in his hometown in 1985 at the age of eight. He also became a member of the sports club Vasas SC Eger . He focused on the Greco-Roman style and was trained mainly by Tibor Komáromi and Jenő Bódi in his career . Over the years he developed into a powerful athlete who always started in the light heavyweight division at a height of 1.86 meters. Lajos Virág is also well known in German wrestling circles, as he competed for several years for the RKG Freiburg 2000 and SV Johannis Nürnberg in the German Bundesliga.

In 1995 he took part for the first time in an international wrestling championship, the European Junior Championship (Juniors) in Witten. But he only came 12th in the weight class up to 81 kg. In 2000 he was used in Tashkent at an Olympic middleweight qualifying tournament . With a 5th place he did not qualify for the Olympic Games in Sydney. As a student he started in 2000 at the Universities World Championship in Tokyo, where he finished 5th in the middleweight division, and in 2002 also at the Student World Championship in Edmonton, where he finished 2nd in the light heavyweight division behind Roman Meduna from Slovakia. Took place.

In 2002 Lajos Virág was also the first Hungarian light heavyweight champion. At the 2002 European Championships in Seinäjoki / Finland he met the Russian title contender, multiple world and Olympic champion Gogi Koguaschwili , against whom he lost , in his first fight . With a victory in his next fight against Robert Petrosjan from Armenia, he could only fight for 9th place, according to the then strange regulations. In 2003 he became Hungarian champion again, but this year too he was only able to fight for middle places at the international championships. At the 2003 European Championships in Belgrade, he won over Richard Karelson from Estonia and then lost to Mirko Englich from Germany and came in 10th place and at the 2003 World Championships in Créteil he won over Toomas Proovel from Estonia and Ernesto Peña from Cuba. After a defeat in the next fight against Aleksey Cheglakov from Uzbekistan, he was eliminated and came in 9th place.

He also took 9th place at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He came there to a victory over the American Garrett Lowney , but then lost to Ernesto Pena and was eliminated. At the European Championships in 2005 in Varna, Lajos Virág lost his first fight against Dimitri Timchenko from Ukraine and was therefore only 17th. So he did all the better at the 2005 World Cup in Budapest. He won there over Mitja Sedmark, Slovenia, Schota Narmanow, Belarus, Justin Ruiz , USA and Margulan Assenbekow, Kazakhstan and thus faced the multiple world and Olympic champion Hamza Yerlikaya from Turkey, against whom he lost, in the final. He became vice world champion. In 2005 he became Hungarian champion again by winning the final over Iwan Nemeth.

In 2006 he was back at the World Cup, which was held in Guangzhou. He came there in the light heavyweight division to a victory over Nguyen Van Duc from Vietnam and lost to Jimmy Lidberg from Sweden, which brought him 8th place. In 2008, Lajos Virág managed to qualify again for participation in the Olympic Games with a 2nd place at the tournament in Rome-Ostia. In Beijing he then lost his first fight against Adam Wheeler from the United States very narrowly with 1: 2 rounds with 3: 3 points. Since Wheeler did not reach the final, he had to retire and only came in 17th place. After that he did not contest any more international championships.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1995	12.	Junior European Championship (Juniors) in Witten	up to 81 kg	Winner: Serkan Özden , Turkey ahead of Richard Karelson, Estonia
2000	5.	Olympic qualification tournament in Tashkent	medium	Winner: Fritz Aanes , Norway, ahead of Igor Bugai, Ukraine
2000	5.	Universities World Cup in Tokyo	medium	Winner: Toomas Proovel, Estonia ahead of Cael Sanderson , USA
2002	9.	EM in Seinäjoki / Finland	Semi-difficult	after a defeat against Gogi Koguaschwili, Russia and victory over Robert Petrosyan, Armenia
2002	2.	Universities World Cup in Edmonton	Semi-difficult	behind Roman Meduna, Slovakia, in front of Serkan Özden and Rasoul Jazini, Iran
2003	10.	EM in Belgrade	Semi-difficult	after a win over Richard Karelson and a loss to Mirko Englich, Germany
2003	9.	World Cup in Créteil	Semi-difficult	after victories over Toomas Proovel and Ernesto Pena, Cuba and a defeat against Aleksey Cheglakov, Uzbekistan
2004	9.	OS in Athens	Semi-difficult	after a win over Garrett Lowney, USA and a loss to Ernesto Pena
2005	3.	Vehbi Emre Memorial in Istanbul	Semi-difficult	behind Hamza Yerlikaya, Turkey and Marek Sitnik , Poland
2005	1.	Hungarian Grand Prix in Szombathely	Semi-difficult	before Mindaugas Ezerskis , Lithuania, Sergei Jaroschewisch, Russia and M. Gettinyurek, Turkey
2005	17th	EM in Varna	Semi-difficult	after losing to Dimitri Timchenko, Ukraine
2005	1.	Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Memorial in Ratibor	Semi-difficult	in front of Aslanbek Chuschtow , Russia, Ramas Nosadze, Georgia and Georgous Koutsioubas, Greece
2005	2.	World Cup in Budapest	Semi-difficult	after victories over Mitja Sedmark, Slovenia, Schota Narmanow, Belarus, Justin Ruiz, USA and Margulan Assembekow, Kazakhstan and a defeat against Hamza Yerlikaya, Turkey
2006	8th.	World Cup in Guangzhou	Semi-difficult	after defeating Nguyen Van Duc, Vietnam and losing to Jimmy Lidberg, Sweden
2007	2.	Ion Corneanu Memorial in Brasow	Semi-difficult	behind Balasz Kiss , Hungary, in front of Aslanbek Chuschtow and Justin Ruiz
2007	3.	Hungarian Grand Prix in Szombathely	Semi-difficult	behind Balasz Kiss and Jimmy Lidberg, together with Aslanbek Chuschtow, in front of Iwan Nemeth, Hungary and Rami Hietaniemi , Finland
2008	5.	Hungarian Grand Prix in Szombathely	Semi-difficult	behind Jimmy Lidberg, Karam Mohammed Gaber Ibrahim , Egypt, Mehmet Özal, Turkey and Andrzej Deberny
2008	2.	Olympic qualification tournament in Rome-Ostia	Semi-difficult	behind Kalojan Dinchew, Bulgaria, ahead of Oleg Kryoka, Ukraine and Mehmet Özal
2008	1.	Golden Grand Prix in Baku	Semi-difficult	before Oleg Kryoka, Andrzej Deberny , Poland and Janne Jokela, Finland
2008	17th	OS in Beijing	Semi-difficult	after a loss to Adam Wheeler, USA

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championships, EM = European Championships
• Middleweight, weight class up to 2001 up to 85 kg, light heavyweight, since 2002 up to 96 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website
• Website of the Hungarian Wrestling Association

Web links

• Lajos Virág in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )