Sesker's Slant: International wrestling needs overtime period
Share:
by Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
The purpose of keeping score at a sporting event is pretty straightforward and simple.
The team or individual, depending on the sport, that scores the most points is declared the winner.
So why is that concept so difficult to grasp in the sport of wrestling?
To say I’m not a big fan of the rules for when a college or international match is tied after regulation is a huge understatement.
This past weekend, American Andrew Howe won a silver medal at the rugged Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Howe flew home with silver even though he was not outscored in any of his matches.
Howe lost to Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov of Russia in the Yarygin finals, even though the match ended in a 2-2 deadlock. The Russian led 2-0 before Howe scored twice in the final minute. The Russian won the tie-breaker by having the highest value scoring move, a two-pointer.
Why should someone lose a match when they score the same number of points as their opponent? It’s just not right, plus it’s confusing for the fans. They may not even know who the winner is as the match ends.
I wish United World Wrestling would put in an overtime format.
Veteran wrestling journalist/broadcaster Jason Bryant has a suggestion that I totally endorse. If the match is tied after regulation, go to a two-minute overtime period with the wrestlers on their feet. If nobody scores in overtime, then decide the match by criteria.
At least have a couple of minutes built in where one athlete can actually outscore the other.
I wouldn’t mind college wrestling doing the exact same thing. Have a two-minute overtime period with the wrestlers on their feet. If nobody scores, then the match is decided by criteria.
Ideally, I would love to see the clock turned off in overtime and make somebody score points. But that could be an issue with long matches making the tournament sessions too long.
The gimmicky 30-second tiebreaker periods, where wrestlers hang on to ankles and try to ride a guy out, are not the way to decide a collegiate match.
Jack Pinto Cup is huge success
USA Wrestling put on a pair of very successful events with the new Greco-Roman format for the Jack Pinto Cup.
Team USA battled an international team of wrestlers from Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Japan and Argentina in a pair of separate duals at the Pinto Cup.
The first dual was last Friday at the University of Northern Colorado, held prior to UNC’s dual with Oregon State.
A crowd of close to 1,000 fans looked on, and they were very vocal in backing the U.S. team. It was a good event and the athletes who competed were excited about the opportunity.
It was a chance to promote the sport and for some of the younger U.S. team members to gain some much-needed international experience.
The showcase dual followed on Sunday with Team USA’s best Greco wrestlers taking on a stronger international team. The American squad turned in a superb performance in a 9-2 win in Colorado Springs.
Two-time World medalist and Olympian Justin “Harry” Lester put on a great show with a pair of crowd-pleasing four-point throws.
Two-time Olympian Spenser Mango followed in the Co-Main Event by earning a thrilling last-second win over World champion Ivo Angelov of Bulgaria.
Spenser has placed fifth in the World the last two years and is wrestling the best I’ve seen him. Look for him to contend for a World medal again this year.
2014 World bronze medalist Andy Bisek capped the win by hitting an array of big moves to earn a lopsided win by technical fall in the Main Event.
Bisek has the capability to win a World and Olympic title. He’s hard-nosed with a big gas tank, but he’s also very strong technically and he’s very explosive.
Sunday’s dual was held in the Antlers Hilton ballroom. It was a great set-up with the wrestlers competing on an elevated, spotlighted mat.
Fans sat at round tables on both ends of the ballroom and the crowd had plenty to cheer about as U.S. wrestlers piled up big points with an assortment of exciting moves.
It was great to see past Greco stars like World silver medalist Brad Vering and Olympic bronze medalist Adam Wheeler in attendance on Sunday.
It also was great to see Jack Pinto’s family in attendance at the dual on Sunday. The Pinto Cup is held in memory of Jack Pinto, who lost his life in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown, Conn. The 6-year-old was a USA Wrestling member.
The idea for the new Pinto Cup format was hatched by U.S. National Coach Matt Lindland and it was a big success. I’ve received nothing but positive feedback on the event.
Lindland has been doing a great job promoting the sport along with trying to rebuild the American Greco program.
Big things may be on the horizon for this country in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Ivan Yarygin event provides tough test
Brent Metcalf hasn’t achieved the results he’s wanted on the World stage yet.
But the three-time World Team member is as determined as ever to reach his goals.
Metcalf turned in another strong international performance by placing second this past weekend at the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in freestyle wrestling. Metcalf is one of the best wrestlers on the planet at 65 kg/143 lbs. He just needs to put it all together at the right time.
With the World Championships in Las Vegas this year, it may be the ideal setting and time for Metcalf to break through on the World level.
Metcalf will have a tough battle on his hands just to make the American World Team. 65 kilos is the deepest weight class we have in men’s freestyle.
74 kilos is another extremely tough weight class. Jordan Burroughs is a two-time World champion and an Olympic gold medalist, but he’s been pushed in his quest to make the World Team by David Taylor, Kyle Dake and Andrew Howe.
Howe can’t be discounted by any means. He’s lost to Taylor and Dake in recent years, but he looked very good in winning a silver medal at the Ivan Yarygin.
Phil Keddy also had a strong tournament at the Yarygin. He knocked off 2010 World bronze medalist Soslan Ktsoev of Russia en route to placing fifth at 86 kg/189 lbs.
Big Ten Network falls short again
Penn State and Minnesota finished 1-2 in the country last year, and both teams are very strong again this season.
But when the teams met Sunday at sold-out Rec Hall at Penn State, the match wasn’t televised on the Big Ten Network.
BTN instead showed a dual Sunday featuring Rutgers at Nebraska.
BTN did offer a live stream on the Internet of the Penn State-Minnesota dual. But c’mon BTN. This is getting ridiculous.
Televise the best duals. The fans deserve better than what we’re getting.
Minnesota won a close, exciting dual with Penn State. It should’ve been on TV. It makes no sense that it wasn’t televised.
Feel free to provide any feedback to me at csesker@usawrestling.org
The team or individual, depending on the sport, that scores the most points is declared the winner.
So why is that concept so difficult to grasp in the sport of wrestling?
To say I’m not a big fan of the rules for when a college or international match is tied after regulation is a huge understatement.
This past weekend, American Andrew Howe won a silver medal at the rugged Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Howe flew home with silver even though he was not outscored in any of his matches.
Howe lost to Ahmed Gadzhimagomedov of Russia in the Yarygin finals, even though the match ended in a 2-2 deadlock. The Russian led 2-0 before Howe scored twice in the final minute. The Russian won the tie-breaker by having the highest value scoring move, a two-pointer.
Why should someone lose a match when they score the same number of points as their opponent? It’s just not right, plus it’s confusing for the fans. They may not even know who the winner is as the match ends.
I wish United World Wrestling would put in an overtime format.
Veteran wrestling journalist/broadcaster Jason Bryant has a suggestion that I totally endorse. If the match is tied after regulation, go to a two-minute overtime period with the wrestlers on their feet. If nobody scores in overtime, then decide the match by criteria.
At least have a couple of minutes built in where one athlete can actually outscore the other.
I wouldn’t mind college wrestling doing the exact same thing. Have a two-minute overtime period with the wrestlers on their feet. If nobody scores, then the match is decided by criteria.
Ideally, I would love to see the clock turned off in overtime and make somebody score points. But that could be an issue with long matches making the tournament sessions too long.
The gimmicky 30-second tiebreaker periods, where wrestlers hang on to ankles and try to ride a guy out, are not the way to decide a collegiate match.
Jack Pinto Cup is huge success
USA Wrestling put on a pair of very successful events with the new Greco-Roman format for the Jack Pinto Cup.
Team USA battled an international team of wrestlers from Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Japan and Argentina in a pair of separate duals at the Pinto Cup.
The first dual was last Friday at the University of Northern Colorado, held prior to UNC’s dual with Oregon State.
A crowd of close to 1,000 fans looked on, and they were very vocal in backing the U.S. team. It was a good event and the athletes who competed were excited about the opportunity.
It was a chance to promote the sport and for some of the younger U.S. team members to gain some much-needed international experience.
The showcase dual followed on Sunday with Team USA’s best Greco wrestlers taking on a stronger international team. The American squad turned in a superb performance in a 9-2 win in Colorado Springs.
Two-time World medalist and Olympian Justin “Harry” Lester put on a great show with a pair of crowd-pleasing four-point throws.
Two-time Olympian Spenser Mango followed in the Co-Main Event by earning a thrilling last-second win over World champion Ivo Angelov of Bulgaria.
Spenser has placed fifth in the World the last two years and is wrestling the best I’ve seen him. Look for him to contend for a World medal again this year.
2014 World bronze medalist Andy Bisek capped the win by hitting an array of big moves to earn a lopsided win by technical fall in the Main Event.
Bisek has the capability to win a World and Olympic title. He’s hard-nosed with a big gas tank, but he’s also very strong technically and he’s very explosive.
Sunday’s dual was held in the Antlers Hilton ballroom. It was a great set-up with the wrestlers competing on an elevated, spotlighted mat.
Fans sat at round tables on both ends of the ballroom and the crowd had plenty to cheer about as U.S. wrestlers piled up big points with an assortment of exciting moves.
It was great to see past Greco stars like World silver medalist Brad Vering and Olympic bronze medalist Adam Wheeler in attendance on Sunday.
It also was great to see Jack Pinto’s family in attendance at the dual on Sunday. The Pinto Cup is held in memory of Jack Pinto, who lost his life in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown, Conn. The 6-year-old was a USA Wrestling member.
The idea for the new Pinto Cup format was hatched by U.S. National Coach Matt Lindland and it was a big success. I’ve received nothing but positive feedback on the event.
Lindland has been doing a great job promoting the sport along with trying to rebuild the American Greco program.
Big things may be on the horizon for this country in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Ivan Yarygin event provides tough test
Brent Metcalf hasn’t achieved the results he’s wanted on the World stage yet.
But the three-time World Team member is as determined as ever to reach his goals.
Metcalf turned in another strong international performance by placing second this past weekend at the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in freestyle wrestling. Metcalf is one of the best wrestlers on the planet at 65 kg/143 lbs. He just needs to put it all together at the right time.
With the World Championships in Las Vegas this year, it may be the ideal setting and time for Metcalf to break through on the World level.
Metcalf will have a tough battle on his hands just to make the American World Team. 65 kilos is the deepest weight class we have in men’s freestyle.
74 kilos is another extremely tough weight class. Jordan Burroughs is a two-time World champion and an Olympic gold medalist, but he’s been pushed in his quest to make the World Team by David Taylor, Kyle Dake and Andrew Howe.
Howe can’t be discounted by any means. He’s lost to Taylor and Dake in recent years, but he looked very good in winning a silver medal at the Ivan Yarygin.
Phil Keddy also had a strong tournament at the Yarygin. He knocked off 2010 World bronze medalist Soslan Ktsoev of Russia en route to placing fifth at 86 kg/189 lbs.
Big Ten Network falls short again
Penn State and Minnesota finished 1-2 in the country last year, and both teams are very strong again this season.
But when the teams met Sunday at sold-out Rec Hall at Penn State, the match wasn’t televised on the Big Ten Network.
BTN instead showed a dual Sunday featuring Rutgers at Nebraska.
BTN did offer a live stream on the Internet of the Penn State-Minnesota dual. But c’mon BTN. This is getting ridiculous.
Televise the best duals. The fans deserve better than what we’re getting.
Minnesota won a close, exciting dual with Penn State. It should’ve been on TV. It makes no sense that it wasn’t televised.
Feel free to provide any feedback to me at csesker@usawrestling.org
Read More#
Elections to be held for USA Wrestling Standing Committees Positions; Nomination deadline is July 20
Results of first bout of their Final X Series in all three disciplines; second matches set for 6 p.m. ET
Davidson names Marcus Coleman to coaching staff, and continue career with its Regional Training Center
Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament Special Section
