Rıza Kayaalp said goodbye to the World Wrestling Championship

National athlete Rıza Kayaalp, competing in the 2026 World Wrestling Championship held in Kazakhstan, lost to Matti Elias Kuosmanen from Finland in the quarter-finals.

On the second day of the organization in the capital Astana, the eliminations, quarter and semi-final matches in Greco-Roman style 130, 72 and 97 kilos were completed.

Representing Türkiye in the 130 kilo category, Rıza Kayaalp defeated Indian Joginder Rathee with a technical advantage of 9-0 in his first match.

Rıza won his second round match with Ukrainian Mykhailo Vyshnyvetskyi 4-0, and in the quarter-finals he lost 5-3 to Matti Elias Kuosmanen from Finland.

37-year-old Rıza, who took to the mat again after 2023 in the World Championship, could not get the right to repechage after Finnish athlete Kuosmanen could not advance to the final and closed the organization without a medal.

Rıza Kayaalp, who holds the title of "Turkish wrestler with the most world championships", has 5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals in the history of the organization.

Rıza Kayaalp broke the record of Russian Aleksandr Karelin by winning his 13th gold medal in the European championships.

In the Greco-Roman style 130 kg category, Hungarian Darius Attila Vitek and Iranian Fardin Shaban Hedayati, whom Rıza Kayaalp beat in the gold medal match at the 2026 European Championship, reached the final.

Competing in the 97 kilo category, İbrahim Tığcı qualified for the repechage competition after Russian Artur Sargsian, whom he lost in the second round, made it to the final. While İbrahim's bronze medal chance continued, Cengiz Arslan, who lost his first match in the 72 kg category, was eliminated.

The World Wrestling Championship will end on Sunday, November 1.