The men's freestyle bantamweight competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London took place from 29 July to 31 July at the Empress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Nations were limited to one competitor. Bantamweight was the second-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing .
This freestyle wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman and at the 1932 Summer Olympics for freestyle wrestling, with the slight modification introduced in 1936. Each round featured all wrestlers pairing off and wrestling one bout (with one wrestler having a bye if there were an odd number). The loser received 3 points if the loss was by fall or unanimous decision and 2 points if the decision was 2-1 (this was the modification from prior years, where all losses were 3 points). The winner received 1 point if the win was by decision and 0 points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least 5 points was eliminated.
Results
Round 1
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Lajos Bencze Decision, 2–1 Erkki Johansson Erik Persson Decision, 3–0 Walter Wenger Charles Kouyos Decision, 3–0 Sayed Hafez Shehata Joseph Trimpont Fall Fabio Santamaria Nasuh Akar Fall Norman May Ray Cazaux Decision, 3–0 Francisco Vicera Gerald Leeman Fall Nirmal Bhose Han Sang-ryong Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Nasuh Akar 0 0 0 1 Han Sang-ryong 0 0 0 1 Gerald Leeman 0 0 0 1 Joseph Trimpont 0 0 0 5 Lajos Bencze 0 1 1 5 Ray Cazaux 0 1 1 5 Charles Kouyos 0 1 1 5 Erik Persson 0 1 1 9 Erkki Johansson 0 2 2 10 Nirmal Bhose 0 3 3 10 Sayed Hafez Shehata 0 3 3 10 Norman May 0 3 3 10 Fabio Santamaria 0 3 3 10 Francisco Vicera 0 3 3 10 Walter Wenger 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Erik Persson Decision, 3–0 Han Sang-ryong Nasuh Akar Decision, 3–0 Walter Wenger Lajos Bencze Decision, 3–0 Norman May Erkki Johansson Decision, 2–1 Nirmal Bhose Gerald Leeman Fall Ray Cazaux Charles Kouyos Fall Francisco Vicera Sayed Hafez Shehata Fall Fabio Santamaria Joseph Trimpont Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Gerald Leeman 0 0 0 1 Joseph Trimpont 0 0 0 3 Nasuh Akar 0 1 1 3 Charles Kouyos 1 0 1 5 Lajos Bencze 1 1 2 6 Erik Persson 1 1 2 7 Sayed Hafez Shehata 3 0 3 7 Han Sang-ryong 0 3 3 7 Erkki Johansson 2 1 3 10 Ray Cazaux 1 3 4 11 Nirmal Bhose 3 2 5 12 Norman May 3 3 6 12 Fabio Santamaria 3 3 6 12 Francisco Vicera 3 3 6 12 Walter Wenger 3 3 6
Round 3
Hafez Shehata is officially listed as part of the tie for 5th place despite having 6 points to the other 5th place finishers' 5 points.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Joseph Trimpont Decision, 3–0 Han Sang-ryong Nasuh Akar Decision, 3–0 Erik Persson Gerald Leeman Decision, 3–0 Lajos Bencze Charles Kouyos Fall Erkki Johansson Ray Cazaux Decision, 3–0 Sayed Hafez Shehata
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Charles Kouyos 1 0 1 1 Gerald Leeman 0 1 1 1 Joseph Trimpont 0 1 1 4 Nasuh Akar 1 1 2 5 Lajos Bencze 2 3 5 5 Ray Cazaux 4 1 5 5 Erik Persson 2 3 5 5 Sayed Hafez Shehata 3 3 6 9 Han Sang-ryong 3 3 6 9 Erkki Johansson 3 3 6
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Nasuh Akar Fall Joseph Trimpont Gerald Leeman Decision, 3–0 Charles Kouyos
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Nasuh Akar 2 0 2 1 Gerald Leeman 1 1 2 3 Charles Kouyos 1 3 4 3 Joseph Trimpont 1 3 4
Round 5
Kouyos took the bronze over Trimpont "based on more wins." Both finished with 7 points and had not faced each other. Kouyos was 3–2 while Trimpont was only 2–2 after receiving a second-round bye.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Gerald Leeman Decision, 3–0 Joseph Trimpont Nasuh Akar Fall Charles Kouyos
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Nasuh Akar 2 0 2 2 Gerald Leeman 2 1 3 Charles Kouyos 4 3 7 4 Joseph Trimpont 4 3 7
Round 6
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Nasuh Akar Fall Gerald Leeman
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Nasuh Akar 2 0 2 Gerald Leeman 2 3 5
References
General