Obituary

Bendegúz Tóth, Promising Hungarian Freestyle Wrestler, Dies at 22

Saturday, June 6, 2020 - 18:55 By United World Wrestling Press

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (June 6) -- Bendegúz Tóth, a silver medalist at the 2014 Cadet European championships, died suddenly on Friday during an outdoor training session with his teammates. The cause of death hasn’t been certified, but medical officials at the training session cited sudden heart failure. 
 
Tóth was seen as the centerpiece of Hungary’s growing freestyle wrestling program. He’d won silver medal on the Cadet European Championships in 2014, silver on the U23 European Championships in 2017, and won silver medals in both styles on the University World Championships in 2018. Tóth was also the member of the adult national team and participated on the Senior World Championships in 2019 and on the Senior European Championships in 2020.


“We are deeply pained and words are of no help in expressing the sorrow we feel at this moment,” said Mr Peter Bacsa Bureau Member of UWW and Vice-president of Hungarian Wrestling Federation. “His kind face remains forever in our image. We lost a great person and a fantastic wrestler.”

The Wrestling Federation of Hungary announced that it has also suspended training through next week.

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WATCH: Chasing 97kg gold

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 - 12:12 By United World Wrestling Press

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ZAGREB, Croatia (November 3) -- The 97kg weight class at the World Championships in Zagreb saw all four Paris Olympic medalists entered with Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), defending world champion, as the favorite to win the gold medal in Zagreb.

Apart from Tazhudinov, the field included silver medalist from Paris and European champion Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO), Paris bronze medalists Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) and Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI), world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA), Asian champion Arash YOSHIDA (JPN) and multiple elite wrestlers.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO DOCUMENTERY HERE

Magomedov and Matcharashvili bowed out early the semifinals pairs were -- Tazhudinov vs Azarpira and Snyder vs Yoshida.

Azarpira knocked off Tazhudinov with a thrilling win in the semifinals and Snyder used his experience to beat Yoshida to enter the final against Azarpira who had defeated him in Paris in the bronze-medal bout.

Snyder and Azapira squared off in the final with the latter taking early lead but the Snyder, the machine he is, came back and defeated the Iranian 4-2, winning his fourth gold medal at the World Championships.

Tazhudinov and Yoshida went on to win the bronze medals on offer, finishing the podium in one of the premium weight classes in the world.