Kazakhstan's freestyle wrestler Asyl Aitakyn finished the World Championships in Astana without a medal. In the bronze medal bout in the up to 61 kg weight category, he lost to American Marcus Blaze 2:4 and took the final fifth place. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Aitakyn began the home World Championships with a victory over Kyrgyzstan's Omurbek Asan uulu, 4:0. The Kazakh then edged Azerbaijan's Nuraddin Novruzov 5:4, snatching the win with a scoring move fractions of a second before the end of the bout.
In the quarterfinal, Aitakyn defeated Germany's Horst Lehr by technical fall, 10:0, and advanced to the semifinal. However, in the bout for a place in the final, the Kazakh lost to Iran's Ahmad Masoud Javan 1:3 and earned the right to fight for bronze.
Tomorrow, on November 1, Nurkhoja Kaipanov will contest the gold of the world championship.
In Greco-Roman wrestling, Kazakhstan's team took 12th place in the unofficial medal standings with three bronze awards. They were won by Iskhar Kurbaev (55 kg), Aidos Sultangali (60 kg) and Bagdat Sabaz (67 kg).
Kazakhstan's only medal in women's wrestling at the tournament was claimed by Zeinep Bayanova. In the up to 50 kg category, she became a bronze medalist. Earlier, Nilufar Raimova, Zhamilya Bakbergenova and Altyn Shagayeva also reached the third-place bouts but lost to their opponents.
The World Wrestling Championships are being held in Astana at Barys Arena from October 24 to November 1, with almost 900 athletes from about 100 countries taking part. Kazakhstan is hosting the adult world championship for the first time since 2019. Our team is represented by a full roster of 30 athletes.