The U20 World Wrestling Championships kicked off in Bratislava, with the first sets of medals already decided. Kazakh athlete Yerkebulan Anapiya, competing in Greco-Roman style, fell just short of the podium in the 77 kg category, reports infohub.kz.
Anapiya's path to the bronze match began with a confident victory over Uzbekistan's Ogarbek Askaraliev with a score of 10:4. However, in the second round he lost to Azerbaijan's Javidan Nagmatov (5:7). In the repechage, the Kazakh wrestler defeated Greece's Admantios Papadatos (8:1) and earned the right to compete for third place.
In the decisive bronze medal match, Yerkebulan faced Iran's Amir Mahdi Mohammad Saeedi Nava, who proved stronger, winning 5:3. Thus, Anapiya finished fourth in the tournament.
Other Kazakh Greco-Roman wrestlers — Dias Kertai (63 kg), Alikhan Tagaev (87 kg), and Bakhtiyar Kaziev (130 kg) — were eliminated in the round of 16.
In total, 700 young athletes from around the world are competing at the world youth championship, held under the auspices of the United World Wrestling (UWW) in the Slovak capital. They will compete for 120 sets of medals in three disciplines: Greco-Roman, freestyle, and women's wrestling. Kazakhstan is represented in Bratislava by 30 athletes — 20 men and 10 women.
The U20 World Championships will run until August 23.