UPDATE: Diakomihalis wins gold, Webster wins bronze in freestyle at UWW Cadet Worlds
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Yianni Diakomihalis gets his arm raised as the new UWW Cadet World champion at 58 kg in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina. Photo by Willie Saylor, Flowrestling
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzogovina – Yianni Diakomihalis of New York won a gold medal at 58 kg/127.75 at the UWW Cadet World Championships on Saturday.
Diakomihalis, a three-time New York state high school champion, defeated Jintaro Motoyama of Japan in the gold-medal match, 6-3.
Motoyama opened with a double leg takedown to lead 2-0, but Diakomihalis stormed back with a takedown and a turn late in the first period to take a 4-2 lead into the break. Diakomihalis scored a clutch spin-behind takedown midway through the second period for a 6-2 lead. Officials hit Diakomihalis with a fleeing the hold penalty late in the period to make the final score 6-3.
“This is awesome. I can’t describe how awesome. I am so excited. I figured I could win. I knew I had a good freestyle skill set, especially after watching the European Games. I felt I am just as good as those guys are. I’m just as old, why can’t I be just as good?” he said.
Diakomihalis becomes the second U.S. wrestler to win a UWW Cadet World title so far this year, joining women’s freestyle star Ronna Heaton of South Dakota, who was the champion at 49 kg/108 lbs. on Thursday.
Diakomihalis won five matches to take the title. He opened with three dominant wins, scoring a technical fall over Maksat Talkambaev of Kyrgyzstan, a pin over 2013 Cadet World silver medalist Fazil Hasanov of Azerbaijan and a technical fall over Dymytro Mykhniuk of Ukraine in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, in a close match, he stopped Soslan Guchakov of Russia, 10-5, scoring key points in a scramble late in the match.
Diakomihalis scored a takedown midway in the second period for a 4-2 lead, but Guchakov tied it up at 4-4. In the closing seconds, Diakomihalis scored big on a scramble to close out the 10-5 win.
Diakomihalis was a 2014 Cadet Nationals runner-up and won the 2015 UWW Cadet Nationals.
Owen Webster of Minnesota won a bronze medal at 85 kg/187.5 lbs., beating Rahid Hamidli of Azerbaijan, 1-1 by criteria. Webster scored a point in the first period with a shot clock violation against Hamidli, while the Azerbaijani scored in the second period on a pushout. The difference was the caution against Hamidli.
Webster opened with an 8-4 win over Yaraslau Slavikouski of Belarus in his opening match. In the quarterfinals, he lost a close match to Khusanboy Rakhimov of Uzbekistan, 2-4. When Rakhimov won his semifinal match, Webster was pulled back into repechage, where he beat Shutaro Yamada of Japan, 9-0.
Two U.S. wrestlers finished with 1-1 records and fell short of the medal rounds, Gavin Teasdale of Pennsylvania at 50 kg/110 lbs. and Brady Berge of Minnesota at 69 kg/152 lbs. Both were eliminated with the opponents who beat them failed to make the finals.
Teasdale, ended up eighth in his weight class, after scoring five classification points and a total of 17 points in his two matches. He was fifth at the UWW Cadet Worlds last year.
Malik Heinselman of Colorado was beaten in his opener at 42 kg/92.5 lbs. by Shahin Mukhtarov of Azerbaijan, 0-11 and did not qualify for repechage.
“It was a pretty good day. Obviously, it was a tough match with Gavin. Yianni and Owen wrestled great. Yianni has a great style for freestyle. He has so many ways he can score. He has a high wrestling IQ and mat awareness. Owen, of the guys on the team, had the least freestyle knowledge and still came out and wrestled solid. He wrestled a smart match and got the medal,” said U.S. coach Jamill Kelly.
The United States is tied in fourth place in the team standings with India at 21 points after the first day, behind Russia in first with 44, Iran in second with 34 and Azerbaijan in third with 32.
The final five U.S. wrestlers have weighed and received their draws for Sunday.
UWW CADET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina
Men’s freestyle results
42kg
Gold – Ivan Okoneshnikov (Russia)
Silver - Amir Mohammad Azdanicherati (Iran)
Bronze – Irlasbek Nurakhmet (Kyrgyzstan)
Bronze – Shahin Mukhtarov (Azerbaijan)
5th -Islom Ilkhomov (Uzbekistan)
5th - Tzvetan Mustafov (Bulgaria)
50kg
Gold – Anil (India)
Silver - Erfan Aeini (Iran)
Bronze – Ertugrul Kahveci (Turkey)
Bronze – Petr Konstantinov (Russia)
5th - Tumentsogt Bold (Mongolia)
5th - Almaz Smanbekov (Kyrgyzstan)
58kg
Gold – Yianni Diakomihalis (USA)
Silver - Jintaro Motoyama (Japan)
Bronze – Amirhossein Kavousi (Iran)
Bronze – Fazil Hasanov (Azerbaijan)
5th - Connor McNeice (Canada)
5th - Soslan Guchakov (Russia)
69kg
Gold – Slavik Naniev (Russia)
Silver - Ismail Abdullayev (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Mojtaba Osmavandani (Iran)
Bronze – Taro Umebayashi (Japan)
5th – Iveriko Julakidze (Georgia)
5th - Samy Hamdy Amin (Egypt)
85kg
Gold – David-Soslan Lavoev (Russia)
Silver - Khasanboy Rakhimov (Uzbekistan)
Bronze – Nail Seiyar (Turkey)
Bronze – Owen Webster (USA)
5th - Sombir (India)
5th - Rahid Hamidli (Azerbaijan)
U.S men’s freestyle performances
42 kg/92.5 lbs. – Malik Heinselman, Castle Rock, Colo., dnp/16th
LOSS Shahin Mukhtarov (Azerbaijan), tech. fall. 0-11
50 kg/110 lbs. – Gavin Teasdale, Rices Landing, Pa., 8th place
WIN Igor Nykyforuk (Ukraine), tech. fall, 14-3
LOSS Tumentsogt Bold (Mongolia), 3-4
58 kg/127.75 – Yianni Diakomihalis, Rochester, N.Y., gold medal
WIN Maksat Talkambaev (Kyrgyzstan), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Fazil Hasanov (Azerbaijan), pin
WIN Dymytro Mykhniuk (Ukraine), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Soslan Guchakov (Russia), 10-5
WIN Jintaro Motoyama (Japan), 6-3
69 kg/152 lbs.– Brady Berge, Mantorville, Minn., dnp/13th
WIN Dawid Piskorz (Poland), 4-0
LOSS Rachi Sachin (India), 0-6
85 kg/187.5 lbs. – Owen Webster, Shakopee, Minn., bronze medal
WIN Yaraslau Slavikouski (Belarus), 8-4
LOSS Khusanboy Rakhimov (Uzbekistan), 2-4
WIN Shutaro Yamada (Japan), 9-0
WIN Rahid Hamidli (Azerbaijan), 1-1
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzogovina – Yianni Diakomihalis of New York won a gold medal at 58 kg/127.75 at the UWW Cadet World Championships on Saturday.
Diakomihalis, a three-time New York state high school champion, defeated Jintaro Motoyama of Japan in the gold-medal match, 6-3.
Motoyama opened with a double leg takedown to lead 2-0, but Diakomihalis stormed back with a takedown and a turn late in the first period to take a 4-2 lead into the break. Diakomihalis scored a clutch spin-behind takedown midway through the second period for a 6-2 lead. Officials hit Diakomihalis with a fleeing the hold penalty late in the period to make the final score 6-3.
“This is awesome. I can’t describe how awesome. I am so excited. I figured I could win. I knew I had a good freestyle skill set, especially after watching the European Games. I felt I am just as good as those guys are. I’m just as old, why can’t I be just as good?” he said.
Diakomihalis becomes the second U.S. wrestler to win a UWW Cadet World title so far this year, joining women’s freestyle star Ronna Heaton of South Dakota, who was the champion at 49 kg/108 lbs. on Thursday.
Diakomihalis won five matches to take the title. He opened with three dominant wins, scoring a technical fall over Maksat Talkambaev of Kyrgyzstan, a pin over 2013 Cadet World silver medalist Fazil Hasanov of Azerbaijan and a technical fall over Dymytro Mykhniuk of Ukraine in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, in a close match, he stopped Soslan Guchakov of Russia, 10-5, scoring key points in a scramble late in the match.
Diakomihalis scored a takedown midway in the second period for a 4-2 lead, but Guchakov tied it up at 4-4. In the closing seconds, Diakomihalis scored big on a scramble to close out the 10-5 win.
Diakomihalis was a 2014 Cadet Nationals runner-up and won the 2015 UWW Cadet Nationals.
Owen Webster of Minnesota won a bronze medal at 85 kg/187.5 lbs., beating Rahid Hamidli of Azerbaijan, 1-1 by criteria. Webster scored a point in the first period with a shot clock violation against Hamidli, while the Azerbaijani scored in the second period on a pushout. The difference was the caution against Hamidli.
Webster opened with an 8-4 win over Yaraslau Slavikouski of Belarus in his opening match. In the quarterfinals, he lost a close match to Khusanboy Rakhimov of Uzbekistan, 2-4. When Rakhimov won his semifinal match, Webster was pulled back into repechage, where he beat Shutaro Yamada of Japan, 9-0.
Two U.S. wrestlers finished with 1-1 records and fell short of the medal rounds, Gavin Teasdale of Pennsylvania at 50 kg/110 lbs. and Brady Berge of Minnesota at 69 kg/152 lbs. Both were eliminated with the opponents who beat them failed to make the finals.
Teasdale, ended up eighth in his weight class, after scoring five classification points and a total of 17 points in his two matches. He was fifth at the UWW Cadet Worlds last year.
Malik Heinselman of Colorado was beaten in his opener at 42 kg/92.5 lbs. by Shahin Mukhtarov of Azerbaijan, 0-11 and did not qualify for repechage.
“It was a pretty good day. Obviously, it was a tough match with Gavin. Yianni and Owen wrestled great. Yianni has a great style for freestyle. He has so many ways he can score. He has a high wrestling IQ and mat awareness. Owen, of the guys on the team, had the least freestyle knowledge and still came out and wrestled solid. He wrestled a smart match and got the medal,” said U.S. coach Jamill Kelly.
The United States is tied in fourth place in the team standings with India at 21 points after the first day, behind Russia in first with 44, Iran in second with 34 and Azerbaijan in third with 32.
The final five U.S. wrestlers have weighed and received their draws for Sunday.
UWW CADET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina
Men’s freestyle results
42kg
Gold – Ivan Okoneshnikov (Russia)
Silver - Amir Mohammad Azdanicherati (Iran)
Bronze – Irlasbek Nurakhmet (Kyrgyzstan)
Bronze – Shahin Mukhtarov (Azerbaijan)
5th -Islom Ilkhomov (Uzbekistan)
5th - Tzvetan Mustafov (Bulgaria)
50kg
Gold – Anil (India)
Silver - Erfan Aeini (Iran)
Bronze – Ertugrul Kahveci (Turkey)
Bronze – Petr Konstantinov (Russia)
5th - Tumentsogt Bold (Mongolia)
5th - Almaz Smanbekov (Kyrgyzstan)
58kg
Gold – Yianni Diakomihalis (USA)
Silver - Jintaro Motoyama (Japan)
Bronze – Amirhossein Kavousi (Iran)
Bronze – Fazil Hasanov (Azerbaijan)
5th - Connor McNeice (Canada)
5th - Soslan Guchakov (Russia)
69kg
Gold – Slavik Naniev (Russia)
Silver - Ismail Abdullayev (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Mojtaba Osmavandani (Iran)
Bronze – Taro Umebayashi (Japan)
5th – Iveriko Julakidze (Georgia)
5th - Samy Hamdy Amin (Egypt)
85kg
Gold – David-Soslan Lavoev (Russia)
Silver - Khasanboy Rakhimov (Uzbekistan)
Bronze – Nail Seiyar (Turkey)
Bronze – Owen Webster (USA)
5th - Sombir (India)
5th - Rahid Hamidli (Azerbaijan)
U.S men’s freestyle performances
42 kg/92.5 lbs. – Malik Heinselman, Castle Rock, Colo., dnp/16th
LOSS Shahin Mukhtarov (Azerbaijan), tech. fall. 0-11
50 kg/110 lbs. – Gavin Teasdale, Rices Landing, Pa., 8th place
WIN Igor Nykyforuk (Ukraine), tech. fall, 14-3
LOSS Tumentsogt Bold (Mongolia), 3-4
58 kg/127.75 – Yianni Diakomihalis, Rochester, N.Y., gold medal
WIN Maksat Talkambaev (Kyrgyzstan), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Fazil Hasanov (Azerbaijan), pin
WIN Dymytro Mykhniuk (Ukraine), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Soslan Guchakov (Russia), 10-5
WIN Jintaro Motoyama (Japan), 6-3
69 kg/152 lbs.– Brady Berge, Mantorville, Minn., dnp/13th
WIN Dawid Piskorz (Poland), 4-0
LOSS Rachi Sachin (India), 0-6
85 kg/187.5 lbs. – Owen Webster, Shakopee, Minn., bronze medal
WIN Yaraslau Slavikouski (Belarus), 8-4
LOSS Khusanboy Rakhimov (Uzbekistan), 2-4
WIN Shutaro Yamada (Japan), 9-0
WIN Rahid Hamidli (Azerbaijan), 1-1
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