WRESTLING – BAHRAIN’S reigning Olympic champion and former world champion Akhmed Tazhudinov struck gold last night in the men’s 97kg category at the Polyak Imre, Varga Janos, and Kozma Istvan Memorial, also known as the Budapest Ranking Series, held in Hungary.
Tazhudinov secured his title after defeating Batyrbek Tsakulov of Slovakia on points (13-7) in their weight division’s final.
The meeting is part of the United World Wrestling (UWW) Ranking Series, which features competitions held worldwide, supervised by the UWW, where athletes earn points to establish their world ranking.
Tazhudinov’s gold was part of the event’s freestyle wrestling programme, which wrapped up yesterday. Action is also set to take place in women’s wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in the coming days.
Tazhudinov lived up to his tag as one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the world with his win in Budapest.
The 23-year-old had earlier booked his place in the gold medal match after winning by fall (10-0) against Zbigniew Baranowski of Poland in the semi-finals, where Tsakulov triumphed after his opponent Rizabek Aitmukhan from Kazakhstan suffered an injury.
In the quarter-finals, Tazhudinov claimed a victory by superiority (12-0) over Adlan Bakirsoultanovitch Viskhanov from France, while in the eighth-finals he came away with a similar triumph (10-0) against Ivan Prymachenko from Ukraine to kick off his medal bid.
Joining Tazhudinov and Tsakulov on the 97kg podium were Baranowski and Vasyl Sova of Ukraine, who shared the bronze medals. Tazhudinov was competing in a major international event for only the second time this year. He earlier took part in the 2026 Senior Asian Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in April, where he came away with the 97kg bronze medal.
Bahrain’s wrestling superstar, who became world champion in 2023 and then added his Olympic crown in Paris the following year, hit the mat in Budapest as part of Bahrain’s six-grappler national team.
Fellow-elite grapplers Shamil Sharipov and Magomed Sharipov both came close to climbing the podium in the men’s 125kg and men’s 92kg categories, respectively, but they each lost in their repechage round. Shamil Sharipov sustained an injury in his defeat to Omar Ihab Sarem of Romania, while Magomed Sharipov bowed to Dustin Glenn Plott of the US, who took a victory by technical superiority (14-4).
Completing the kingdom’s line-up in the Polyak Imre, Varga Janos, and Kozma Istvan Memorial were Khidir Kurban Saipudinov in the men’s 86kg class, Magomedrasul Asluev in the men’s 74kg, and Alibeg Alibegov in the men’s 65kg division. All three could not progress to their categories’ latter stages to contend for a medal.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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