#Fortaleza2018

Brazil to Play Host to 2018 Junior Pan American Championships, Aug. 17-19

Thursday, August 16, 2018 - 20:34 By Taylor Miller

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FORTALEZA, Brazil – The 2018 Junior Pan American Championships are slated for this weekend, Aug. 17-19 in Fortaleza, Brazil. The talented field features four past age-group World medalists and several past Pan American medalists across Cadet, Junior and Senior levels.

The tournament begins with Greco-Roman action on Aug. 17, followed by women’s freestyle on Aug. 18 and men’s freestyle to wrap up the event on Aug. 19.

GRECO-ROMAN, Aug. 17

There are two World medalists in the Greco-Roman field, both registered to compete at 55 kg: 2017 Junior World runner-up Cevion SEVERADO (USA) and 2016 Cadet World silver medalist Nestor DELGADO (MEX).

Delgado owns a Pan American gold medal from his championship effort in 2016 at the Cadet Greco. This weekend will be Severado’s first trip to the continental championships.

Returning 2017 Junior Pan American champions include Joilson DE BRITO RAMOS JUNIOR (BRA) at 67 kg, Carlos Moises ESPINOZA CASTRO (PER) at 87 kg and Anthony CASSIOPPI (USA) at 130 kg.

Host country’s de Brito also won a medal at last year’s Senior Pan Ams, finishing with silver. Last summer, he represented Brazil at the Junior and Senior World Championships, and so far this year, he won gold at the South American Championships.

A three-time age-group Pan American medalist, Espinoza won his first Senior-level and fourth overall Pan Am medal, claiming bronze in front of a home crowd in Lima, Peru, in May. Espinoza also owns 2015 Cadet freestyle silver and 2016 Junior Greco bronze.

Making his second-consecutive trip to the Pan Am Championships, Cassioppi, who doubled up on gold at the event last year, will wrestle both styles again this weekend.

Other notable names entered include 2018 Senior Pan Am runner-up Gerardo Francisco OLIVA MONTES (PER) and 2017 Junior Pan Am silver medalists Thomas BRACKETT (USA), William Alberto MORENO CHUC (GUA) and Samuel Facundo UGALDE AGUILAR (MEX).

Moreno also won bronze at the 2017 Senior Central American and Caribbean Games.

WOMEN’S FREESTYLE, Aug. 18

The lone World medalist in the women’s division this weekend is Kayla MARANO (USA), who won Cadet World bronze in 2015. She will compete at 68 kg in Brazil.

USA will bring four other women’s freestylers who have represented the U.S. on the age-group World stage such as Vayle BAKER at 53 kg, Cameron GUERIN at 55 kg, Brenda REYNA at 59 kg and Ashlynn ORTEGA at 65 kg.

There are several 2017 Junior Pan American runners-up, looking to reach the top of the podium, counting Jayd DAVIS (CAN) at 53 kg, Hannah TAYLOR (CAN) at 57 kg, Dejah SLATER (CAN) at 68 kg and Fatima CRISANTO AYIL (MEX) at 62 kg.

Slater took fifth at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland. Her Canadian teammates Davis and Taylor also competed at the event.

Other names to look out for include 2018 Senior Pan American bronze winner Michaela BECK (USA) at 57 kg and past Cadet Pan Am champions Guerin at 55 kg, Rita ROJAS CHAVEZ (MEX) at 53 kg and Fernanda ALDAZ LOPEZ (ECU).

Rojas has had a successful season, winning silver at the Senior Central American and Caribbean Championships and a bronze at the Senior Central American and Caribbean Games in July.

MEN’S FREESTYLE, Aug. 19

The men’s freestyle field is the biggest of the three styles with 56 entrants.

Highlighting the talented group is 2016 Cadet World silver medalist Vitali ARUJAU (USA), who will compete at 61 kg.

Cassioppi of USA is the only defending Junior Pan Am freestyle champion in the field as he won gold in both freestyle and Greco last year.

Looking to challenge Cassioppi is 2017 Junior Pan Am silver medalist Aly BARGHOUT (CAN), who will also compete this weekend at 125 kg. Barghout fell to Cassioppi in last year’s round robin action, 11-1.

Also in the mix at heavyweight is Jose DIAZ PONCIANO (GUA), who won bronze in both styles last year.

There a several wrestlers in the field who are multiple-time age-group Pan Am medal winners, including Brayden TODD (CAN) at 57 kg, Carson LEE (CAN) at 79 kg, Luis MORALES MAYANCHA (ECU) at 57 kg and Oscar CALVOPINA CANCIO (ECU) at 61 kg.

Lee won silver at this year’s Cadet Pan Ams in Guatemala and followed up that performance with a top-five finish at the Cadet World Championships last month in Zagreb, Croatia.

Other notable athletes are 2017 Senior South American Championships silver medalist Marcos CARROZZINO (BRA), 2018 Gran Prix of Spain bronze medalist Hunter LEE (CAN) and 2015 Cadet Pan Am champion Cristian SANTIAGO PEREZ (MEX).

Schedule
Friday, Aug. 17
10 a.m. – Preliminary rounds through semifinals (all Greco weights)
5: 30 p.m. – Opening Ceremonies
6 p.m. – Finals

Saturday, Aug. 18
10 a.m. – Preliminary rounds through semifinals (all women’s freestyle weights)
6 p.m. – Finals

Sunday, Aug. 19
10 a.m. – Preliminary rounds through semifinals (all men’s freestyle weights)
6 p.m. – Finals

#WrestleZagreb

Lee strikes gold as U.S., Iran shine at Zagreb Open

Thursday, February 6, 2025 - 01:15 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (February 5) -- Spencer LEE (USA) did not compete internationally, for circumstances beyond his control, for eight years after winning his U20 world title in 2016. But in a year since he came back in February 2024, Lee has competed in six tournaments in less than a year.

Lee competed at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix in January and won gold. Two weeks later he won the Zagreb Open gold medal at 57kg on Wednesday, marking his debut at a Ranking Series event.

The Paris Olympic silver medalist led a strong performance of the wrestlers from United States as they won two gold medals as six weight classes concluded on day one of the Zagreb Open at Arena Zagreb.

Lee did not look as dominant as he did in Paris before the final but still managed to pull out a good defensive game and win the gold medal with rather ease.

In the final, Lee defeated Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2, after a similar win over Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) in the semifinals. He opened the day with an 11-0 drubbing of Luka GVINJILIA (GEO).

"It's good to get competition right now," Lee said. "[It] showed that I'm really not ready yet."

Though Lee was not convinced about his readiness, his coach Dan DENNIS kept pushing Lee and reminded him of the progress he is making bout after bout.

"I think it [progress] comes from being more successful early and then I was in on three shots, kicked out of all three of them," he said. "He's (Dan Dennis) just saying that you just kind of kept progressing. You even got taken down, good counter from him, got to keep wrestling, keep moving."

In the final, Lee scored two takedowns, first one a double-leg and second a counter, as his scoring actions to beat Bazarganov, a bronze medalist at the European Championships last year.

The win takes second-ranked Lee to 43000 ranking points, same as top ranked Rei HIGUCHI (JPN), the gold medalist from Paris Olympics. If Lee can finish top eight at any other Ranking Series or Pan-Am Championships, he will move to the top. However, Lee was not sure if he will be in action internationally before the World Championships.

"I think that ranking tournaments are awesome because good guys come," he said. "The points are obviously a nice bonus to that just because you can get seeded in the bracket. I love competing. Obviously I need more of it. So maybe. This tournament was tough. So good for me."

Zahid VALENCIA (USA)Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won the 86kg gold medal in Zagreb. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Zahid VALENCIA (USA) was the second gold medalist for the U.S. as he won gold medal at 86kg after beating Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0, in the final. Valencia was good with his counters and after building a 4-0 lead at the break, he scored two more takedown in the second period to win the gold medal.

The two bronze medals at this weight class went to Nathan JACKSON (USA) and Trent HIDLAY (USA), making sure all three U.S. wrestlers finish on the podium at the weight class.

Ahmad JAVAN (IRI)Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ibrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 in the 61kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Iran wins 2 golds

Iran also won two gold medals but the tournament left it with more questions than answers for the Asian Championships team.

At 61kg, Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ebrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 to confirm his spot for the Asian Championships. Khari, who won silver at the U20 World Championships last year, failed to give Javan a fight in the final.

Prior to the final, Javan defeated Nashon GARRETT (USA) 7-2 in the quarterfinals and Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) 9-3 in the semifinals.

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI)Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) defeated Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) undoubtedly gave Iran its biggest win of the day as he came back to beat Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final.

McKenna got the first two takedowns to lead 4-0 before Ebrahim answered with his own to lead 4-4 at the break. Ebrahim began the second period with another takedown to go ahead 6-4 but with less than a minute to go, McKenna hit ankle pick and transitioned into a leg-attack. He scored a takedown to lead 6-6 on criteria.

In the dying seconds of the bout, Ebrahim  tried a front headpinch but McKenna defended it as he had Ebrahim's one leg locked. However, the Iranian managed to get his leg out of McKenna's hands, he tried to circle back and complete a takedown but McKenna held his knee pad which was penalized as one point, giving the win to Ebrahim 7-6.

The United States challenged that call but it remained and McKenna was docked one more point for lost challenge, making the score 8-6.

Both Iran and the U.S. had two silver medalists as well after Sina KHALILI (IRI) lost the final at 70kg and David CARR (USA) dropped the final at 74kg.

Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE), a former U20 world champion, gave no chance to Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final and shut him down for a 12-1 win victory.

The weight class also had Paris Olympian and 2023 world champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) who was stunned in the first bout of the day by Jarrett JACKQUES (USA) who scored a takedown in his 3-2 win Muszukajev.

Carr ran into three-time world medalist Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) in the final and finished with a silver medal at 74kg.

Salkazanov scored a takedown on each side of the break to complete a 4-0 win.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: Spencer LEE (USA) df. Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2

BRONZE: Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) df. Luka GVINJILIA (GEO), 11-2 
BRONZE: Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) df. Ahora KHATERI (IRI), 11-0

61kg
GOLD: Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) df. Ebrahim KHARI (IRI), 10-0

BRONZE: Nahshon GARRETT (USA) df. Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO), 16-11
BRONZE: Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE) df. Reza MOMENI (IRI), 8-4

65kg
GOLD: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) df. Joseph MC KENNA (USA), 8-6

BRONZE: Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) df. Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR), 2-2
BRONZE: Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE) df. Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), 6-0

70kg
GOLD: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. Sina KHALILI (IRI), 12-1

BRONZE: Austin GOMEZ (MEX) df. Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI), 9-3
BRONZE: Vasile DIACON (MDA) df. James GREEN (USA), via inj. def.

74kg
GOLD: Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) df. David CARR (USA), 4-0

BRONZE: Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN) df. Kamil RYBICKI (POL), 10-0
BRONZE: Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) df. Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE), 3-2

86kg
GOLD: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) df. Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0

BRONZE: Nathan JACKSON (USA) df. Matthew FINESILVER (ISR), 12-2
BRONZE: Trent HIDLAY (USA) df. Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO), 10-4