#WrestleBelgrade

#WrestleBelgrade Day Two GR Finals Preview

Sunday, September 11, 2022 - 14:05 By Eric Olanowski

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BELGRADE, Serbia (September 11) --- Sunday night at 18:00 (local time), we’ll hand out 2022 world title belts at 55kg, 72kg, 77kg and 87kg. 

At 55kg, fellow world champions Eldaniz AZIZLI ?? and Nugzari TSURTSUMIA ?? will meet in a rematch from the 2022 European Championships.

At 72kg, Ali ARSALAN ?? will have to get through Ulvi GANIZADE ?? to win gold on home soil and become Serbia’s fourth-ever GR world champion.

In the 77kg finals, Olympic silver medalist Akzhol MAKHMUDOV ?? will wrestle Hungary's rising star Zoltan LEVAI ??.

Defending world champion Zurabi DATUNASHVILI ?? will have his hands full in the 87kg finals as he’ll take on ’22 European Turpal BISULTANOV ??, who is undefeated on the year. He's outscored his opponents 52-1 during his ’22 campaign. 

The Day 2 finals from Belgrade begin at 18:00

Join the conversation on all social channels @UnitedWorldWrestling and use the #WrestleBelgrade. 

Finals matchups:
55kg - Nugzari TSURTSUMIA ?? vs. Eldaniz AZIZLI ?? 
72kg - Ulvi GANIZADE ?? vs. Ali ARSALAN ?? 
77kg - Akzhol MAKHMUDOV ?? vs. Zoltan LEVAI ??
87kg Turpal BISULTANOV ?? vs. Zurabi DATUNASHVILI ??

Saitiev, three-time Olympic champion, passes away aged 49

Sunday, March 2, 2025 - 17:40 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 2) -- Wrestling legend, three-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time world champion Buvaisar SAITIEV passed away Sunday. He was 49 years old and nine days short of his 50th birthday.

Saitiev was buried in the village of Novokuli in the Novolaksky district of Dagestan on Tuesday, March 4.

Saitiev, widely considered the best Freestyle wrestler of all time, was born in Dagestan but moved to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia to train at the Mindiashvili wrestling academy under the legendary coach Dmitri Mindiashvili.

The 49-year-old announced his retirement soon after winning his third Olympic title in Beijing 2008. His other two titles came in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics. In 2000 Sydney Olympics, Brandon SLAY (USA) defeated him.

Apart from the world and Olympic titles, Saitiev was six-time European champion.

 

United World Wrestling President Nenad LALOVIC expressed his shock on the untimely passing of Saitiev.

"The wrestling family is in shock with the passing of Saitiev," Lalovic said. "He was a legend of the sport and we lost him at a very young age of 49. Saitiev inspired wrestlers around the world and many took up the sport because of him. It's an unrepairable loss to the wrestling community and we are with the Saitiev family during this time of grief."

In 2007, Saitiev was awarded as the best Freestyle wrestler in history by UWW [then FILA].

Wrestling majorly in the 74kg weight class, Saitiev stood at 183 centimetres and made his World Championships debut in Atlanta, 1995. A year later, he won the gold medal at 74kg at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He became world champion in 1997 and 1998 but did not participate in 1999. He lost to Slay in early rounds of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and finished ninth.

But he captured the gold medals again at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships and returned to the top at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He became the world champion in 2005 and 2006 and claimed his third Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.