The pursuit of Chernogradsky and the top most anticipated matches at the Mas-Wrestling World Championship

22.11.2024

This year the participants will face intense competition.

There is a week left until the main competition of this year in mas-wrestling — the world championship and championship. The strongest mas-wrestlers of the planet of three different ages will meet on the platform. The competition in the upcoming start will be special not only fr om the athletes of the Russian and Kyrgyz national teams, but also from other countries. Also this year, two athletes can catch up with the legendary Pavel Chernogradsky in the number of victories at world championships. YSIA presents the top of the most anticipated and fundamental matches.

Twenty participating countries

The World Championship and Junior Championship will be held in Bishkek from November 29 to December 1. The venue will be the Gazprom Sports and Recreation Complex. About twenty countries have confirmed their participation today. Among them are Angola, Hungary, Ghana, Egypt, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Congo, Mexico, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Men will compete in nine weight categories, women in five, veterans will also compete, as well as young men and women under 18.

The Russian team, which is represented mainly by Yakut mas-wrestlers, is traditionally considered the favorite in the fight for gold medals. Of the 14 team members, ten are Yakutians. The team included Artur Zhirkov (60 kg), Dmitry Savvin (65 kg), Sergey Konstantinov (70 kg), Vasily Zakharov (75 kg), Andrey Vinokurov (80 kg), Egor Atlasov (90 kg), Dmitry Popov (105 kg ), Evgeniy Popov (over 125 kg), Natalya Chernogradskaya (55 kg) and Norayaana Trofimova (65 kg).

Ivan Galkin (125 kg), Alina Alekseeva (75 kg), Mokhinur Abduzoirova (85 kg) and Svetlana Tikhonova (85+ kg) will compete from other regions of Russia. The team is undergoing training camps in the Moscow region until November 28.

Evgeny Popov vs Mohammad-Ali Tokhtomatov

A special competition, as it happens at the international level, is expected among the super heavyweights. Several strong opponents will try to overcome the Olekminsky strongman Evgeny Popov, who defeated the multiple absolute world champion Viktor Kolibabchuk at the Russian Championship. The main opponent can be called the representative of Kyrgyzstan Mohammad-Ali Tokhtomatov. At the last world championship, it was he who snatched one stick from Kolibabchuk, which was a surprise for many, he was literally only one step away from victory. At the same time, the Kyrgyz athlete has been involved in mas-wrestling for only a couple of years, now he is intensively preparing for the upcoming competition. The heavyweight from Mongolia Turbat Munkhdursgal will perform with them. He and his entire team came to Yakutsk to undergo training camp. His weight, as reported by the Mongolian Mas-Wrestling Federation, is about 150 kg.

Third attempt by Norayana Trofimova

An interesting match is also expected in the women's division. Norayana Trofimova (65 kg) from Yakutia will compete in the World Championship for the third time, and this time she will try to take gold. She lost to rivals from Kyrgyzstan twice. In 2022, in Yakutsk, she lost to Kymbat Nurzhanova. A year later, in Uzbekistan, she defeated her, but Adel Madanbaeva, who competed as a backup from Kyrgyzstan, prevented her from rising to first place. At that time, the fight was held in a round robin system, so Nurzhanova, who has already finished her career, became a two-time world champion and an honored master of sports, took the gold medal. This time, only Adel Madanbaeva will compete against Trofimova from the host team.

Vasily Zakharov. Revenge for a friend

In the category up to 75 kg among men, the current world champion is Eldos Aitbaev from Kyrgyzstan. He also has victories at the 2021 World Cup. In Uzbekistan, he defeated the leader of the Russian team Semyon Anufriev from Yakutia with a score of 2:1, who this time failed to qualify on the republican championship.

His friend and sparring partner Vasily Zakharov will go instead of him. He confidently qualified through the championships of Yakutia and Russia, without experiencing strong competition. In a commentary to YSIA, he said that he intends to take revenge for his friend against Eldos Aitbaev. Meanwhile, the representative of Kyrgyzstan fought quite successfully at the last World Nomad Games in Kazakhstan, wh ere he won a silver medal in a category higher than his own - up to 80 kg.

Rivals fr om Angola and Slovakia for Andrey Vinokurov

Yakutian Andrey Vinokurov will go to the World Championship in the 80 kg category from the Russian national team. He has not competed for a long time even in internal republican competitions, and this year he managed to win the republican and national championships in a rather difficult competition. The World Championship platform has prepared several serious rivals for him. One of them is the Slovak athlete, winner of the World Cup stage Oliver Kurek. Last year, he was defeated by Yakutian Yegor Gulyayev. He called his opponent quite strong for a beginner mas-wrestler and he only lacked technique. Kurek has a victory over the titled athlete from Yakutia Stanislav Ivanov.

Angolan representative Chioka Zacarias could be another worthy rival for Vinokurov. He is already a mas-wrestling coach and has won a number of tournaments.

The main match of the World Championship

The poster of the World Championship shows off the fight of the main rivals: Yakut Dmitry Popov and Ataybek uulu Keldibek from Kyrgyzstan. The fight is taking place in the category up to 105 kg. This meeting should take place in the final or earlier. Both mas-wrestlers met on the platform six times and the victory was always for the Yakut mas-wrestler. But last time the Kyrgyz athlete was never close to victory. This meeting took place in 2022 in Yakutsk at the World Championship. The strongest madyins broke the stick twice, held a total of six "rounds", the victory with a score of 2:1 went to Popov. But this time, Keldibek will have spectator support and intensive preparation before the home World Championship. In Kyrgyzstan, mas-wrestling is very popular and the organizers promise full stands.

Return of Vaskova

In the women's 85 kg category, the spectators will be treated to the return to the platform of the absolute world champion, World Cup winner Jana Vashkova from Slovakia. This athlete has never suffered a defeat in her weight category. Last year, she was supposed to participate in the World Championship in Uzbekistan, but got into an accident on the way to the airport. Her opponent from the Russian team will be Mokhinur Abduzoyirova from Kaluga. She is the 2022 world champion. This year, she successfully took first place in the Russian Championship, defeating Saina Sivtseva from Yakutia.

Debut of Egor Atlasov

Egor Atlasov is making his debut at the World Championships for the first time and is competing in the 90 kg weight class. The young mas-wrestler has been very lucky this year. He only won bronze at the Yakutia Championships, but entered the Russian stage as a substitute due to the fact that the current leader of the republic, Afanasy Platonov, was unable to compete.

In St. Petersburg, Nikitin was defeated by Chuvash athlete Yegor Degtyarev. But he did not have enough strength against Atlasov in the final (2:1), and as a result, the Yakut mas-wrestler managed to win a ticket to the world championship.

Several symbols for his opponents will compete against Atlasov. One of them can be called Unurbat Tsetsgee from Mongolia, who improved his technique last year and has a good deadlift. He is currently training in Yakutsk, wh ere he is learning from the best coaches. Asim Mukhammad, the world vice-champion, will compete here from Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan, in turn, will field two in this category: Asian champion Ruslanbek uulu Chynybek and two-time world bronze medalist Erzhan uulu Akylbek.

Favorites in action

The leaders of the world platform will try to win another gold medal as part of the Russian team. Among them are two-time world champions Dmitry Savvin and Natalia Chernogradskaya, and one-time gold medal winner Sergey Konstantinov. Artur Zhirkov will also perform for the first time, representing Russia in the 60 kg weight class. The Yakut madyins have never given up this category to their competitors. However, the world championships have been giving surprises for many years now. It is possible that their rivals have prepared them in these divisions.

Chasing Pavel Chernogradsky

Pavel Chernogradsky is considered the most titled of the mas-wrestlers with his victories at the world championships. He has climbed to the first step of the podium four times. But at the upcoming start, he can be caught up. Dmitry Popov from Yakutia, as well as Ivan Galkin from the Kaluga region, have chances for this. Both have three victories at the world championships. But Galkin can still lead the world stage for a long time due to his age.

However, during the triumphant performances of the Honored Master of Sports of Russia Pavel Chernogradsky, the World Championship was held every two years. In between, World Cups with three stages were organized. Chernogradsky won them in 2015, 2017, 2021. Therefore, by modern standards, he can safely be called a seven-time world champion. Athletes are still far from this mark, except for Dmitry Popov, who has two victories at the cups.

Author: Djulustaan Sergeev

Photo: Djulustaan Sergeev

Source: Якутское-Саха информационное агентство
Source URL: https://ysia.ru/pogonya-za-chernogradskim-i-top-samyh-ozhidaemyh-shvatok-na-chempionate-mira-po-mas-restlingu/?utm_source=read

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