Five Kazakhstan’s freestyle wrestlers died in a car crash in Zhambyl region near Kordai village on Tuesday. According to a report by Sporttime.KZ, U23 national champion Zhaksybek Karabalaev and Zhanbota Baybazar died on spot. The other three wrestlers died under intensive care. One of them was a youth Asian silver meadllist Ilyas Zhumay. Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia, who had shared the mat with the wrestler Zhumay paid tribute to the wrestler on Instagram. “I am shocked and deeply saddened to hear about the sudden demise of our brother ilyas zhumay. We lost a gem in our wrestling fraternity today… rest in peace brother,” he wrote.
Bajrang’s coach Shako Bentinidis who returned to India this week and is under quarantine also paid his condolences to the wrestler. He wrote, “my sincere condolences to Ilyas and Kazakhstan wrestlers”.
Who was Ilyas Zhumay?
Zhumay was a middleweight wrestler who competed in the 65kg weight category. He began his career in 2008 and made his international debut in 2011 at Cadets world championships where he won a bronze medal. He came third in 2013 and 2014 Asian Championships at cadet and junior age-group respectively. His first gold medal came in 2015 at the Junior Asian Championships. In 2019 he last won a medal at the Asian Championships at the U23 age-group and was one of the most promising wrestlers from Kazakhstan.