The men's freestyle lightweight 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. Lightweight was the fourth-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
Bechara withdrew during his bout. Pérez withdrew after his loss.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Celal Atik Fall Bill Koll Mohamed Hassan Moussa Decision, 3–0 Banta Singh Tony Ries Sr. Decision, 3–0 Ali Ghaffari Kim Seog-yeong Retired Abou Rejaile Bechara Jan Cools Decision, 3–0 Israel Sánchez Garibaldo Nizzola Decision, 2–1 Sulo Leppänen Morgan Plumb Decision, 3–0 Peter Luck Hermann Baumann Fall José Luis Pérez Gösta Frändfors Decision, 3–0 László Bakos
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Celal Atik 0 0 0 1 Hermann Baumann 0 0 0 1 Kim Seog-yeong 0 0 0 4 Jan Cools 0 1 1 4 Gösta Frändfors 0 1 1 4 Mohamed Hassan Moussa 0 1 1 4 Garibaldo Nizzola 0 1 1 4 Morgan Plumb 0 1 1 4 Tony Ries Sr. 0 1 1 10 Sulo Leppänen 0 2 2 11 László Bakos 0 3 3 11 Ali Ghaffari 0 3 3 11 Bill Koll 0 3 3 11 Peter Luck 0 3 3 11 Israel Sánchez 0 3 3 11 Banta Singh 0 3 3 17 Abou Rejaile Bechara 0 3 3* 17 José Luis Pérez 0 3 3*
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Bill Koll Decision, 3–0 Mohamed Hassan Moussa Celal Atik Fall Banta Singh Ali Ghaffari Fall Kim Seog-yeong Sulo Leppänen Decision, 3–0 Jan Cools Garibaldo Nizzola Decision, 3–0 Israel Sánchez Hermann Baumann Decision, 3–0 Morgan Plumb László Bakos Decision, 3–0 Peter Luck Gösta Frändfors Fall Tony Ries Sr.
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Celal Atik 0 0 0 2 Hermann Baumann 0 1 1 2 Gösta Frändfors 1 0 1 4 Garibaldo Nizzola 1 1 2 5 Ali Ghaffari 3 0 3 5 Kim Seog-yeong 0 3 3 5 Sulo Leppänen 2 1 3 8 László Bakos 3 1 4 8 Jan Cools 1 3 4 8 Mohamed Hassan Moussa 1 3 4 8 Bill Koll 3 1 4 8 Morgan Plumb 1 3 4 8 Tony Ries Sr. 1 3 4 14 Peter Luck 3 3 6 14 Israel Sánchez 3 3 6 14 Banta Singh 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Garibaldo Nizzola Decision, 3–0 Jan Cools Sulo Leppänen Decision, 3–0 Morgan Plumb László Bakos Decision, 3–0 Hermann Baumann Bill Koll Fall Ali Ghaffari Celal Atik Fall Tony Ries Sr. Kim Seog-yeong Decision, 3–0 Mohamed Hassan Moussa Gösta Frändfors Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Celal Atik 0 0 0 2 Gösta Frändfors 1 0 1 3 Garibaldo Nizzola 2 1 3 4 Hermann Baumann 1 3 4 4 Kim Seog-yeong 3 1 4 4 Bill Koll 4 0 4 4 Sulo Leppänen 3 1 4 8 László Bakos 4 1 5 9 Ali Ghaffari 3 3 6 10 Jan Cools 4 3 7 10 Mohamed Hassan Moussa 4 3 7 10 Morgan Plumb 4 3 7 10 Tony Ries Sr. 4 3 7
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Gösta Frändfors Decision, 2–1 Bill Koll Celal Atik Decision, 3–0 Sulo Leppänen Garibaldo Nizzola Decision, 3–0 Kim Seog-yeong Hermann Baumann Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Celal Atik 0 1 1 2 Gösta Frändfors 1 1 2 3 Hermann Baumann 4 0 4 3 Garibaldo Nizzola 3 1 4 5 Bill Koll 4 2 6 6 Kim Seog-yeong 4 3 7 6 Sulo Leppänen 4 3 7
Round 5
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Gösta Frändfors Decision, 3–0 Hermann Baumann Celal Atik Fall Garibaldo Nizzola
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Celal Atik 1 0 1 2 Gösta Frändfors 2 1 3 3 Hermann Baumann 4 3 7 3 Garibaldo Nizzola 4 3 7
Round 6
Baumann and Nizzola had each finished round 5 with 7 points and were eliminated, but faced off in a bronze medal bout won by Baumann. Atik defeated Frändfors to take the gold medal.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Hermann Baumann Decision, 3–0 Garibaldo Nizzola Celal Atik Fall Gösta Frändfors
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Celal Atik 1 0 1 Gösta Frändfors 2 1 3 Hermann Baumann 7 1 8 4 Garibaldo Nizzola 7 3 10
References
General