Tamas Lorincz will look to improve on his Olympic silver medal at Rio 2016 ©Getty Images

Hungary’s Tamas Lorincz secured his place at a third straight Olympic Games after triumphing at the Rio 2016 European wrestling qualifier in Zrenjanin today.

The London 2012 silver medallist headed into the competition in Serbia as one of the favourites and the three-time European champion justified his billing in the 66 kilogram Greco-Roman event.

Lorincz, who has enjoyed success at the non-Olympic weight of 71kg, defeated Croatia’s Dominik Etlinger in the semi-finals to secure his Rio 2016 spot.

“It feels great to be going to the Olympics for a third time,” he said.

“This is definitely my last Olympics at 66kg.”

Lorincz defeated Shmagi Bolkvadze 6-1 in the final, with his Georgian opponent having sealed his berth at the Games by beating Poland’s Dawid Karecinski 5-0 in his last four encounter.

Home favourite Kristian Fris prevailed in his 59kg division clash against Stig-Andre Berge via a technical fall.

It saw him earn one of the two spots on offer, with the Serbian now set to compete at his second Olympics, having finished seventh at Beijing 2008.

Russia's Sanal Semenov earned his place at the Rio 2016 Olympics with a convincing set of performances
Russia's Sanal Semenov earned his place at the Rio 2016 Olympics with a convincing set of performances ©UWW

He proved unable to beat fellow qualifier Sanal Semenov in the final, with the judges giving the Russian wrestler a technical fall win.

Armenia’s 2013 world champion David Safaryan failed to qualify in the men’s 65kg freestyle event, after he was beaten 7-2 by Poland’s Magomedmurad Gadzhiev.

The Pole went on to claim a 5-0 win over Ukraine’s Andriy Kvyatkovskyy in the final of the competition.

Bulgaria’s Vladimir Dubov, a World Championship bronze medallist at the non-Olympic weight 61kg, triumphed at the lower weight of 57kg.

He first defeated France’s Zoheir El Ouarraqe in the semi-finals with a technical fall, which sealed his Rio 2016 spot, before beating Armenia’s Garnik Mnatsakanyan in the same manner in the final.

Shmagi Bolkvadze earned a Greco-Roman quota spot for Georgia
Shmagi Bolkvadze earned a Greco-Roman quota spot for Georgia ©UWW

There was further Bulgarian success when European Games runner-up Elitsa Yankova won the women’s 48kg freestyle title by beating Romania’s Emilia Vuc, after both athletes had sealed quota spots.

The final Rio 2016 berths of the day were claimed by Poland’s Katarzyna Krawczyk and Germany’s Nina Hemmer, after they earned wins over Italy’s Francesca Mori and Ukraine’s Yuliia Blahinya in the semi-finals.

Krawczyk went on to defeat Hemmer via a technical fall verdict in the final.

Competition is due to continue tomorrow in Zrenjanin, with the qualifier set to draw to a close on Sunday (April 17).