Eduard Soghomonyan

Eduard Soghomonyan (born 19 February 1990) is an Armenian-born heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler. He has competed for Brazil since 2015 and was naturalized as a Brazilian in 2016.

Career

The fighter arrived in São Paulo in 2012 after making friends with members of the Brazilian delegation, accompanied by him during the Pan-Armenian Games a year earlier. Eduard has competed for Brazil since 2015, but using a so-called sports passport.

Soghomonyan represented Brazil at the 2015 South American Wrestling Championships, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November, and won his first gold medal for the country in the 130 kg category.

At the 2016 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Frisco, USA, he won the silver medal in the 130 kg category. He faced Cuban Oscar Pino Hunds in the final, after beating Venezuelan Erwin Cabrera, Honduran Randy Martinez and North American Toby Ericson. In a disputed decision, the Cuban won the first round 2-0 and Eduard had to take a risk with just 10 seconds remaining. Oscar counterattacked, got the stoppage and the gold medal.

In June 2016, he was naturalized as a Brazilian citizen. Thus, he was able to defend Brazil at the Rio Olympic Games in August.

He represented Brazil at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He competed in the men's 130 kg event.

He won the silver medal in his event at the 2022 Pan American Wrestling Championships held in Acapulco, Mexico.

He competed in the 130kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, where he won the first fight but was eliminated in the round of 16.

At the 2023 Pan American Wrestling Championships, he obtained a bronze medal in the 130 kg category.

At the 2023 Pan American Games, he reached the bronze medal fight, but did not win the medal, finishing in 5th place. He competed at the 2024 Pan American Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Acapulco, Mexico hoping to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. He was eliminated in the semifinals by Yasmani Acosta of Chile.