While Sheva was in the middle of the interview, though, the men's team had basically ended their journey in the tournament. Arfan managed to hold on for more than three hours, forcing a draw against GM Sethuraman, securing 14th place in the standings.
The men's section was basically wrapped at this point, with Uzbekistan coming out as the ultimate winner of the Olympiad. This was probably the biggest surprise of the year, as three of their best players were still below 20 years old. However, that showed how good their potential was, as the highest-rated one, Nordibek Abdusattorov, was still 18, and yet, after the tournament was over, he would cross the 2700 threshold, entering the monster realm.
