#WrestleBuenosAires

USA Men’s Freestyle Becomes First Team in History to Win Every Pan Am Weight

By Taylor Miller

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The United States won all eight available gold medals on Sunday night at the 2019 Pan American Championships. With the U.S. winning the first two men’s freestyle weights yesterday, it becomes the first time in history that a team has won every gold in a specific style at the Pan Am Championships.

In the team scoring, USA collected 250 points, followed by Canada with 129 points and Cuba with 115 points.

The United States won six of its eight finals by tech fall.

Leading the way was 2018 World champion David TAYLOR (USA), who earned the Outstanding Wrestler award after a strong performance at 86 kg.

In the finals, Taylor defeated Pedro CEBALLOS FUENTES (VEN) with a 10-0 shut out to snatch his second-straight Pan Am title.

Also winning his second in a row was two-time World bronze medalist Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) at 125 kg, who scored a 10-0 win against Korey JARVIS (CAN).

Four-time World champion and 2012 Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) won his third-career Pan Am title on Sunday.

In an entertaining battle with 2015 Pan Am silver medalist Jevon BALFOUR (CAN), Burroughs pulled out a 7-0 win for the crown at 74 kg.

Kyle SNYDER (USA), 2016 Olympic champion and two-time World champion, also earned his second Pan Am title, winning by injury default over Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB) at 97 kg.

Others claiming golds for the USA were Josh RODRIGUEZ at 57 kg, Joe COLON at 61 kg, Colton MCCRYSTAL at 65 kg and Anthony ASHNAULT at 70 kg.

Final team standings
1. USA – 250
2. Canada – 129
3. Cuba – 115
4. Puerto Rico – 72
5. Venezuela – 68
6. Argentina – 53
7. Colombia – 48
8. Brazil – 41
9. Dominican Republic – 37
10. Peru – 37

Final results

57 kg
GOLD - Joshua RODRIGUEZ (USA) TF Oscar TIGREROS URBANO (COL), 10-0
BRONZE - Pedro MEJIAS RODRIGUEZ (VEN) TF Daniel ALVES DO NASCIMENTO (BRA), 10-0
BRONZE –  Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) dec. Darthe CAPELLAN (CAN), 4-0

61 kg
GOLD – Joe COLON (USA)
SILVER – Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB)
BRONZE – Scott SCHILLER (CAN)

65 kg
GOLD - Colton MCCRYSTAL (USA) TF Damian SOLENZAL LOPEZ (CUB), 12-1
BRONZE - Mauricio SANCHEZ SALTOS (ECU) dec. Daniel BRIOSO (DOM), 9-5
BRONZE – Agustin DESTRIBATS (ARG) TF Sixto AUCCAPINA PEDRAGAS (PER), 16-5

70 kg
GOLD - Anthony ASHNAULT (USA)
SILVER - Nicholas ROWE (CAN)
BRONZE - Mitchel TAIPE DUANAMA (PER)

74 kg
GOLD - Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) dec. Jevon BALFOUR (CAN), 7-0
BRONZE - Franklin GOMEZ MATOS (PUR) TF Adonis ARROYO (VEN), 10-0
BRONZE –  Julio RODRIGUEZ ROMERO (DOM) TF Jorge DESPAIGNE LAGAR (CUB), 10-0

86 kg
GOLD - David TAYLOR III (USA) TF Pedro CEBALLOS FUENTES (VEN), 10-0
BRONZE - Lazaro HERNANDEZ LUIS (CUB) TF Meruzhan NIKOYAN (ARG), 10-0
BRONZE – Alexander MOORE (CAN) TF Christian ANGUIANO FLORES (MEX), 11-0

97 kg
GOLD - Kyle SNYDER (USA) df. Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB), injury default
BRONZE - Jose DIAZ ROBERTTI (VEN) TF Maxwell LACEY GARITA (CRC), 10-0
BRONZE – Evan RAMOS (PUR) dec. Jordan STEEN (CAN), 8-5

125 kg
GOLD - Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) TF Korey JARVIS (CAN), 10-0
BRONZE - Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) df. Eduardo GARCIA BETANZOS (MEX), fall
BRONZE - Antoine BRAGA ABOU JAOUDE (BRA) TF Jorge MEDINA ARROYO (ECU), 12-1

 

#WrestleTirana

Aitmukhan wins U23 Worlds gold; Iran best team

By Vinay Siwach

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