Kazakhstan's freestyle wrestler Asyl Aitakyn will contest a bronze medal at the World Championships currently taking place in Astana. Another member of the national team, Bolat Sakaev, will continue his campaign through the repechage. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Aitakyn, competing in the 61 kg weight category, reached the semifinals, where he faced 2025 world vice-champion Ahmad Masoud Javan of Iran. The Kazakh lost 1:3 and will now fight for third place.
Aitakyn's opponent in the bronze medal bout will be the winner of the repechage match between American Marcus Blaze and Nihil of India. The medal matches will take place tomorrow, October 31.
Before the semifinals, Aitakyn secured three victories. In the quarterfinals, the Kazakh defeated Germany's Horst Lehr. Earlier, he also proved stronger than Omurbek Asan uulu of Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan's Nuraddin Novruzov.
Sakaev, in the 86 kg category, began the championship with a victory over Spain's Gabriel Iglesias – 4:0. The Kazakh then lost to four-time world champion Kyle Dake of the United States.
Dake subsequently advanced to the final, so Sakaev received the opportunity to continue fighting for bronze through the repechage. Tomorrow, his first opponent will be the winner of the match between Mongolia's Batbilguun Naadambat and Lithuania's Paulius Leškauskas. With further victories, the Kazakh could reach the bronze medal bout.
In the 70 kg category, Sanzhar Doszhanov started with an early victory over Kenya's Eugene Omulule – 11:0, after which he lost to 2025 world vice-champion Tulga Tumur-Ochir of Mongolia and ended his performance.
Yedige Kassymbek in the 125 kg weight class crushed Georgia's Alexander Abramishvili in the first match – 10:0. In the 1/8 finals, the 19-year-old Kazakh lost to Turkey's Hakan Buyukcingil – 1:11.
The women's tournament is ongoing at the World Championships. Today, Altyn Shagayeva (59 kg) will compete for the bronze medal.
Earlier, Zeinep Bayanova (50 kg) won bronze at the home World Championships. Nilufar Raimova (57 kg) and Zhamilya Bakbergenova (72 kg) stopped one step away from the podium.
In Greco-Roman wrestling, Kazakhstan's team took 12th place in the unofficial medal standings with three bronze awards. They were earned by Iskhar Kurbayev (55 kg), Aidos Sultangali (60 kg) and Bagdat Sabaz (67 kg).
The World Wrestling Championships are being held in Astana at the Barys Arena from October 24 to November 1, with the participation of almost 900 athletes from about 100 countries. Kazakhstan is hosting the adult world championship for the first time since 2019. Our team is represented by a full roster of 30 athletes.