Whenever there is a talk about Men’s freestyle, Russia’s Abdulrashid Sadulaev is amongst the first few wrestlers to take the centre stage. The Russian tank is the epitome of a freestyle wrestling. The champion par excellence. At the age of 23, he has four world titles and an Olympic gold already in his kitty. He has been unbeaten since 2017 Paris world championship when Kyle Snyder got better of the Russian. Since then Sadulaev is the most dominating force and face of world wrestling. His dominating ways is completely reminiscent of Aleksandr Karelin’s Greco-Roman dominance. He has been an unstoppable force on the mat in 97kg.
Sadulaev vs Snyder rivalry built up by that famous bout of 2017 now seems to be a thing of the past. Since then Sadulaev has been at his prime while Snyder is battling his demons and rivalry between two has been fading away.
The Big Question – Can Sadulaev’s victory march be stopped in Tokyo Olympics
The global wrestling experts believe, Mohammad Hossei Askari of Iran is the wrestler to watch out for and has the potential to challenge the hegemony of Sadulaev.
The 27-year-old wrestler had marked his return to the international scene in 2019 after serving a four-year ban for taking performance-enhancing drugs. But since ever since the comeback, he has been a force to reckon with. His last tournament before United World Wrestling (UWW) cancelled all the events due to Coronavirus crisis was Matteo Pellicone Rome Ranking Series. The grappler won gold in the 97kg weight bracket.
His biggest win in that tournament was against the 2017 World Champ Snyder in the quarterfinals. The match was completely dominated by Askari who started strong, winning four points early in the match. In the second round, he eventually pinned Snyder and won the match. The victory was enough to announce his return to world wrestling. Besides Snyder, Askari also defeated the former U23 World Champion Bo Nickal 10-0 on technical superiority in the early round of the tournament.
Even before the ban, the grappler was one of the strong wrestlers in the world. He won a bronze medal in the 2014 World Championships and was the 2015 Asian Championship Champion. His gold medal finish at the January-held Ranking Series helped him enter in the top 20 of the UWW rankings.
He is world number 13 currently while Snyder and Sadulaev are number two and one respectively. It means that there is a high possibility of Askari meeting either of the two in early rounds at the Olympics given he manages to qualify for the Tokyo Games from Iran.
Sadulaev is aware of the Iranian challenge.
“The World Championships are different from Olympic title. Anybody can win or lose,” he said.
If the Iranian wrestler wants to stand a chance against the Russian giant he needs to work very hard. Sadulaev has been on top for a very long time. He says that motivation has played a very important role to help stay at the top of his game.
“Motivation helps me achieve everything. My rivals are training hard, They don’t stand idly by. The younger generation is coming. Sport just takes a short period of our life. I have to win every possible tournament before the younger wrestler starts stepping on my toes, otherwise, it will be too late.
Sadulaev is already a living legend in wrestling while the Iranian has a lot to prove to his country and the world after missing out on his crucial years due to a ban. In between the much-hyped rivalry of Sadulaev-Snyder – the flavour added by the Iranian will make the Tokyo Olympics battles in the 97kg category a battleground.