Comeback master: wrestler Uguyev reached the final of the Olympics, Surkov and Ovcharova were left without bronze

The 12th competitive day of the Tokyo Olympics turned out to be extremely eventful for Russian wrestlers - both Greco-Roman and freestyle. In total, five domestic athletes took to the carpet. Artyom Surkov and Lyubov Ovcharova, who performed the day before, had a chance to compete for bronze, despite the defeat in the early stages of the tournament to the future finalists. True, before fighting directly for medals, they had to overcome the first round of the consolation tournament, with which both coped.

However, if Artyom easily dealt with the Dane Fredrik Holmqvist Bjerrehus (7: 0), then his compatriot had a harder time. She was opposed by the experienced Henna Johansson, who has two bronze medals in the world championships and a victory at the 2012 European championship. And the Swede has shown that even now she remains a dangerous rival. Love had a great part of the fight and sent her rival to the floor several times, thanks to which she took the lead 8: 3. But in the last minute, she missed two attacks and almost lost all the advantage, winning with a difference of one point.

However, at the decisive moment, the Russians were unable to gain the upper hand and were left without awards.

Surkov fought on equal terms with the four-time African champion Mohamed Ibrahim El-Sayed and after six minutes had an equal number of points with him.

The problem is that the Egyptian scored his point later, which is the most important factor in the fight.

The Russian had enough chances to tip the scales in his favor, but the roll-off failed.

The opponent defended himself and kept the winning score.

Ovcharova, on the other hand, was not at all ready for a meeting with the titled Bulgarian Taibe Yusein.

The world and European champion performed a takedown right away, after which she performed one roll after another.

Thus, in just 56 seconds, she managed to score ten unanswered points and win a bronze medal.

On the same day, three representatives of the freestyle started their way to the medals at once. The first of them to enter the fight was the three-time European champion in the weight category up to 86 kilograms Arthur Naifonov, literally skating through his first two opponents. And if he won against the Slovak Boris Makoev, albeit dry, but not large - 6: 0, then the Turk Osman Gochen was inflicted with a definite defeat. After the first segment, he led with a difference of seven points, which was facilitated by four successful passes to the legs. The opponent was only able to take a position once, thanks to which he broke up the score. The Russian did not stop there and subsequently earned four more points, finally demoralizing the vis-a-vis - 12: 1.

Unlike Naifonov, Zavur Uguyev's path to the semifinals turned out to be much more thorny. The two-time world champion in the division up to 57 kilograms unexpectedly faced serious resistance already in the 1/8 finals, where he surpassed his opponent by only one point. Thomas Patrick Gilman fought desperately, and after the first period he could even lead the score if he had not received a penalty for passivity. In the second, the Russian quickly organized a transfer to the ground and led, but then allowed himself to be first pushed out of the carpet, and then completely carried out a takedown. The native of Khasavyurt was on the verge of defeat, but miraculously got out of the grip and laid the American on the canvas himself, earning two victorious points - 5: 4.

In the quarterfinals, the Russian had an even harder time. In the course of the fight, he twice transferred the Uzbek Gulomzhon Abdullayev to the ground and ensured himself an advantage in the score, but both times he missed. First, Uguyev received a penalty for passive combat, and then three times he could not stay within the carpet. And 20 seconds before the end of the second three minutes, he was on the verge of defeat, allowing himself to be pulled onto the canvas. The situation was critical, but a lightning-fast pass to his feet with a toe helped the Russian to restore parity and get a ticket to the semifinals due to the last effective action - 6: 6.

Uguyeva's initiative could not be supported by Valeria Koblova, acting in a similar weight.

The silver medalist of the Games in Rio de Janeiro confidently overcame the first round, without any problems coping with the Mexican Alma Jane Valencia Escoto, but unexpectedly stumbled in the duel with the Belarusian Irina Kurochkina.

With 70 seconds left, the Russian woman was leading 3: 1, not allowing her opponent to carry out a single technical action.

And the last point scored was the result of a penalty for passivity.

But for the remaining time, Kurochkina scored five points in a row and snatched the victory.

Irina performed one translation, pushed Valeria out of the circle twice, and another point was again awarded for breaking the rules.

Thus, hopes for gold remained only with Naifonov, who confidently overcame the first two stages and Uguyev, who only miraculously reached the semifinals.

And it is all the more remarkable that in the fight for medals everything turned upside down.

Both got rivals from Iran, but if Arthur lost crushingly to the reigning world champion Hassan Yazdani, then Zavur easily dealt with the triumphant of the Asian championship Reza Atri.

Naifonov was inferior with a minimal difference after the first period, and in the second he could not oppose anything to his counterparts.

First, he gave up his leg and allowed Yazdani to transfer himself to the canvas, and in the end, trying to recoup, he allowed his counterpart to execute an amplitude throw, estimated at four points (1: 7).

For Uguyev, everything also started rather unsuccessfully. In the middle of the first three minutes, he gave up his leg and after a few seconds he lay flat on the floor, but managed to level the position. At the end of the segment, he defended himself well against the opponent's attempt to pass and made his way behind his back, after which it remained a matter of technique to pull him onto the flooring. The rest of the battle took place under the dictation of the Russian. He transferred Atri twice more to the ground, once squeezed him out of the circle, and received an additional point for an unsuccessful attempt at the "challenge" from the Iranian side. He tried to challenge the decisive takedown performed by Zavur, but in vain - 8: 3.