Kazakh freestyle wrestler Merey Bazarbayev has reached the final of the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
In the 57 kg weight category, Bazarbayev began the tournament with a 3:1 victory over the reigning U23 world champion, American Luke Lilledahl. In the quarterfinal, the Kazakh defeated France's Rasul Galburaev by technical fall, 13:2, and in the semifinal he shut out Japan's Daito Katsume, 7:0.
In the final, Bazarbayev will face Turkey's Bekir Keser, who won his semifinal against Armenia's Arman Harutyunyan by technical fall, 10:0.
Alaidar (65 kg) reached the quarterfinal, where he lost a high-scoring bout to Iran's Akhoreh Farhad Hateri, 14:15. The Iranian then advanced to the final, giving the Kazakh a spot in the repechage round. His opponent will be Uzbekistan's Sanzharbek Rustambekov.
Aliev (70 kg) also stopped in the quarterfinal, losing to Iran's Ebrahim Elahichuran, 6:9. After his opponent reached the final, Aliev retained a chance for bronze. In the repechage, he will face Abdullah Toprak of Turkey.
Abil (79 kg) lost in the quarterfinal to Russia's Said Saidulov, 2:12. Saidulov reached the final, which also put Abil into the repechage round. To advance to the bronze medal bout, the Kazakh will need to defeat the winner of the match between Germany's Stas David Wolf and Jamaica's Christopher Minto.
Nurdaulet Bekenov (97 kg) ended his performance after a loss to Turkey's Rifat Eren Gidak. The Turkish wrestler did not reach the final, so the Kazakh did not earn a repechage opportunity.
Kazakhstan's Greco-Roman team finished the competition with five medals. Aibek Aitbekov and Yusuf Ashrapov became world champions, Temirlan Turdakyn won silver, and Arsen Zhuma and Dzhokhar Uzarov took bronze. In the team standings for Greco-Roman, Kazakhstan placed second.
Kazakhstan's women's team completed the world championships with one bronze medal, won by Shugyla Omirbek. In the medal standings, the team shared 15th place with Italy and Spain.
The U23 World Championships are being held in Las Vegas from October 12 to 18. Kazakhstan is represented by a full roster of 30 athletes.
At last year's U23 World Championships, Kazakhstan won five medals. Shugyla Omirbek became a world champion, Rizabek Aitmukhan won bronze in freestyle, and the Greco-Roman wrestlers brought the team one silver (Yusuf Matsiev) and two bronzes (Merey Mauletkanov and Omar Sataev).