Just like many more, twice world champ Zaur Uguev is also stuck at home after the coronavirus pandemic caused havoc in the Dagestan region of Russia. The wrestler in conversation with Dagestan wrestling federation gave a first-person account of the situation in the North Caucasus region. He says the situation due to COVID-19 is bad and the government has blocked many roads in the cities. “It is impossible to move without passes. This is probably right, because we, the Dagestanis, have such a character that until we or our relatives are affected by trouble, we do not understand how dangerous it is. Surprisingly, even now some people do not observe safety measures, so the number of cases does not decrease. Official sources may not have such information, but acquaintances related to medicine say that the city’s hospitals are still crowded,” he added.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in his press conference acknowledged that Dagestan has severely been affected by the pandemic. The southern part of the region, in particular, is suffering the most. Although there is not much information about the number of positive cases, Reuters has claimed over 3,400 confirmed cases has been reported. Olympic and five-time world champ Abdulrashid Sadulaev, a native of Dagestan had confirmed of getting infected by the virus. UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov had also revealed that his father is battling the deadly virus.
Uguev, on the other hand, has locked himself up in his home in Khsavyur. Upon asking how he spends his free time now that there is no training or competition he said, “Doing something about the housework, driving around in the garden, helping parents with whom we live in the same yard. I allow myself to sleep a little longer, and, of course, I devote a lot of time to my son, who yesterday turned four months old. I am lucky that I can play with him, see how he grows. Many wrestlers cannot boast of this, because constant departures for training camps and competitions do not allow them to stay with children”.
Unlike many of his counterparts, the Russian wrestler is not very active on social media. The reason he gives for this is not having any new content for the fans to watch. “There are no fresh photos and videos to exhibit. Where to shoot them when you sit at home all the time? I’m not a big fan of social networks. I understand that this is part of our life, but I relate to this without fanaticism – I communicate in WhatsApp groups with friends, look through the feed on Instagram, and that’s all, perhaps”.
Owing to his gold medal finish at the Worlds in Nur-Sultan, Uguev has confirmed the berth in 57kg men’s freestyle. But with the coronavirus-deferred Tokyo Games and just sitting at home maintaining weight might be a problem for the lightweight wrestler. He says, “Now I don’t think about it at all. My opinion: when you are not purposefully preparing for anywhere, you need to slightly dissolve the weight so that the body rests from the weight-racers. And so, I usually have 62-63 kg, even though I do not hold weight and eat what I want”.
“It would be untrue if I say that I devote a lot of time to this. The maximum that I do is exercises on the horizontal bar and push-ups from the floor. Earlier, when friends came to visit, I was busy with them. Honestly, I missed the carpet very much,” the 25-year-old told WrestDag.ru on how he is keeping fit.
Uguev was amongst the group of wrestlers who were eagerly looking forward to the Tokyo Games to be held this year. However, the postponement had put all his Olympic plans to a back-burner. “Of course, it would be good for me if everything went as planned because I can say, I’ve almost gone to Tokyo.” But I’m not going to relax, I have a goal and I have a great desire and strength to achieve it”.