Petko Sirakov

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Petko Athanasow Sirakow ( Bulgarian Петко Сираков ; born February 16, 1929 in Waltschidol , Varna Oblast ; † April 1996 ) was a Bulgarian wrestler . He was world champion in 1957 in free style and winner of the silver medal in Greco-Roman. Style at the 1956 Olympics, each light heavyweight.

Career

Petko Sirakow began wrestling in the late 1940s. As early as 1950 he was one of the best Bulgarian wrestlers. The Bulgarian wrestling sport was in the development phase in those years. Petko Sirakow was a sports student and a member of Akademisk Sofia . As early as 1951 he appeared on the international wrestling mat when he defeated the Czech Zabransky in international matches, but lost to Herbert Albrecht from the GDR .

The Bulgarian Wrestling Association has only participated in the international wrestling championships since 1955. But Petko Sirakow was not there at the 1955 World Championships in Karlsruhe . He made his debut at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne . He got off to a brilliant start in his international career, winning the silver medal in the Greco-Roman style in the light heavyweight division . On the way there he defeated u. a. Adil Atan from Turkey and the 1948 Olympic champion Karl-Erik Nilsson from Sweden . In the fight for the gold medal he was defeated by the Soviet wrestler Valentin Nikolayev .

Petko Sirakow was one of the few wrestlers who still competed in both ring styles. That is why he competed in free style at the 1957 World Cup in Istanbul . In Istanbul he celebrated the greatest success of his career. However, he was very lucky with the draw because he only won one fight at this World Cup, the one against İsmet Atlı from Turkey. He fought against Boris Kulayev from the Soviet Union and György Gurics from Hungary . In the 3rd and 5th round he had bye tickets, ie he did not need to wrestle in these rounds and therefore could not collect any missing points. His competitors were not so lucky and received plenty of missing points. After the 5th round only Petko Sirakow was in the competition and thus world champion .

At the 1958 World Cup in Budapest in Greco-Roman. Style he just missed a medal with 4th place in the light heavyweight division. The decisive factors were a draw against Rostom Abashidze from the USSR and defeats against György Gurics and Rune Jansson from Sweden.

One last time Petko Sirakow was at a world championship in 1959 in Tehran . In free style, he was runner-up in the light heavyweight division. He lost it in the final battle against the Iranian Gholamreza Takhti .

Surprisingly, Petko Athanasow Sirakow was no longer at the start at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome . At the end of 1959 he had ended his international wrestling career. He then worked for many years as the head coach of the Bulgarian national wrestling team and was jointly responsible for countless great successes of the Bulgarian wrestlers in those years.

He was the father of the Bulgarian national soccer player Nasko Sirakow .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style, Hs = light heavyweight, back then up to 87 kg body weight)

  • 1958, 4th place , World Cup in Budapest , GR, Hs, with victories over Necati Morgül, Turkey a. Evangelos Frankiadakis, Greece , a tie against Rostom Abashidze , USSR u. Defeats against György Gurics u. Rune Jansson , Sweden;

swell

  • Athletics magazine from 1951 to 1959,
  • Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976,
  • Website "www.iat.uni-leipzig.de",
  • Bulgarian Olympic Committee website

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Политика и икономика. In: capital.bg. April 15, 1996, Retrieved May 25, 2018 (Bulgarian).
personal data
SURNAME Sirakov, Petko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sirakow, Petko Athanasow
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bulgarian wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Waltschidol , Varna Oblast
DATE OF DEATH April 1996