Slovakia’s medal hope in wrestling received a serious crack. In today’s round of 16 of the Paris Olympics, Tajmuraz Salkazanov clearly lost to Razambek Žamalov 3:11 and is currently waiting to see if he will get a chance in the rematch.
Photo: Martin Baumann
Tajmuraz Salkazanov after the round of 16 duel against Uzbek Razambek Žamalov.
“I don’t know… In the beginning I did stupid things and he ran away from me all the time. I didn’t get to him. He grabbed my leg when he got off the mat, he must have been nervous. He wanted to beat me mentally, but I wasn’t nervous,” he said about the Salkazanov meeting.
At first he wanted to avoid the Slovak journalists, but in the end he gave a brief review of the duel.
From the beginning, he pulled for the short end and at the beginning of the second period the score was 0:6. Subsequently, however, the naturalized Russian in Slovak colors fought back and reduced the difference to three points.
“It was 3:6, but that’s nothing. He was running away from me, but the referees didn’t give him passivity,” added Salkazanov. He had to wait to see how the quarter-final between his conqueror from Uzbekistan and the Albanian Chermen Valiyev would develop.
Salkazanov has a chance for a rematch only if Žamalov reaches the final. In the end, Žamalov won against Valijev in the quarter-finals very narrowly 6:5, and Salkazan’s chance for a rematch is still alive.
Today around 18:30, Žamalov will play against Viktor Rassadin from Tajikistan. If the Uzbek succeeds in this fight as well, the Slovak would compete tomorrow in a rematch against unsuccessful wrestlers from the opposite branch of the spider.
“I’m not going to sit here all day, I have to prepare for tomorrow,” concluded Salkazanov, angrily slamming the bottom of the water bottle against his palm three times.
The national team coach Erik Cap came to the journalists after a long time. He had tears in his eyes and struggled to find words.
“I apologize to the Slovaks. Not for Tajmuraz, but for wrestling in general. Salkazanov did everything right. The head referee from Germany has already changed the verdict to our disadvantage several times.
There was a clear move by the opponent. At the beginning, at 0:6, he adjusted the verdict and immediately let it continue, so we could not accept the challenge. One push would be enough for him and Tajmuraz would go passive.
Unfortunately, the Slovak wrestling association is not that strong in sports diplomacy,” said Cap. At the end of the duel with Salkazanov, Žamalov increased the score to 11:3 in his favor. It seemed that he caused problems for the Slovak wrestler mainly with his agility.
“He wasn’t fast. Perhaps the pressure got to Tajmuraz. However, I did not understand some of the decisions of the German referee, this is never done,” Cap said in front of the Slovak media, adding that he was sorry.
So far, the only medal for Slovakia was won last week by water slalom skier Matej Beňuš. He won bronze in the C1 category.
The smallest expedition in the era of independent Slovakia already has – regardless of Salkazanov’s result – another unflattering epithet. The least successful.
The 2024 Summer Games in Paris fell short of the bar from Atlanta 1996, where Slovaks won a complete medal collection – gold Michal Martikán (water slalom), silver Slavomír Kňazovický (speed canoeing) and bronze Jozef Gönci (shooting).
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
