Fans and wrestling fans gathered at the capital's airport to meet Rizabek Aitmukhan, who participated in the Under-23 World Wrestling Championship, held on October 23-29 in the Albanian capital Tirana, the official website of Astana Akimat reports.
Rizabek Aitmukhan, who participated in freestyle wrestling in the weight of 97 kg, met with rivals in 2 different categories in a month. In September, he won the U-20 World Championship in Spain, and now he has returned with a victory from Albania.
While our wrestler beat Callum William Knox (Canada) and Vladislav Kozlov ahead of schedule on the race track, Shamil Imam Hajaliyev (7-4) put up significant resistance in the semifinals. And in the final, the Iranian athlete defeated Mahdi Morafakh with a score of 11:6.
"Becoming a world champion is a dream, the goal of any athlete. I was glad to raise the Kazakh flag at global tournaments for the third time in my 20 years. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get to the Paris Olympics. But I went to the Under-20 and under-23 World Championships and won. There is also strong competition here. I had a goal to win. Now it is a great joy for me to see myself on a high pedestal. And I would call the Iranian athlete Mahdi Morafakh the strongest competitor in the competition in the final. Because the athletes of this country are among the strongest in the world, and the fans only expected me to win, there was psychological pressure," Rizabek Aitmukhan shared his emotions.
Thus, in 2024, Rizabek Aitmukhan, who eventually switched to 97 kg, took first place at the Asian Championship and at the U20 and U23 World Championships.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/astana/press/news/details/873955