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LONDON >> The head of Istanbul’s bid for the 2020 Olympics is hoping a victorious vote for his group coincides with wrestling’s return to the games.
The International Olympic Committee executive board voted this month to drop wrestling from the 2020 program, but the final vote will be made in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina. That’s when Istanbul will be challenging Madrid and Tokyo for the right to stage the Olympics in seven years.
Istanbul bid leader Hasan Arat says “if we are awarded the games, Turkey wants to have wrestling events in Istanbul.”
One of Turkey’s five medals at the London Olympics came in wrestling, a bronze in the men’s 120-kilogram Greco-Roman division.
