Olympic Champion Razambek Djamalov to Miss 2025 Wrestling World Championships

Paris Olympic gold medalist Razambek Djamalov (Uzbekistan) will not compete at the 2025 Wrestling World Championships. As the athlete told United World Wrestling in an interview, he is scheduled to undergo knee surgery in Moscow on May 19, which will sideline him for the rest of the season.

This will be the 26-year-old wrestler’s tenth surgery in his career and his second in the last eight months. After his Olympic triumph in August 2024, Djamalov underwent shoulder surgery.

"This will be my fifth knee surgery," Djamalov said. "I've also had three shoulder surgeries, one on my neck, and one to remove my tonsils. It's very hard to accept that I won’t be able to compete at the World Championships. I was hoping to recover in time, but the old injury has come back — a complete cruciate ligament tear that I sustained before the tournament in Hungary."

Despite his difficult injury and recovery history, Djamalov is not planning to retire.

"Even after ten surgeries, I want to keep wrestling. I plan to return to the mat in early 2026. Life feels boring without wrestling. Of course, I have doubts, but I try to keep working and believe in better days," he shared.