Kazakh wrestler Sanayev earns bronze despite biting semifinal opponent

Kazakhstan’s former world silver medalist Nurislam Sanayev won freestyle wrestling bronze on Thursday despite biting an opponent in his semifinal at the Makuhari Event Hall in Chiba on Wednesday.

While some athletes have been seen biting medals and have been requested not to do so, Rio 2016 Olympian Sanayev, who represented Russia early in his career, decided to opt for taking a bite of his Indian opponent Ravi Kumar on Wednesday and images of the incident quickly spread on social media.

Sanayev bit Ravi on his right bicep in desperation while the latter had his opponent pinned to the mat.

The bite on Ravi, who had to use an ice pack on the wound immediately after, left visible marks with an imprint of the Kazakh’s teeth and shocked the wrestling world. Despite the bite Ravi defeated his rival to move into Thursday’s gold medal contest where he fell short in his title bid against Zavur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee.

The incident was reviewed by United World Wrestling, the sport’s world governing body, and their referee delegates, sport director and technical delegates who all concluded that the action taken was an “unintentional reaction”.

UWW did not take any disciplinary action against the Kazakh wrestler who was therefore, rather fortuitously, able to compete on Thursday and win a controversial medal.

A UWW statement said: “Based on the discussion and review of the incident no disciplinary action will be taken based on the conclusion of the incident.”

There was an outpouring of support for Ravi and condemnation for Sanayev who returned to action on Thursday evening and defeated Georgi Valentinov Vangelov of Bulgaria to win bronze in the 57kg category.

Indian cricket legend Virender Sehwag tweeted: “How unfair is this, couldn’t hit our #RaviDahiya ‘s spirit, so bit his hand. Disgraceful Kazakh looser Nurislam Sanayev.”

Around the Rings asked the Kazakhstan National Olympic Committee for a comment but at the time of publication did not receive a response.

Olympic debutant Ravi told the Indian media: “I had no business conceding that much lead against Sanayev, I am not happy with it.

“I knew I could pull it off despite trailing. I was assured inside, but I should not have made it a close fight.”

The humble medalist attempted to pass his silver medal to the group of Indian media in the mixed zone but was stopped by Tokyo 2020 staff due to COVID-19 protocols.

The seven-day wrestling schedule concludes on Saturday with six gold medals up grabs over the remaining two days of competition.