Mikheil Kajaia

Mikheil Kajaia (Georgian: მიხეილ ქაჯაია; Serbian: Михаил Каџаја, Mihail Kadžaja; born 21 July 1989) is a Georgian-born Serbian Greco-Roman wrestler. ^[1]

Mikheil Kajaia

Personal information
Born	21 July 1989 (1989-07-21) (age 34) Tskaltubo, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	97 kg (214 lb)
Sport
Country	Georgia (2010–2017)  Serbia (2017–)
Sport	Wrestling
Event	Greco-Roman
Medal record Men's Greco-Roman wrestling Representing  Serbia World Championships 2018 Budapest 97 kg 2019 Nur-Sultan 97 kg European Championships 2018 Kaspiysk 97 kg 2023 Zagreb 97 kg Mediterranean Games 2018 Tarragona 97 kg Representing  Georgia Summer Universiade 2013 Kazan 96 kg

Career

Representing Georgia, Kajaia participated in the 2013 Summer Universiade and he won the bronze medal in the 96 kg event. ^[2] He was part of the Georgian Wrestling Team at the 2015 European Games but lost to Italian Daigoro Timoncini at the 1/8 finals. ^[3]

In 2017, Kajaia started to wrestle for Serbia. He entered the 2017 European Wrestling Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia but defeated by the Olympic champion Artur Aleksanyan in the second round. ^[4] One year later, he won his first European medal, a silver, in Kaspiysk, Russia. He reached the final at 97 kg but lost to Artur Aleksanyan again with a score of 0-7. ^[5] At the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain, he lost to the eventual champion, Frenchman Mélonin Noumonvi, in the semifinals but still successfully grabbed a bronze medal. Kajaia later won his first world bronze medal in Budapest, Hungary. In the bronze-medal match, Kajaia faced former world champion and home favourite Balázs Kiss. Kajaia trailed 0-3 after the first period but managed a turnaround by winning on criteria with a four-point arm throw. ^[6] In April 2021, he competed in the 97 kg event at the 2021 European Wrestling Championships held in Warsaw, Poland.

He competed in the men's 97 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.^[7]

In 2022, he competed at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 held in Rome, Italy.^[8] He competed in the 97 kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia.^[9]

He competed at the 2024 European Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan hoping to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.^[10] He was eliminated in his third match and he did not qualify for the Olympics.^[10]

References

1. "Database". UWW. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
2. . USA Wrestling. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
3. . Baku 2015. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
4. "Baldauf Stuns Rio 2016 Champ, Serbia Advances Two to GR Finals at European C'ships". UWW. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
5. "Golds on Third Day of Euro C'Ships". UWW. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
6. "Russia Sweeps Greco Gold Medals on Final Day of World Championships". UWW. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
7. (PDF). Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
8. (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
9. (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
10. (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.

External links

• Mikheil Kajaia at the International Wrestling Database (alternate link)  
• Mihail Kajaia at United World Wrestling
• Mihail Kajaia at Olympics.com  
• Mihail Kadžaja at Olympedia  
• Mihail Kadžaja at the Olimpijski Komitet Srbije (in Serbian)