Kazakhstan's team has completed its Greco-Roman competition at the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas, winning five medals — two gold, one silver and two bronze. On the final day, Arsen Zhuma, Temirlan Turdakyn and Dzhokhar Uzarov added to the team's tally, infohub.kz reports.
In the 55 kg weight class, Arsen Zhuma took bronze. The Kazakh wrestler came through the repechage and needed just one minute to pin Kyrgyzstan's Barsbek Asankozhoev in the bronze-medal bout.
Temirlan Turdakyn, competing at 87 kg, finished the tournament with a silver medal. In the final he faced Iran's Yasin Yazdi and lost 0-4.
Dzhokhar Uzarov added another bronze for Kazakhstan in the 130 kg category. In the third-place match he defeated Armenia's Aramais Harutyunyan 5-1.
Earlier, Aibek Aitbekov (60 kg) and Yusuf Ashrapov (72 kg) won two gold medals for the national team.
In the unofficial Greco-Roman medal standings, Kazakhstan finished second. Iran topped the table with three gold, no silver and two bronze medals. Kazakhstan's Greco-Roman wrestlers claimed two gold, one silver and two bronze. Russia was third (1+1+2), followed by Georgia (1+0+2). Belarus, China and Egypt each won one gold medal.
Meanwhile, the women's competition has begun at the World Championships. Defending champion Shugyla Omirbek (55 kg) and Viktoriya Khusainova (59 kg) remain in contention for bronze through the repechage. Their respective victors, Japan's Yuna Sawatani and Ukraine's Alina Filipovych, advanced to the finals in their categories.
Shugyla Omirbek opened the tournament with a 5-2 win over Turkey's Tuğba Demir, then lost to Sawatani by technical superiority, 2-13. Viktoriya Khusainova lost to Filipovych 1-8. Laura Ganikyzy (50 kg), Uldana Tleukhan (68 kg) and Alina Yertostik (76 kg) saw their tournaments end after the opponents who beat them failed to reach the finals.
The U23 World Championships are being held in Las Vegas from October 12 to 18. The tournament opened with Greco-Roman competition, followed by women's and freestyle wrestling. Kazakhstan is represented by a full squad of 30 athletes.
At last year's U23 World Championships, Kazakhstan won five medals. Shugyla Omirbek became 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).