Zaur Uguev

Uguev firstly became a part of the Russian National Wrestling team and became champion at the Russian nationals 2017, in Nazran, Ingushetia.[3] Uguev defeated all five of his opponents; in round of 32 he defeated Ramazan Ferzaliev of Dagestan by technical fall with the score 14–4; in the round of 16 he beat Aryaan Tyutrin of Yakutia with a 3–0 score; in the quarterfinals Uguev beat Rasul Mashezov of Crimea by 10-0 technical fall; in the semifinals he beat Dmitry Aksenov of Yakutia by 7–1. In the final match, he defeated former opponent Artem Grebekov by a score of 3–1, which gave him the opportunity to compete at the 2017 Paris World Championships.

Uguev is a two-time gold medalist at the Ivan Yarygin Memorial held annually in Krasnoyarsk in 2017 and in 2018. In 2017 he became champion by defeating Artem Gebekov of Dagestan by 10-0 technical superiority,[4] and in the following year, he defeated Ossetia's Azamat Tusukaev 4–1.[5]

At the 2018 Kaspiysk European Championships, Uguev won his matches in the qualification, quarter-final and semi-final rounds. In the final match, he wrestled against Giorgi Edisherashvili of Azerbaijan in a rematch of the 2017 Novi Sad European Championships. Uguev was winning the majority of the match and was up 3-0 going into the final segments of the match; however, with 8 seconds left: Edisherashvili hit a lateral drop and scored 4 points - which gave Edisherashvili the lead with the score of 3–4; Uguev and his team challenged the call and lost it, the match ended with the score 3–5, ultimately winning gold, and Uguev was left with the silver medal,[6]

Uguev became the Russian national champion at 57 kg[7] for a second time in August 2018, in Odintsovo, Moscow Oblast.[8] Uguev beat Muslim Sadulaev of Chechnya by technical fall in the qualification round, he then beat Rasul Masheshov representing Crimea in the quarter-finals, again by technical fall. In the semi-finals, Uguev beat Ismail Gadzhiev, also representing Dagestan by 3–0, thus advancing Uguev to the final match for a chance to win gold. Uguev faced Dondook-ul Kuresh-ul of Tuva by 8–1 score, Uguev scored a 4-point suplex in the second period, giving him the 7–1 lead and Kuresh-ool's coaches challenged a call, but failed, thus giving Uguev an extra point and won the match by 8-1 and becoming a two-time Russian National champion.[9]

With Uguev's first-place victory at Odintsovo 2018, he qualified for the 2018 World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. In the round of 16, Uguev faced 2012 Olympian, Armenia's Mihran Jaburyan and won by technical superiority 10–0. In the quarter-final Uguev then faced 2017 U23 Senior World Champion, Reineri Andreu Ortega of Cuba, winning by the score of 6–0, and faced Paris 2017 Senior World Champion, Yuki Takahashi of Japan, whom Uguev defeated by the score 7-2 and advanced Uguev to the finals.[10] In the final, Uguev faced Bishkek 2018 champion, Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev. After a close first period with each wrestler scoring a takedown; the second period started out with each wrestler also gaining a step-out point for the score of 3-3; however, Sanayev was penalized for continuously pulling on Uguev's singlet, thus resulting in a score of 4–3 in favor of Uguev, ultimately giving Uguev his first senior world title at 57 kg,[11] despite injuring his knee in the semi-final.

Having won Bronze at the European Games, and beating Tyutrin by technical fall at the summer-camp face-offs, the reigning World Champion, Uguev, was once again eligible to take part in the World Championships in Kazakhstan. In the round of 32, Uguev was first faced with the opponent who beat him at the European Games - who became the European Games Champion, Mahir Amiraslanov; Uguev defeated Amiraslanov by the score of 4-3 after scoring a takedown in the last 30 seconds; Uguev next faced Mongolian wrestler, Erdenebatyn Bekhbayar, and defeated him by the score of 5–2. In the quarter-finals, Uguev's opponent was Asian Champion, Reza Atri who was defeated by Uguev with a score of 2–0, advancing Uguev to the semi-finals against Ravi Kumar of India.[12] Kumar was defeated after getting taken down and hit with a four-point fireman's carry, Uguev would hold on to win with a score of 6–4, advancing Uguev onto the final vs. Turkish wrestler and 2019 European Champion, Süleyman Atlı.[13] Up by a passivity point, going into the second period, Uguev would get exposed by Atlı for two-points from a chest-wrap, Uguev himself would force Atlı's back to the mat, leading 3–2, Atlı was able to reverse position and lead the score of 3*-3 by criteria. Approximately 10 seconds later after the reset, Uguev would achieve a strong underhook and was able to land a single-leg takedown for two-points going up 5–3; however, Uguev would then score six-points from three gut-wrenches for a score of 11–3. To finish the match, Uguev would get two-points from a trapped-arm turn for exposure, resulting in a dominating 13-3 technical fall - successfully defending his world title.[14]