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

Four Defending Champs Return to European Greco Finals on Day 2

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 - 17:16 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (April 21) -- Out of the five defending Greco-Roman champion on Tuesday at the European Championships, four will defend their gold medals after reaching the final. The one missing out was Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) at 60kg.

At 67kg, Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) was on the verge of bowling out, down 2-0 against Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO) but was awarded the par terre in the second period. Jafarov scored a correct throw on Chkhikvadze, scoring two points to lead 3-2. Georgia challenged but on review, the correct throw call was upheld, giving Jafarov a 4-2 lead that he defended to enter the final.

He will wrestle Murat FIRAT (TUR) on Wednesday with an aim of winning a second straight European Championships title. Firat had one-sided final against Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR), beating the Ukrainian 4-0. He scored a turn from first par terre to lead 3-0 and then got the second par terre as well which gave him one more point.

In perhaps the biggest match of the session, defending champion at 97kg Kiril MILOV (BUL) denied world silver medalist Artur SARGSIAN (UWW) at 97kg with a 7-1 victory. Milov led 1-1 on criteria after par terre positions were exchanged but Sargsian wrapped his arm around Milov and tried scoring a takedown. Milov defended and both wrestlers went out of bounds.

Milov was awarded the point as Sargsian stepped out first. Sargsian challenged but on review, and the difference being a fraction of a second, Sargsian's knee touched outside before Milov's hand. Milov kept his point and got another point for lost challenge, giving him a 3-1 lead.

Sargsian tried a flying squirrel but Milov controlled him before slamming him on the mat for four points and extending his lead to 7-1.

He will defend his title against Alex SZOKE (HUN) who blanked Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR), 3-0, in the other semifinals. He got the two points for the par terre and one for the lost challenge.

The third defending champion to enter the final was Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) after he defeated Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-1 at 82kg. He will face Adlet TIULIUBAEV (UWW) in the final after he defeated world bronze medalist Karlo KODRIC (CRO), 7-3.

At 72kg, Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) will look to win his second straight gold medal, reaching the final with a 6-1 victory over Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM). Ghanem opened the scoring with a stepout before losing a challenge to make it 1-1 but held criteria. He was awarded the par terre position from which he turned Terteryan to lead 4-1. Just before the break, he managed a takedown and extend his lead to 6-1, the winning score.

Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) will look to challenge Ghanem after he defeated Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR), 3-2, in the other 72kg semifinal

The one defending champion who did not reach the final, Mammadli, was stunned by former U20 world champion Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM) in the 60kg semifinal, pinning the Azerbaijan wrestler after building a 7-1 lead.

Aghajanyan got the par terre in the first period and used a front headlock for a four-point throw and lead 5-0. In the second period, the Armenian got the par terre again to the surprise of Mammadli, who managed to score a reversal to cut the lead to 6-1. However, as he tried to gut-wrench Aghajanyan, he was blocked by the Armenian who kept Mammadli on the mat and got the pin.

Returning silver medalist Georgij TIBILOV (SRB) had no issues reaching his second straight final as he defeated Corneliu RUSU (MDA), 7-1 in the semifinal. Tibilov led 1-1 on criteria but got a third passivity, one without any points, and scored a four-point throw.

Towards the end of the bout, Rusu used an aggressive move on Tibilov which forced the referees to give two caution points to Tibilov, making his score 7-1.

RESULTS

60kg
SF 1: Georgij TIBILOV (SRB) df. Corneliu RUSU (MDA), 7-1
SF 2: Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM) df. Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE), via fall (8-1)

67kg
SF 1: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) df. Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO), 4-2
SF 2: Murat FIRAT (TUR) df. Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR), 4-0

72kg
SF 1: Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) df. Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM), 6-1
SF 2: Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) df. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR), 3-2

82kg
SF 1: Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) df. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-1
SF 2: Adlet TIULIUBAEV (UWW) df. Karlo KODRIC (CRO), 7-3

97kg
SF 1: Kiril MILOV (BUL) df. Artur SARGSIAN (UWW), 7-1
SF 2: Alex SZOKE (HUN) df. Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR), 3-0