All five of the men’s finals were contested between the two former Soviet nations on a heated night inside a raucous Yunusobod Sport Complex as the RSF captured three golds and Uzbekistan left with two.

Russian athletes are competing as the RSF in Tashkent, as part of sanctions imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in connection with the manipulation of data from the Moscow Laboratory.

The first of the five duels ended in controversy when Ernazarov ignored the referee’s orders and continued to vent his anger at judges after Nikita Kletskov was awarded the gold medal in the men’s under-71 kilogram division.

Ernazarov had taken the lead in the final when he forced Kletskov out of the ring shortly after receiving treatment for a cut to his ear.

The pair continued to tussle before Kletskov took off his uniform to show what appeared to be a bite mark on his back to judges.

Following a long video review, the referee called Ernazarov to the centre of the ring to confirm Kletskov as the winner.

But the Uzbek sambist refused as he furiously protested against the decision with the officials.

insidethegames was later informed by the International Sambo Federation that Ernazarov had been disqualified for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Usually the dominant nation in sambo, the RSF had a frustrating day yesterday as they lost three of the four finals they featured in.

But they bounced back today, overcoming the challenge of a loud Uzbek crowd and stubborn home fighters to climb to the top of the medal standings.

The most emphatic of their three victories came when Sheikh-Mansur Khabibulaev knocked out Oybek Soliev with a sensational spinning kick to win combat under-64kg gold.

Khabibulaev had produced a similar move to wind his Uzbek rival before finishing him off with an uppercut and then a spiral kick to the head.

Medics sprinted to Soliev’s aid as he lay motionless before being revived and eventually getting to his feet.

Yauheni Mikhno of Belarus and Adilbek Seissov of Kazakhstan secured podium places after winning their bronze medal bouts.

Uali Kurzhev of the RSF also produced a dominant display in his victory over Uzbekistan’s Ulugbek Rakhmonov to hand the RSF another gold medal in the men’s under-79kg.

Bronze medals were won by Aidyn Dartayev of Kazakhstan and Nedir Allaberdyyev of Turkmenistan.

Uzbekistan pushed the RSF hard and achieved their first gold medal of the tournament courtesy of Bakhodir Bakiev’s combat under-58kg triumph.

Bakiev proved too strong for Aleksandr Nesterov of the RSF, flipping his opponent onto his head during an impressive performance.

Moldova secured a place on the medal table thanks to Serghei Shilov’s bronze as Nurken Dombayev of Kazakhstan also grabbed third spot on the podium.

Uzbekistan’s second gold came in the final fight of the night when Ikhtiyor Eshmurodov triumphed against Sergey Ryabov of the RSF in the men’s under-88kg final.

An early point from Ryabov looked to be enough as the match headed into the closing moments.

But with 20 seconds left on the clock, Eshmurodov secured a point of his own to draw level before being awarded the victory by the judges after displaying huge heart to win the arm wrestle.

Seyedmohammadreza Saeedimadani claimed Iran’s first medal of the event with bronze along with Stetsenko Dmytro of Ukraine.

While all the men’s gold medal matches only featured Uzbekistan and the RSF, the two women’s finals both included Kazakhstan.

But they were unable to win either of them as Dildash Kuryshbayeva lost to Alice Schlesinger of Israel in the women’s under-72kg final.

Schlesinger, who had picked up a penalty early in the contest, was under threat of losing the bout.

But with seconds left, Schlesinger used all her grit and determination to get Kuryshbayeva into a vice-like grip.

Kuryshbayeva battled to release herself from the hold but Schlesinger was awarded the victory.

Battsetseg Tsog-Ochir of Mongolia and Anastasiia Khomiachkova of the RSF claimed the two bronze medals on offer in the division.

Kazakhstan also had to settle for second place in the women’s under-65kg category after Ukraine’s Yuliia Hrebenozhko defeated Azhar Salykova.

Sem van Dun of The Netherlands and Lucija Babic of Croatia won their bronze medal matches.

Competition is due to conclude tomorrow with the finals of the women’s under-80 and over-80kg, men’s 98kg, over-98kg and combat under-71kg, under-79kg and under-88kg categories.