Toronto, Pan Am Games, Canada

U.S. Sweeps into Freestyle Finals in Pan Am Games

Saturday, July 18, 2015 - 21:38 By William May

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TORONTO, Canada (July 18) – Defending champions Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) and Jake HERBERT (USA) advanced to the finals of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games on Saturday and will attempt to win gold medals for a second straight Games later Saturday evening.

Burroughs (74kg) and Herbert (86kg) will be joined in the gold medal matches at Mississauga Sports Center by teammates Kyle SNYDER (96kg) and three-time Pan American championships winner Zachery REY (125kg).

The U.S. quartet will try to match the four gold medals won in the same corresponding categories at the Guadalajara 2011 Games with Burroughs and Herbert leading the charge again.

 

Burroughs will square off South American Games champion Yoan BLANCO (ECU), who has won bronze medals at 66kg in Guadalajara and at 74kg at last year’s Pan Am championships.

In his opening bout of the day, Burroughs rolled up a technical fall against fellow 2014 world bronze medalist Livan LOPEZ (CUB), who will wrestle for a bronze medal on Saturday evening. Lopez was the 66kg gold medalist at the 2011 Games.

 

Herbert, meanwhile, will take his second shot at Reineris SALAS (CUB) this summer after a loss to the two-time world silver medalist at the Beat the Streets event in New York in May.

Herbert cruised into the gold medal match at 86kg with a pair of technical falls, while Salas was forced to go the full six minutes with decisions on points in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

At 96kg, Snyder, a 2013 junior world champion, also rides the momentum of a pair of technical falls into the final and will go up against Pan American championships bronze medal winner Arjun GILL (CAN).

Bringing the curtain down on the Pan Am Games’ wrestling competition will be Rey, who won his third Pan Am championships crown in Santiago in April, and Korey JARVIS (CAN), a bronze medal winner in April.

Gill and Jarvis were both gold medalists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Freestyle
74kg
GOLD: Yoan BLANCO (ECU) v Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)
BRONZE: Johnathan SCOTT (CRC) df. Cristian SARCO (VEN)
BRONZE: Livan LOPEZ (CUB) v Jevon BALFOUR (CAN)

86kg
GOLD: Reineris SALAS (CUB) v Jake HERBERT (USA)
BRONZE: Tamerlan TIGZIEV (CAN) v Pool AMBROCIO (PER)
BRONZE: Ricardo BAEZ (ARG) v Jaime ESPINAL (PUR)

97kg
GOLD: Kyle SNYDER (USA) v Arjun GILL (CAN)
BRONZE: Yuri MAIER (ARG) v Jose DIAZ (VEN)
BRONZE: Jesse RUIZ (MEX) v Marcos SANTOS (PUR)

125kg
GOLD: Korey JARVIS (CAN) v Zach REY (USA)
BRONZE: Edgardo LOPEZ (PUR) v Hugo DE OLIVEIRA (BRA
BRONZE: Rene SILVA (NCA) v Andres RAMOS (CUB)

#WrestleTirana

Aitmukhan wins U23 Worlds gold; Iran best team

Monday, October 28, 2024 - 10:29 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 26) -- After becoming Kazakhstan's first world champion in Freestyle, Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) is on a mission to collect age-group world titles. Two months after winning the U20 World Championships gold medal, Aitmukhan won the 97kg gold medal at the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania. The gold medal ensured Aitmukhan's record of finishing on the podium of all tournaments he has participated in since 2023.

Aitmukhan wrestled Mahdi HAJI (IRI) in the final and led 2-2 at the break but Haji struggled with conditioning in the second. He fell behind 10-4 at one point and there was no coming back against Aitmukhan.

Iran, however, won the Freestyle team title as it got 158 points. Japan had an incredible run and finished with 102 points for second position and Azerbaijan was third with 100 points.

Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) claimed the 79kg gold medal for Iran after he defeated Paris Olympian Feng LU (CHN), who became the first wrestler from China to reach the final in Freestyle.

Ibragimov repeats

Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN) claimed his second straight world title at the U23 World Championships as he took only 53 seconds to beat Kaiji OGINO (JPN) 14-2.

A takedown opened the scoring for Ibragimov and he added four turns to make it 8-0. However, Ogino managed to wrap his arm around Ibragimov and tossed him for two points. Ibragimov never left control of Ogino and transitioned to a leg lace to finish the match 13-2.

Ogino challenged for the sequence but it was scored correctly on the challenge. The lost challenge of Japan made it 14-2 for Ibragimov.

The 57kg gold medal was captured by 19-year-old CHIRAG (IND) as he defeated Abdymalik KARACHOV (KGZ) 4-3 in the final.

Chirag was called passive in the second period but scored with a beautiful duckunder during the activity. But Karachov scored a stepout with a minute remaining in the match to take a 3-2 lead.

Chirag continued to work for a takedown for the win, got a leg attack, and scored two points. His 4-3 lead was good enough till the end of six minutes to win India's second-ever gold medal in Freestyle at the U23 World Championships.

 At 70kg, Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) held on to a 5-4 lead against Magomed ELTEMIROV (AIN) and win the gold medal.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: CHIRAG (IND) df. Abdymalik KARACHOV (KGZ), 4-3

BRONZE: Ali Hossein MOMENI (IRI) df. Maxwell GALLAGHER (USA), 8-0
BRONZE: Iunus IAVBATIROV (AIN) df. Allan ORALBEK (KAZ), 6-2

65kg
GOLD: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN) df. Kaiji OGINO (JPN), 14-2

BRONZE: Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB) df. Bilol SHARIP UULU (KGZ), 4-1
BRONZE: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) df. Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR), 15-4

70kg
GOLD: Magomed KHANIEV (AZE) df. Magomed ELTEMIROV (AIN), 5-4

BRONZE: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) df. Ali Mahmoud KHORRAMDEL (IRI), 10-0
BRONZE: SUJEET (IND) df. Mustafo AKHMEDOV (TJK), 13-4 

79kg
GOLD: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) df. Feng LU (CHN), 12-5

BRONZE: Arsen BALAIAN (AIN) df. Hayk PAPIKYAN (ARM), 9-1
BRONZE: Masaki SATO (JPN) df. Owen MARTIN (CAN), 11-0

97kg
GOLD: Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) df. Mahdi HAJI (IRI), 11-6

BRONZE: Uladzislau KAZLOU (AIN) df. Shamil GADZHIALIEV (AIN), 2-2
BRONZE: VICKY (IND) df. Ivan PRYMACHENKO (UKR), 7-2