Artur Taymazov (red) of Uzbekistan fights against Bakhtiyar Akhmedov of Russia in their men's freestyle 120kg gold medal match of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Wrestling event in Beijing, China, Aug. 21, 2008. Artur Taymazov beat Bakhtiyar Akhmedov and grabbed the gold.[Xinhua]

Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan retained his Olympic title in the men's freestyle 120kg wrestling at Beijing Olympic Games on Thursday.

Taymazov defeated Bakhtiyar Akhmedov in the final to stop Russia from getting its seventh wrestling gold at the Beijing Olympics, winning the final 3-0, 1-0.

He thus became the third wrestler to successfully defend the title at the Beijing Games Athens. The other two are Russian Mavelt Batirov in 60kg category and Buvaysa Saytiev in 74kg class.

The 29-year-old also won a silver in the Sydney Games.

David Musulbes of Slovakia and Marid Mutalimov of Kazakhstan jointly won the bronze medals.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)