MAKHACHKALA, Russia, February 17 (R-Sport) - A Russian wrestler who won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was hospitalized with gunshot wounds Sunday in the country's troubled southern province of Dagestan, his coach told RIA Novosti.
Bakhtiyar Akhmedov, who lost the final of the 120kg division to Artur Taymazov at those Games, was shot in the stomach and taken to a clinic in the capital Makhachkala, his coach said.
"The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated," Imammurza Aliev told RIA Novosti.
Local police told RIA Novosti only that a man by the name of Bakhtiyar had been admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds.
There were no other details.
Gun violence in Dagestan is common. The province is one of Russia's poorest and suffers from an insurgency, in part Islamist, that spilled over after two wars in nearby Chechnya.
Updated on 18.02.13 with corrections to last paragraph.
