A wrestler for Georgia until 2015, Mikheil KAJAIA (SRB) switched to Serbia after failing to qualify for the Rio Olympics. In 2018, the Tskaltubo, Georgia SSR, USSR-born wrestler won a silver medal at the European Championships, his first to kickstart his career. The same year he won his first medal at the World Championships. He lost to Kiril MILOV (BUL) in the semifinal but beat Balazs KISS (HUN) in the bronze medal bout. A year later, Kajaia repeated his performance and won another bronze at the 2019 Worlds. Despite his semifinal loss to Musa EVLOEV (RUS), he confirmed his ticket to Tokyo Olympics. He defeated Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL) in the bronze medal bout.