WRESTLING – BAHRAIN’S Paris 2024 Olympics gold-medallist and former world champion Akhmed Tazhudinov suffered a narrow defeat to 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Snyder early yesterday morning in Real American Freestyle (RAF) Seven, held in Tampa, Florida, in the US.
RAF is a US-based freestyle wrestling promotion that debuted last year. It was founded by a team that includes popular American pro wrestler and actor Hulk Hogan.
The match ended tied 3-3 on points but Snyder, who took to the mat in front of a home crowd, was awarded the criteria victory.
Based on unique RAF rules, the last points scored is the decisive factor, whereas in amateur wrestling, criteria typically prioritises highest value holds, then the least amount of cautions, followed by the last points.
Tazhudinov lost to Snyder for the first time after three meetings earlier in their careers. Snyder also became the RAF’s new light heavyweight champion.
Yesterday’s one-off contest was a rematch between the pair from their semi-final showdown in the French capital at the 2024 Olympics, where Tazhudinov defeated Snyder 6-4 before moving on to capture the Olympic gold medal.
That came after Tazhudinov pulled off a shocking 11-0 technical fall win over Snyder at the 2023 world championships in Belgrade, Serbia, where they locked horns in the quarter-finals.
Also in RAF Seven, Bahrain’s Khidir Saipudinov lost to American Aeoden Sinclair 4-9 in their cruiserweight bout.
Saipudinov – a bronze-medallist for Bahrain at last year’s world championships in Zagreb, Croatia as well as a silver-medallist in the Asian championships in Amman, Jordan – competed against Sinclair in a match that was held earlier in the card.
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