In the final match, Akmataliyev faced American athlete Alec Pontaleo. In the last seconds of the bout, Pontaleo was leading with a score of 4:3. At that moment, Kurbanaliev, along with his trainee Ibrahim Ibrahimov, was returning from a victory in the bronze match and was passing by the central mat.
Kurbanaliev noticed that the referees had mistakenly awarded Pontaleo extra points and tried to warn the seconds of the Kyrgyzstan team about it. As a result, he activated the challenge button himself. After reviewing the episode, the referees canceled the extra points, and the score became 3:2 in favor of Akmataliyev.
After the match, Kurbanaliev commented: “I pulled him out. I came from there, shouting — he didn’t hear. I pressed.”
Earlier in this tournament, Akmataliyev had already faced Ibrahimov and won against him. After that bout, Kurbanaliev noted that his trainee was significantly stronger than the Kyrgyz wrestler.
