UWW

Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) qualified for 2nd Olympics with bronze medal at 2019 World Championships. Lost close 1-1 decision to Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) in semifinals, then beat Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) 6-2 for bronze....Prepared for Tokyo with 3rd-place finishes in three tournaments over four-month span this year---Ukrainian International, Asian Championships and Poland Open...Placed 8th at Rio 2016 Olympics...Silver medalist at 2015 World Championships, losing to Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) in final...Asian champion in 2013 and 2015, and 6-time medalist overall. Won Asian Games in 2014 and was second in 2018...Lost to Iranians at last two Asian Championships (Behrouz HEDAYAT in 2020 and Naser ALIZADEH this year), but Greco 87kg is only men's weight class in which Middle East powerhouse did not qualify for Tokyo....Took up wrestling at age 10 to follow father, a former wrestler. Placed 3rd at 2009 Russian championships. Started competing for Uzbekistan from 2012....Younger brother Bislan was 2011 world cadet champion.