Turkey’s medal tally at the ongoing Olympic Games in China increased to two after Nazmi Avluca won the bronze in the men’s 84-kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling competition on Thursday.

Nazmi, the 2006 World Championship silver medalist, outclassed and dominated Ma Sanyi of China, winning 3-1 to earn Turkey a much-needed medal. The Turkish Olympians have been pilloried from all sides by the merciless sports media for their lackluster performance and so the bronze, without doubt, was a huge relief for the embattled athletes. Before Thursday, the only medal in Turkey’s bag was the silver won by Sibel Özkan in the women’s 48-kilogram weightlifting event last Saturday.

The other 84-kilogram bronze medalist was Sweden's Ara Abrahamian while Italian Andrea Minguzzi beat Zoltan Fodor of Hungary in the final for the gold. The win makes Minguzzi Italy's first Olympic wrestling champion in 20 years. Fodor, also an unlikely finalist, was eighth in the world last year and, only three years ago, was 30th in the world juniors. Elsewhere in wrestling Mehmet Özal of Turkey beat Oleg Kryoka of Ukraine 4-2 (1-2, 1-1) in the 96-kilogram qualifiers while Rıza Kayaalp was subdued by Mindaugas Mizgaitis on Lithuania in the 120-kilogram division.

Turkish athletes in other events on Thursday failed woefully. Kaan Tayla was 37th in the men’s freestyle heats with 22.66 and Onur Uras was seventh in heat three in the men’s 100-meter butterfly with a time of 54.79 seconds. And in boxing, Bahram Muzaffer was beaten 10-2 by Ireland’s Kenny Egan.

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