Host Hungary Storms from Behind for Greco-Roman Team Title at University World Championships

By William May

PECS, Hungary – Hungary used three individual titles during the final day of competition at the University Wrestling World Championships Saturday to storm past leader Turkey and claim a razor-thin one-point victory in the Greco-Roman team rankings.

Krisztian JAGER (HUN), only 12th at the 2013 World University Games, threw Nikola Petrov bronze medal winner Abdulsamet GUNAL (TUR) for four points midway through the second period of the 66kg final to seal the team victory for Hungary.

Jager’s 7-0 win in the championship finale lifted Hungary to a 64-63 win over Turkey in the team rankings. Hungary trailed Turkey, 28-35, after the first day of competition despite a win by European champion and top-ranked Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) at 71kg.

Hungary took a 38-35 lead with a win by 2012 university world silver medalist Laszlo SZABO (HUN) at 75kg, but had to come from behind again with a 3-0 win from former junior world champion Balint LAM (HUN) at 130kg.  Lam’s win leveled the team score 54-54 and set the stage for Jager.

In all, Hungary won five of the eight weight categories with one third-place finish, while Turkey had two champions, three runners-up and a pair of third-place finishes.  Poland finished a distant third with four bronze medals and 41 points.

The only gold medal to escape Hungary and Turkey went to Asian championships bronze medalist Kanybek ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ), who defeated junior world bronze medal winner Akan BAIMAGANBETOV (KAZ), 5-0, at 59kg.

Greco-Roman

59kg
Gold – Kanybek ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ) df. Akan BAIMAGANBETOV (KAZ), 5-0
Bronze – Sam JONES (USA) df. Andrey BORISOV (BUL) by fall
Bronze – Fatih UCUNCU (TUR) df. Rikiya MATSUSAWA (JPN) by fall

66kg
Gold – Krisztian JAGER (HUN) df. Abdulsamet GUNAL (TUR), 7-0
Bronze – Donior ISLAMOV (MDA) df. Nurtas UTEPBERGENOV (KAZ) by TF, 8-0
Bronze – Roman GAIDUK (UKR) df. Edgar MELKUMOV (POL), 7-3

71kg
Gold – Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) df. Patrick SMITH (USA) by TF, 8-0
Bronze – Naoya NAKAMURA (JPN) df. Stefan FUCHSREITER (AUT) by TF, 11-2
Bronze – Vasif ARZIMANOV (TUR) df. Evgeni VYSOTIN (RUS), 9-8

75kg
Gold – Laszlo SZABO (HUN) df. Aleksander KUKHTA (UKR) by TF, 13-4
Bronze – Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL) df. Rashid KOCHIYEV (KAZ) by TF, 8-0
Bronze – So SAKABE (JPN) df. Aleksander HENUVENIA (BLR), 6-2

80kg
Gold – Aslan ATEM (TUR) df. Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL), score not reported
Bronze – Gabor MADARASI (HUN) df. Ogan NUNUSHIAN (RUS), by TF, 8-0
Bronze – Piotr PRZEPIORKA (POL) df. Marius BRAUN (GER), 5-0

85kg
Gold – Metehan BASAR (TUR) df. Nikolai BAYRIAKOV (BUL), 3-1
Bronze – Yauhen VALKHANOVICH (BLR) df. Janos TOSI (HUN), 6-1
Bronze – Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL) df. Nikolai GRACHEV (RUS), 5-1

98kg
Gold – Ivan NEMETH (HUN) df. Mahmut ALKAN (TUR), 6-0
Bronze – Ilya NASTOCHENKO (KAZ) df. Alexander KONNOV (RUS), 4-0
Bronze – Alexic CIURARIU (ROU) df. Felix RADINGER (GER), 4-2

130kg
Gold – Balint LAM (HUN) df. Ismail GUZEL (TUR), 3-0
Bronze – Mateusz FAFINSKI (POL) df. Lyubomir DIMITROV by default
Bronze – Boris VAINSHTEIN (RUS) df. Toby ERICKSON (USA), 5-0