Double Olympic freestyle wrestling champion Abdulrashid Sadulayev entered the semi-finals of the World Championship in Serbia thanks to painkiller injections, but a neck injury did not allow him to fight at full strength, the head coach of the Russian team told freestyle wrestler Khadzhimurat Gatsalov.
On Tuesday, Russian national team coach Makhmud Magomedov told that Sadulaev withdrew from the World Championships due to a cervical hernia and would not compete for the bronze medal in the category weights up to 97 kg.
— Abdulrashid was injured and could not fight to the end in the fight with Tazhudinov. From the first minutes it was clear that he was limited in his movements. In the previous fight with the Iranian, he hit his neck very hard, we gave him painkilling injections, on which he entered the fight in the semifinals. Before the fight for bronze, the pain intensified. We were afraid that the situation would get worse, so we immediately sent it to Moscow for examination. Now I cannot assess the complexity of the injury and when exactly Sadulaev will recover. We hope that there is nothing serious and that in the near future Sadulaev will recover and be in service. We will have to continue to prepare for the next licensed tournaments, obtain a license and prepare for the Olympic Games.
If Sadulaev does not recover in time for the licensed tournaments, we will consider other candidates who have already participated in the world championships. We have an experienced alternative, but we hope that the team captain will recover in the near future. I think that the two-year downtime, during which Sadulayev practically did not play anywhere, affected his condition,” Gatsalov told .
The World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade will end on September 24. The Russians are participating in the tournament in neutral status.
Watch live broadcasts of World Championship matches on Match! Fighter” and “Match! Arena”, as well as the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
