CHIBA, Japan (Reuters) – Georgia’s Ramaz Zoidze pulled off one of the biggest upsets in wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics when he overcame reigning champion Ismael Borrero of Cuba in the Greco-Roman lightweight category on Tuesday.
Borrero, who stepped up from the bantamweight category and is a twice world champion, struggled to get the better of the 25-year-old Georgian in the last-16 bout.
Down 1-0, Zoidze drew level with a passivity call in the second period before he went ahead with a takedown. Although Borrero made it 3-2 in the dying seconds, Zoidze held on for victory to move into the quarter-finals.
Zoidze continued to impress, beating the Refugee Olympic Team’s Iraq-born wrestler Aker Al Obaidi with a 10-0 technical superiority victory to advance to the semi-finals where he will be up against Mohammadreza Geraei of Iran.
“I felt really good, especially in the first bout … My mind and body were working perfectly. Now I’m feeling disappointed, I gave it all,” said the 21-year-old Al Obaidi, who won his previous bout 8-0.
“I don’t have words to thank (wrestling governing body) UWW and the IOC, I’m really happy to compete because of them. I’m very young and I will continue competing.”
Geraei moved into the semis after he edged Germany’s three-times world champion Frank Staebler despite finding himself down 4-2 at the break.
South Korea’s twice world champion Ryu Han-su was upset in the last-16 by Egypt’s two-times Under-23 world champion Mohamed Ibrahim El-Sayed, who took a 6-0 lead in the first period.
Ryu, who beat Algeria’s Abdelmalek Merabet by technical superiority in the previous round, was able to cut the deficit against El-Sayed, but the Egyptian clinched the tie 7-6 to advance.
Women’s world champion Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan cruised into the women’s middleweight freestyle semi-finals without conceding a point in her two bouts.
Tynybekova, a four-times Asian champion, first beat Latvian Anastasija Grigorjeva 8-0 before wrapping up a 6-0 victory over Kriszta Incze by pinning the Romanian.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay in Chiba and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
