New Delhi, March 13 After Russian wrestler Bozigit Islamgereev scored 'flying squirrel' move over Frenchman Rakhim Magamadov in the dying seconds of the 86kg quarterfinal at the U23 European Championships in Zrenjanin, Serbia, he quickly became an internet sensation.
After a video of his sensational move was posted by United World Wrestling (UWW), it quickly went viral and spread beyond the combat sports world and to the masses. No wrestling video has attained the level of virality that Islamgereev's move has.
"Everyone was shocked. My videos are everywhere now, I can’t even keep up with Instagram anymore. I’m all over the feed. Everyone congratulated me, absolutely everyone. People are surprised, shocked. Everyone is asking how this even happened," Islamgereev told UWW.
During the 86 kg quarterfinal, Islamgereev was trailing 8-3 with 15 seconds left in the match against Magamadov, who was the favourite at the time to win gold. Islamgereev then scored a step-out and caution point to cut the lead to 8-5 with 7 seconds left.
Islamgereev took a few steps forward towards Magamadov, who stayed low to avoid a double-leg attack which could have cost him two or four points. But the Russian jumped over Magamadov and locked him from behind while himself being upside down and slammed the French wrestler to score four points.
"There were literally only a few seconds left, probably around 10 seconds, when I pushed him out. Then there were about 7 seconds remaining.
"I couldn’t get to his legs at all. I thought to myself that since I couldn’t attack from below, I would try from above. He was standing very low and I couldn’t make a leg attack. So I decided to try from above. At the end, there were only a couple of seconds left, there was no time to think too much. In that moment you either take the risk or end up with nothing. I took the risk. That’s how it happened; I jumped, he explained.
"The main thing is first to fake an attack to the legs and trick him. As soon as he leans down, you need to jump upward so he can’t catch your legs. Then you have to be careful, you need to land on both feet so you can lift him and score four points," the Russian added.
In the final on Wednesday, he defeated Ahmet Yagan of Turkey 2-1, to become the U23 European champion.
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