U.S. stars Lee and Hall make freestyle finals at Junior World Championships
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
| Mark Hall celebrates his semifinal victory at the Junior Worlds. Photo: Justin Hoch, JHoch.com. |
MACON, France – The U.S. men’s freestyle team opened with a bang at the 2016 Junior World Championships as Spencer Lee and Mark Hall both earned spots in a gold medal match.
On a mission to defend his Junior World title from 2015, Lee was utterly dominant in the first session of wrestling on Saturday. He picked up three technical falls and one pin on his road to the finals, wrestling a combined three minutes and 27 seconds over his four bouts.
Lee is set to face a relatively unknown Khurshid Parpiev of Kyrgyzstan for the gold medal at 50 kg/110 lbs. A win in the finals tonight would give Lee his third straight age-group World Championship going back to the 2014 Cadet Worlds.
2014 Cadet World champion Hall made his way to the 74 kg/163 lbs. finals by utilizing crafty technique and staying poised in clutch moments throughout. Hall won three matches to advance to the semifinals where he downed 2016 Junior European champion Murad Suleymanov in a wild 5-5 affair.
Hall will wrestle for gold against 2016 Junior Asian champion Ahmad Bazrighaleh of Iran. The two met in May at the Beat the Streets United in the Square exhibition held in Times Square with Hall winning, 8-5.
“Definitely excited about Spencer and Mark,” said U.S. freestyle coach Jamill Kelly. “Mark stayed composed, had some tough matches from the Japanese guy to the last match with the Azerbaijani, staying composed doing what he needed to do to win. Spencer obviously just doing what he continues to do, dominating, getting on top and turning guys.”
Americans Seth Gross and Kollin Moore put forth tremendous effort in their first Junior World Championships appearances, but were unable to qualify for a medal match.
The South Dakota State product Gross employed a wide open style in both of his matches at 60 kg/132 lbs. In his opener he staged a furious second period comeback, but fell short against 2013 Cadet World champion Selim Kozan of Turkey, 11-10. Once Kozan qualified for the finals Gross was pulled into the repechage, and was survived by Ilman Mukhtarov of France, 16-11.
“I scored points, but defense I didn’t do what I needed to do out there,” Gross explained following his final match. “Both matches the first period I gave up pretty big leads and in big tournaments like this it’s hard to come back from that.”
Moore appeared poised to make a deep run at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. after quickly dismantling Emil Ashyraliev of Kyrgyzstan in the first round, 10-0. Russian Znaur Kotciev stopped Moore quickly in his next bout by technical fall, 11-0.
“I just improved a lot as a wrestler. This summer I felt like I learned a lot wrestling wise, and just mentally, how to prepare for a match and how to think about a match, so just being around Kyle [Snyder] all summer helped a lot. It was a pretty cool experience to be around all those guys and all the wrestling knowledge this summer,” said Moore.
The men’s freestyle medal matches at 50 kg, 60 kg, 74 kg and 96 kg will be wrestled at 12 p.m. (ET) today.
Flowrestling is providing a live stream of the Junior World Championships at flowrestling.org. Viewers must purchase a FloPro membership to watch the competition live.
For complete brackets and match-by-match results visit unitedworldwrestling.org.
2016 JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Aug. 30 – Sept. 4 in Macon, France
Finals Matchups
50 kg/110 lbs.
Gold – Spencer Lee (United States) vs. Khurshid Parpiev (Kyrgyzstan)
Bronze – Aliabbas Rzazade (Azerbaijan) vs. Engin Cetin (Turkey)
Bronze – Roberti Dingashvili (Georgia) vs. Yerbulan Sarkytbayev (Kazakhstan)
60 kg/132 lbs.
Gold – Peiman Biabani (Iran) vs. Selim Kozan (Turkey)
Bronze – Kezhik Chymba (Russia) vs. Temurjon Usmonohunov (Uzbekistan)
Bronze – Shmagi Todua (Georgia) vs. Ilman Mukhtarov (France)
74 kg/163 lbs.
Gold – Mark Hall (United States) vs. Ahmad Bazrighaleh (Iran)
Bronze – Gheorghi Pascalov (Moldova) vs. Nikita Suchkov (Russia)
Bronze – Murad Suleymanov (Azerbaijan) vs. Tariel Gaphrindashvili (Georgia)
96 kg/211.5 lbs.
Gold – Erik Thiele (Germany) vs. Hossein Shahbazigazvar (Iran)
Bronze – Mandeep (India) vs. Znaur Kotciev (Russia)
Bronze – Simone Iannattoni (Italy) vs. Kristof Wittmann (Hungary)
U.S. men’s freestyle results
50 kg/110 lbs. – Spencer Lee, Murraysville, Pa. (Young Guns)
WIN Engin Cetin (Turkey), 11-0
WIN Valentin Damour (France), Fall 0:27
WIN Razvan Kovacs (Romania), 12-0
WIN Aliabbas Rzazade (Azerbaijan), 12-0
60 kg/132 lbs. – Seth Gross, Rosemount, Minn. (Jackrabbit WC)
LOSS Selim Kozan (Turkey), 11-10
LOSS Ilman Mukhtarov (France), 16-11
74 kg/163 lbs. – Mark Hall, Apple Valley, Minn. (Minnesota Storm)
WIN Yajuro Yamasaki (Japan), 3-2
WIN Roman Zinchenko (Ukraine), Fall 3:51
WIN Tariel Gaphrindashvili (Georgia), 12-1
WIN Murad Suleymanov (Azerbaijan), 5-5
96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Kollin Moore, Burbank, Ohio (Ohio RTC/Titan Mercury WC)
WIN Emil Ashyraliev (Kyrgyzstan), 10-0
LOSS Znaur Kotciev (Russia), 11-0
