On the second day of the World Wrestling Championship, Russia could count on two gold medals at once. Akhmed Usmanov and Zaurbek Sidakov competed in the final matches. And both fighters won!

And Olympic champion Zaur Uguev missed out on another medal.

Spirit of healthy competition

In the category up to 79 kg, Akhmed Usmanov reached the final. He had a difficult path to the decisive fight, but he overcame it with dignity. The Russian one by one knocked out Macedonian Akhmad Magomedov, Indian Mora Sachin (he competes under the flag of the United World of Wrestling), Mohammad Nohodi from Iran and Azerbaijani Orkhan Abasov. At the same time, only Sachin failed to impose competition on Usmanov; everyone else made Akhmed nervous.

The Russian’s opponent in the final was the Georgian wrestler Vladimir Gamkrelidze. Alan Amirov from Latvia, Bolat Sakaev from Kazakhstan and Ukrainian Vasily Mikhailov fell under his hot hand. No one was able to somehow come close to Gamkrelidze’s level.

The head-to-head fight between Akhmed and Vladimir began tensely and not very brightly. The wrestlers hung on each other and tried to provoke a mistake. The judge even issued a warning for a passive fight. But at the very beginning of the second round, Usmanov went on the attack and made a move for two points, which immediately indicated his advantage. Gamkrelidze did not have time to recoup, and he had little chance. As a result – 4:1, and the first gold of the World Championship goes to Russia!

Akhmed Usmanov / Photo: © United World Wrestling

There was a not very pleasant moment at the award ceremony. By tradition, all the winners are photographed together. However, the Ukrainian Mikhailov, who became third, ignored the general photo shoot. At the same time, Vladimir Gamkrelidze and Mohammad Nokhodi warmly congratulated Akhmed Usmanov on his victory. It’s good that most athletes still retain the spirit of healthy competition and do not mix competition with politics.

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Unpleasant sensation

There were high hopes for a medal in the up to 57 kg weight class. There, Russia was represented by Zaur Uguev, Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion. True, a day earlier he gave an unpleasant surprise, sensationally losing to the Serbian Stevan Micic in the quarterfinals. But Uguev still got into the bronze bout. His opponent in the repechage match was Zelimkhan Abakarov, a native of Dagestan, who two years ago received Albanian citizenship.

The viscous and difficult fight initially went in favor of Uguev – he looked a little faster and was the first to score points. A minute before the end, Zaur led 4:0 and was preparing to try on a medal. But Abakarov suddenly turned up the gears and turned the fight around with two two-point moves. Neither Uguev himself nor his second, senior coach of the Russian national team Vladimir Modosyan, clearly expected this. The equal score (4:4) was in favor of the Albanian thanks to the last action.

Zaur Uguev, who stood on the podium with an Olympic gold medal two years ago, did not even make it into the top three in Belgrade. This is a definite sensation – perhaps the loudest at the current World Cup. But the Russian won an Olympic license in a fight with Meirambek Kartbay from Kazakhstan and may have a chance to defend his title.

Zaur Uguev / Photo: © United World Wrestling

The brightest battle

The third Russian representative to bring a medal was Zaurbek Sidakov, another Olympic winner. At 74 kg he defeated five opponents before reaching the final of the World Championships. Those left defeated were Georgian Avtandil Kentchadze, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov from Uzbekistan, Iranian Younes Emami, Serb with Ossetian roots Khetag Tsabolov and Turan Bayramov from Azerbaijan.

In the final, Sidakov faced American Kyle Dake on the mat. In his part of the bracket, he was stronger than Magomet Evloev (Tajikistan), Nurkozhi Kaipanov from Kazakhstan, Japanese Daichi Takatani and Greek Georgios Kougiomtzidis. Moreover, no one could even come close to the wrestler from the USA on points – each of his victories was very confident.

The final match started very actively. Already in the first minute, Dake asked for medical help after hitting his head. At this moment, the stands began to shout in one voice: “Sidakov! Sidakov! Serbian fans gave Zaurbek maximum support, but American fans did not leave Kyle alone.

Zaurbek Sidakov / Photo: © United World Wrestling

The first round ended with Dake’s minimal advantage. But after the break, the opponents began to more actively exchange techniques. When the score was 3:3, Dake again asked for a medic, and at this time the following was heard above the arena arches: “Sidakov! Zaurbek! And the inclusion of the stands helped the Russian: two cool two-point turnovers brought him ahead comfortably. Then there was an exchange of points, a long review of the challenge and 8:7 with 20 seconds left.

The final moments of the fight became the highlight of the entire tournament. Fierce attacks by both wrestlers led to a two-point throw by Sidakov and a stunning victory with a score of 10:7. Zaurbek became a three-time world champion!

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Another triumph of Sidakov was proof of an obvious fact: the presence of Russians adorns any sport. And the full stands, loudly supporting our compatriots, are confirmation of this.