Beijing - World and European champion Ramazan Sahin of Turkey just managed to live up to expectations Wednesday when he took Olympic gold in the men's 66-kilogram freestyle wrestling category while Russia's Buvaysa Saytiev successfuly defended his 74kg title. Sahin narrowly overcame Ukraine's Andriy Stadnik 6-5 in a tough gold-medal match while the bronze medals went to Georgia's Otar Tushishvili and Sushil Kumar of India.
"The most difficult round was the last round because my opponent was very strong," said the 25-year-old Sahin.
"I lost to him the last time we fought but I felt quite relaxed and confident that I could win."
Stadnik, whose wife Mariy Stadnik won bronze in the women's 48kg freestyle in Beijing, said that while he was disappointed to lose, reaching the final was also an achievement.
"I have competed against Sahin three times and only won once," he said. "I tried to find the reserves to win but in the end couldn't manage it."
Tushishvili beat Cuba's Geandry Garzon 4-1 in his bronze medal bout while Sushil Kumar of India prevailed 3-2 against Kazakhstan's Leonid Spiridonov.
"I wrestled very well," said Kumar. "I tried to get the bout to move faster because we were both tired."
In the 74kg final, Saytiev defeated Uzbekistan's Soslan Tigiev 4- 2 to take successfully defend his Olympic title while European Championship finalist Murad Gaidarov of Belarus and Bulgaria's Kiril Tersiev claimed bronze.
The 33-year-old Saytiev also won Olympic gold in the 74kg category in Atlanta.
Gaidarov defeated Gheorghita Stefan of Romania 5-2 in his bronze medal match while Tersiev beat 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Ivan Fundora of Cuba 11-8.
