Uguyev's gold, Nafonov's bronze and Sidakov's reaching the final: how the wrestlers provided Russia with three more medals of the Games

Invincible Uguuev's gold

For four days of the wrestling tournament, the Russian national team was able to harvest only one gold medal and two bronze medals, and in the overall standings it took sixth place, sharing it with German athletes.

For any other country, this performance could be considered successful, but not for domestic athletes who are accustomed to completely different results.

Freestyle wrestler Zaur Uguyev in the weight category up to 57 kg could somehow influence the situation and bring the second gold.

He was by definition the main favorite of his tournament, since not only won the last two world championships, but never suffered a single defeat in the last two years.

This brilliant series also included a victory over the future rival in the Olympic final - Indian Ravi Kumar.

They met in the semifinals of the last world championship, and the Russian won the fight with a score of 6: 4.

There was little doubt that the Dagestan wrestler would repeat that result, but there was something embarrassing on the eve of the final.

Uguyev in Tokyo twice avoided defeat at the last moment, while Kumar won every fight ahead of schedule.

The decisive fight did not start as spectacularly as the previous ones for both fighters.

For a long time they could not hold captures, but Uguyev at least managed to push the opponent off the carpet twice.

The Indian then responded with his own move, but the Russian instantly regained a two-point advantage.

In the second period, Uguyev twice threw the opponent off the mat, but the judges were very strict about the actions of the Russian.

They awarded him with just one point, as if they did not want to give up the victory ahead of schedule.

Even after a short medical break, Uguyev continued to dominate his rival, who was an elm in his grips, like in the sands of Sarykum.

A minute before the end, Kumar nevertheless carried out a retaliatory attack, but this was not enough.

Uguyev won with a score of 7: 4 and achieved the main achievement in his already brilliant career.

The Dagestani wrestler brought the Russian team the second gold in wrestling at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Final of Sidakova against the former Russian

Zaurbek Sidakov will try to repeat the success of Uguyev on Friday.

He also came to Tokyo in the status of a two-time world champion, only in a heavier weight category up to 74 kg.

The 25-year-old Russian made it to the finals much more confidently, not postponing victories in his fights for the last seconds.

True, Sidakov did not do without mistakes.

In the first two fights with the representative of Guinea-Bissau Augusto Midana (12: 2) and Uzbek Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (13: 6), the Ossetian wrestler confidently fought the first number, but sometimes he still ended up in capture and gave points to his opponents.

Fortunately, this did not affect the course of the battles.

African wrestler Sidakov even managed to win ahead of schedule.

But in the semifinals, he did not give his opponent a single chance. He met with Kazakhstani Daniyar Kaisanov, who has the bronze medal of the 2019 World Championship. The Russian controlled the fight throughout the entire time and walked amazingly easily, earning a lot of points every time. Once Sidakov even tried to please the audience with an amplitude throw, but Kaisanov dodged at the last moment. He did not escape from defeat - the Dagestan wrestler won the fight ahead of schedule for a clear advantage (11: 0).

For gold, Sidakov will fight with the Dagestani Magomedhabib Kadimagomedov, who has been representing Belarus since 2020. The former Russian wrestler has made an impressive path in the tournament bracket and knocked out the two main favorites after Sidakov - American Kyle Dyck and Italian Cuban Frank Chamiso. This final will strongly resemble the decisive fight of 2008 in the same weight category up to 74 kg. Then the Russian citizen Buvaisar Saitiev was also opposed by the Belarusian Dagestani Murad Gaidarov. Then he did not stop his countryman from winning the third Olympic gold.

Apart from Sidakov, none of the Russian wrestlers who began their performances at the Olympics have achieved success. Sergey Kozyrev and Olga Khoroshavtseva were frankly unlucky with the draw, and already in the first fights they had to face much stronger opponents. Heavyweight Kozyrev got the Chinese Dan Zhiwei, who won medals at the last two world championships. Against him, the Russian did not take active action, and the opponent ended the fight with a quick pass to his feet.

Khoroshavtseva met with the reigning world champion Jakarra Winchester from the USA.

The Russian athlete started the fight well and won the first period with a score of 4: 3, but did not score further points, and her opponent was able to make two throws.

Unfortunately, Kozyrev and Khoroshavtseva also failed to get into the consolation tournament, as their opponents in the next round were defeated themselves.

One bronze of two

Immediately after Uguyev won gold, Artur Naifonov replenished the piggy bank of the Russian national team.

After being defeated in the semifinals in the weight category up to 86 kg, he could only fight for bronze with the Uzbek Jabrail Shapiev, who also turned out to be a former compatriot and a pupil of the Dagestan wrestling school.

The fight between the bronze medalist of the World Championship and the opponent, who had not yet had time to achieve significant success, turned out to be completely equal. Naifonov tried to act actively, but faced Shapiev's impassable defense. The Russian managed to push him over the carpet only once. Later, the judge rewarded him with a point for the passivity of the opponent. In the second period, the two wrestlers did not affect the score at all, and Naifonov brought the Russian national team the 57th medal of the Tokyo Olympics, which made it possible to exceed the overall team result of the Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Valeria Koblova also competed for bronze, performing in weight up to 57 kg. The vice-champion of the last Olympics did not get into the small final directly, but after the morning victory over the Indian Anshu Malik. This fight was pretty tense. The Russian woman in five and a half minutes managed to earn only a point for the passivity of her rival, who corrected herself and in response pushed Koblova herself off the carpet. Valeria was inferior in the last action for a long time, but just like Uguyev the day before, she managed to escape from the capture of Malik and laid her down herself, earning four points on this.

It was necessary to argue for a medal with the Bulgarian athlete Evelina Nikolova, who reached the semifinals in the main draw. The rival immediately set a high pace and opened the scoring after the judge punished Koblova for being passive. The Russian woman tried to prove that she was still ready to fight, but Nikolova caught her on a counterattack and made a four-point throw, which led to a carcass. Koblova never won her second Olympic medal - in the Russian women's team, only Natalia Vorobyova has so far managed to climb the podium twice.