Kazakhstan's Zhamilya Bakbergenova failed to win a bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships in Astana. In the third-place match in the 72 kg weight category, she lost to Japan's Mahiro Yoshitake 4:6. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Bakbergenova began the home World Championships with a victory over Moldova's Emilia Krechun 13:2. In the quarterfinals, the Kazakh wrestler confidently defeated Ukraine's Nadiia Sokolovska 9:1.
In the semifinals, Bakbergenova faced China's Li Zelu and lost 2:4, after which she earned the right to compete for third place.
Thus, Bakbergenova stopped one step short of her fifth World Championships medal. She still has four world championship awards to her name: silver at the 2021 World Championships in Oslo, silver at the 2022 World Championships in Belgrade, bronze at the 2023 World Championships also in Belgrade, and silver at the 2024 World Championships in Tirana.
Tomorrow, Altyn Shagayeva (59 kg) will compete for bronze at the World Championships.
A day earlier, Zeinep Bayanova (50 kg) won bronze at the home world championship. Nilufar Raimova (57 kg) stopped one step short of 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 almost 900 athletes from about 100 countries participating. Kazakhstan is hosting the adult world championship for the first time since 2019. Our team is represented by a full roster of 30 athletes.