#UWWLIVE

UWW LIVE: Almat Kebispayev (KAZ), Four-Time World Medalist

Wednesday, September 30, 2020 - 17:26 By United World Wrestling Press

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Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) has won four world medals in Greco-Roman wrestling since 2010. Last year, Kebispayev claimed a bronze medal at 61kg in his home country of Kazakhstan at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan. Kebispayev has also won four medals at the Asian Championships, including gold medals in 2011 and 2018. He was a silver medalist at the 2018 Asian Games.

Kebispayev joined Eric Olanowski to talk about winning a world medal in his home country, joining his Kazakh teammates for their first training camp since the pandemic hit, and made the announcement that he's moving up to 67kg for a run at a third Olympic appearance.
 

#UWWAwards2022

Ozaki earns Women’s Wrestler of the Year honors

Wednesday, December 28, 2022 - 15:51 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 28) -- United World Wrestling has announced Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) as the Women’s Wrestler of the Year. 

At the mere age of 19 years, Ozaki joined a rare list of wrestlers with all four world titles.

This year was undoubtedly Ozaki’s year as she won U20, U23 and senior world golds this season.

Ozaki won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships but stormed back with a gold-medal-winning performance in 2022 in Belgrade. On her way to the gold, she defeated defending world champion Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) and silver medalist Kayla MIRACLE (USA).

Domestically, Ozaki needed to defeat Olympic champion Yukako KAWAI (JPN) to make the world team. She did that in May 2022 and then remained undefeated on the season until suffering a season-ending loss by Sakura MOTOKI in the final at the All-Japan Championships on December 25.

In April, she won her first Asian Championships title by beating Tynybekova, added the U20 world title in August, and completed the set by winning the U23 world gold in October. She won the U17 world title in 2019 in Sofia.

The year-ending rankings were also a reflection of her dominance as she finished on the top at 62kg with 55000 ranking points, out-placing other veterans of the sport.