Burhan Akbudak

Burhan Akbudak (born 1 June 1995) is a Turkish wrestler competing in the 82 kg division of Greco-Roman wrestling. He is a member of Istanbul BB SK.

Career Burhan Akbudak, competing in Greco-Roman wrestling 82 kilograms category, won a gold medal in the U23 World Wrestling Championships, which was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland .

Burhan Akbudak won silver at 2021 World Wrestling Championships. Burhan Akbudak, who competed in the World Championship for the first time in the seniors category, faced the European champion and Olympic third runner-up, Azerbaijani Rafig Huseynov, in the final. The Azerbaijani wrestler who won the match 2-1 won the gold medal, while Burhan won the silver medal. Burhan Akbudak, beat Armenian Gegham Torgomyan by 12–0 in the first round, and defeated Hungarian Laszlo Szabo by 11–0 in the second round. Defeating the American Benjamin Provisor in the quarter-finals with a 10-0 point key, the national wrestler won the match with Iranian Pejman Soltanmorad Poshtam 5–2 in the semi-finals and made his mark in the final.

In 2022, he won the gold medal in his event at the Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey. Burhan Akbudak beat Uzbekistan's Jalgasbay Berdimuratov 7–6 in men's Greco-Roman 82 kg at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, scoring his first-ever gold in the tournament.

Burhan Akbudak became the European champion for the first time at the 2023 European Wrestling Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, by winning the final match of the men's 82 kg wrestling championships with a 3–3 draw with Ukraine's Yaroslav Filchakov and winning with the advantage of the last point. Burhan Akbudak, who started the championship from the last 16 round, defeated his Serbian opponent Branko Kovacevic with 9-0 technical superiority and reached the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Burhan Akbudak met German Roland Schwarz. Burhan defeated his German opponent with the same score of 9-0 technical superiority and made his name in the semifinals. In the semi-final against Azerbaijan's Refik Hüseynov, Burhan Akbudak defeated his opponent with a 5–1 lead and reached the final.

He competed in the 77kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. He was eliminated in his first match by Zoltán Lévai of Hungary.

Major results