Igali still in Games wrestling picture

February 2 2004

Igali still in Games wrestling picture. Daniel Igali is one step closer to returning to the Olympics
The Canadian wrestler, who won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games at 69 kilograms -- a weight class that has since been eliminated -- qualified for an Olympic spot in the 74-kg division yesterday.

Igali won his first four matches at a freestyle Olympic qualifying tournament in Bratislava, Slovakia -- including a 3-2 win over 2001 world champion Nickolay Paslar of Bulgaria -- before falling 7-1 to Cuba's Ivan Fundora in a semifinal.

Igali, citing injury, defaulted to Armenia's Armen Gevorkian in the third-place match and wound up fourth.

However, Igali still must clear one more hurdle in order to get a shot at a second Olympic medal. To earn Canada's one spot in the 74-kg weight class, he must win a yet-to-be-scheduled showdown against Zoltan Hunyady of Guelph, who won the division at the Canadian Olympic trials in December.

Igali missed the competition because of injury.

Another Canadian also earned an Olympic spot yesterday in Bratislava.

In the 60-kg division, Gia Sissaouri finished fourth after winning his first two matches and losing his last two. His spot in Athens is guaranteed because he won the Canadian trials.