Kazakh athlete Seilkhan Bolatbek reached the podium at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan's Aichi-Nagoya region, infohub.kz reports.
The 21-year-old jiu-jitsu competitor fought in the under-77 kg weight category. He lost in the quarterfinals but battled through the repechage to earn a spot in the bronze-medal match.
Bolatbek's opponent for third place was his compatriot Adlan Madayev, who fell just short of reaching the final. The all-Kazakh showdown ended in a 2-0 victory for Bolatbek, making him a bronze medalist at the Asian Games.
Abdulla Dabyl (under-94 kg) also competed in the repechage but did not reach a medal bout. In the same category, another Kazakh representative, Maksat Tolendy, was eliminated in the round of 16. Galina Duvanova (under-52 kg) was disqualified in her first match.
Kazakhstan's jiu-jitsu team now has three medals at the 2026 Asian Games. A day earlier, Nurzhan Batyrbekov (under-69 kg) won silver, and Zhibek Kulumbetova (under-48 kg) took bronze.