Granma y Cerro Pelado

Lugo Cabrera Tops Pino Hinds In Colossal Clash At Granma Cup

By Richard Immel

HAVANA, Cuba – The behemoth battle at 130kg between top-flight Cubans Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) and Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (CUB) was a fight to the finish, and a fitting conclusion to the Granma Cup Greco-Roman competition.

Returning world bronze medalist Pino Hinds appeared comfortable after building a strong 2-0 lead heading into the second period. However, two subsequent caution points against Pino Hands was all it took for 2016 Olympic silver medalist Lugo Cabrera to come away with the criteria win.

Both heavyweight finalists earned gold at the Pan American Championships the past two years. Lugo Cabrera, specifically, has collected seven Pan American titles dating back to 2009.

Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB)

Rio Olympic champion Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) won decisively over rival countryman Miquel MARTINEZ (CUB) for the 67kg gold medal. Borrero Molina built his lead early with a collection of trapped arm gut-wrenches and remained strong in the 8-4 win. This was a rematch from yesterday’s preliminary bout between the two, also won by Borrero, 3-2.

Host nation Cuba grabbed two additional gold medals from top talents Luis ORTA (CUB) at 60kg and Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) at 97kg. Orta held off Javier DUMENIGO (CUB) for a 2-2, criteria win in the finals. Rosillo fared slightly better, cruising to a comfortable 5-2 decision over Luigi PEREZ (VEN) for gold.

Balint KORPASI (HUN)

Greco-Roman power Hungary capped off a nice performance with three tournament champions on Sunday.

Two-time world bronze medalist and reigning European champion Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) upended U23 world champion Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) in the 87kg final, 1-1. Each man earned one caution point, Szilvassy in the first period and Lorincz in the second frame, giving Lorincz the criteria advantage.

Today marks the second time in the past month Lorincz and Szilvassy have squared off in the gold-medal match of a major international competition. The two battled it out two weeks ago in the Grand Prix of Zagreb finals with Lorincz once again holding the upper hand.

Peter BACSI (HUN)

2016 world champion Balint KORPASI (HUN) won with apparent ease in the 72kg final over two-time defending Granma Cup champion Yosvani PENA (CUB). He was never in danger throughout the much-anticipated showdown, running to a 6-0 victory.

Peter BACSI (HUN), another past world champion from Hungary to take the mat in Cuba, stood atop the 82kg podium without wrestling a match on Sunday. Bacsi finished his tournament 2-1 in the four-man round-robin bracket yesterday and was pushed to the gold due to Antonio DURAN (CUB) upsetting Lazlo SZABO (HUN), 5-1, in today’s session.

Kamal BEY (USA)

The most dominant performance of the Granma Cup came from reigning junior world champion Kamal BEY (USA). In the 77kg finals, Bey proved too much for rising Cuban Ariel FIZ (CUB). He capped off another superb tournament with a 9-1 finals win.  

The action continues in Cuba with the first day of women’s freestyle competition at the Cerro Pelado International. The tournament is expected to begin at 10 a.m. (ET).

Complete results and a live stream of the event can be found at unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS: http://uww.io/NQ6AU

MEDAL MATCHES

60kg

Gold – Luis ORTA (CUB) df. Javier DUMENIGO (CUB) by VPO1, 2-2

Bronze – Dalton ROBERTS (USA) df. Andrej GINC (GER) by VPO1, 6-1

67kg

Gold – Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) df. Miquel MARTINEZ (CUB) by VPO1, 8-4

Bronze – Wilexys RIVAS (VEN) dec. Alejandro SANCHO (USA) by VPO1, 9-3

72kg

Gold – Balint KORPASI (HUN) df. Yosvani PENA (CUB) by VPO, 6-0

Bronze – Anthony SANDER (GER) df. Logan KASS (USA) by VFA

77kg

Gold – Kamal BEY (USA) df. Ariel FIZ (CUB) by VSU1, 9-1

Bronze – Luis AVENDANO (VEN) df. Juan ESCOBAR (MEX) by VPO1, 5-1

87kg

Gold – Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) df. Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) by VPO1, 1-1

Bronze – Geovanis CARRERAS (CUB) df. Friedrich FOUDA (GER) by VFA

Bronze – Kevin RADFORD (USA) df. Daniel GREGORYCH (CUB) by VIN

97kg

Gold – Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) df. Luigi PEREZ (VEN) by VPO1, 5-2

Bronze – Monteaqudo REINIER (CUB) df. Hayden ZILLMER (USA) by VPO, 3-0

Bronze – Kevin MEJIA (HON) df. Pablo REINIER (CUB) by VIN

130kg

Gold – Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (CUB) df. Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) by VPO1 2-2

Bronze – Balint LAM (HUN) df. Diego ALMENDRA (CHI) by VPO, 8-0

Bronze – Franz RICHTER (GER) df. Eduardo MORRELL (PUR) by VIN

Development

Saudi Wrestling Federation growing wrestling through education

By United World Wrestling Press

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (12 October) – The Saudi Wrestling Federation has been organizing coaching and referee courses to grow and develop wrestling within their country over the past few years. Their hard work led to their first-ever silver medal at the U20 Asian Championships. Manthr Jndu achieved this at 63kg in Greco-Roman.

In late April, they organized two more courses (Level 1 Coaching Course and Introduction to Refereeing Course) for new coaches and referees. The Saudi Wrestling Federation held these courses in partnership with United World Wrestling.  

Mr. Hassan MADANY (EGY) and Mr. Juan Luis MAREN (CUB) conducted the Level 1 Coaching Course, and Mr. Sherif HALAWA (EGY) and Mr. Mohsen YAMANI (KSA—Chief of Saudi Referees) led the Introduction to Refereeing course. The courses were held from 28 April to 2 May and included 91 participants (22 women) from 8 nationalities, including participants from EGY, MAR, SYR, SUD, NGR, JOR, KGZ, and KSA residing in Saudi Arabia.

The coaching course had 71 participants, including 17 women coaches. The Level 1 Course is the Introduction to Coaching and Safety. During the course, the participants participated in theoretical and practical sessions. Some of the topics covered were discovery games, introducing a new technique, coaching skills, giving feedback, risk management, age, and developmental stage characteristics.  The coaches actively practiced and developed their skills during the course through practical evaluations. Overall, the coaches gained important knowledge and skills to help them improve in their role as coaches.  

The Introduction to Refereeing Course had 20 participants, including 5 women referees. The participants learned the foundations of what it takes to be a great referee.  The areas covered during the course included the safety of the athletes, evaluation of holds, referee mechanics, positioning, and controlling the bout.  The participants were active during the course and could practice their skills through practical evaluations. 

During the courses, there were sessions involving both referees and coaches, led by Mr. Halawa. This allowed both groups to work together and better learn wrestling rules.