Kazakh freestyle wrestlers Rizabek Aitmukhan and Nurdanat Aitanov finished the Summer Asian Games in Japan without medals, infohub.kz reports.
In the quarterfinals of the 97-kilogram weight class, Rizabek Aitmukhan faced home mat favorite Arash Yoshida. The bout ended in victory for the Japanese wrestler with a score of 11:1.
In the first period, Yoshida managed to score six unanswered points. After the break, Aitmukhan earned his first point, but the Japanese wrestler continued to build on his advantage and ended the bout early by technical superiority.
Thus, Aitmukhan failed to reach the semifinals. Since Yoshida subsequently did not give the Kazakhstani a chance to continue fighting for a medal through the consolation tournament, Rizabek finished the Asian Games without a medal.
Another representative of Kazakhstan, Nurdanat Aitanov, competing in the 57 kg weight class, got the opportunity to fight for a place in the bronze medal final through the consolation bracket. His opponent was Japanese wrestler Yamato Ogawa.
Aitanov lost to the host competitor with a score of 0:6. In the first period, Ogawa scored two points, and in the second he added four more. As a result, the Kazakhstani lost the consolation bout and was left without a fight for the bronze medal of the 2026 Asian Games.