Sancho wins gold, four others take bronze at Zagreb Open

Photo courtesy of Kamal Bey

ZAGREB, Croatia – Alex Sancho defeated Romania’s Mihai Mihut in the 66 kg/145 lbs. finals of the Grand Prix Zagreb Open on Saturday for his first Senior international tournament win since 2014.

The Miami, Fla., native put up a big first period that Mihut was unable to overcome. Sancho (Miami, Fla./New York AC/NMU-OTS) was first on the board with Mihut penalized for passivity. Shortly after, Sancho executed a front headlock for four points to extend his lead to 5-0. In the final seconds of the period, Mihut avoided a shutout with a takedown. The only scoring in the second period was passivity on Sancho, allowing Mihut to close the gap, but it was not enough as Sancho sealed an impressive tournament with a 5-3 win.

To earn his spot in the finals, Sancho recorded a solid 8-0 win over Croatia’s Jurica Grbincek in the quarterfinals before picking up a win on criteria in the semifinals over Serbia’s Mate Nemes, thanks to a four-point throw in the first period.

Four other Americans made their ways to the podium, bringing home bronze medals.

RaVaughn Perkins (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) continues to prove he is a threat at his new weight, 71 kg. In his three wins on the day, Perkins outscored his opponents, 15-1. He was sent to the repechage after falling to Dominik Etlinger of Croatia in his second bout. Perkins bounced back, blanking Serbia’s Aleksa Erski in an 8-0 tech fall before defeating Jeongguen Lee of Korea, 3-1, in the bronze-medal bout.

Fresh off a gold-medal performance at the Junior Austrian Open, 19-year-old Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) capped off his European tour with a Senior-level medal, taking bronze at 80 kg/176 lbs. Bey, ranked No. 18 in the world, registered two falls on the day over Japan’s Yuya Maeta in his first match and Michael Wagner of Germany for third places.

At 130 kg/286 lbs., Toby Erickson (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) produced a third-place finish. The WCAP wrestler opened his tournament, breezing past Stepan David of the Czech Republic, 8-0, before a tech fall loss to Hungary’s Balint Lam. For third, Erickson held off Japan’s Arata Sonoda for a 2-0 win.

Jesse Porter (Clifton Park, N.Y./New York AC) grabbed bronze at 75 kg with a small weight class.

Falling in their bronze-medal bout to take fifth were Cheney Haight (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 80 kg/176 lbs., world No. 20 Ben Provisor (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 85 kg/187 lbs. and world No. 19 Hayden Zillmer (Crosby, Minn./Minnesota Storm) at 98 kg/215.5 lbs.

Also competing for the U.S. on Saturday were Ildar Hafizov (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Sammy Jones (Folsom, La./New York AC) and world No. 18 G’Angelo Hancock (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC/Sunkist Kids).

2017 GRAND PRIX ZAGREB OPEN

March 11 in Zagreb, Croatia

U.S. Greco-Roman Results
59 kg/130 lbs.  – Ildar Hafizov, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S.Army WCAP), dnp
LOSS Ivan Lizatovic (Croatia), 4-0

59 kg/130 lbs. – Sammy Jones, Folsom, La. (New York AC/NMU-OTS), dnp
LOSS Andrey Tsaryuk (Israel), 13-10

66 kg/145 lbs. – Alex Sancho, Miami, Fla. (New York AC/NMU-OTS), gold
WIN Jurica Grbincek (Croatia), 8-0
WIN Mate Nemes (Serbia), 4-4
WIN Mihai Mihut (Romania), 5-3

71 kg/156 lbs. – RaVaughn Perkins, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), bronze
WIN Gregorz Wanke (Poland), 4-0
LOSS Dominik Etlinger (Croatia), 7-0
WIN Aleksa Erski (Serbia), 8-0
WIN Jeongguen Lee (Korea), 3-1

75 kg/165 lbs. – Jesse Porter, Clifton Park, N.Y. (New York AC), bronze
LOSS Soh Sakabe (Japan), 2-1

80 kg/176 lbs. – Kamal Bey, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids), bronze
WIN Yuya Maeta (Japan), fall
LOSS Bozo Starcevic (Croatia), 10-2
WIN Michael Wagner (Germany), fall

80 kg/176 lbs. – Cheney Haight, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), fifth
WIN Francisco Barrio (Argentina), 2-0
LOSS Viktor Nemes (Serbia), 11-4

85 kg/187 lbs. – Ben Provisor, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), fifth
WIN Dejan Franjkovic (Serbia), 2-1
LOSS Viktor Lorincz (Hungary), 2-0
WIN Kevin Radford (United States), 2-2
LOSS Ivan Huklek (Croatia), 10-0

98 kg/215.5 lbs. – G’Angelo Hancock, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC/Sunkist Kids), dnp
WIN Adam Varga (Hungary), 5-1
LOSS Ilya Borisov (Russia), 12-4

98 kg/215.5 lbs. – Hayden Zillmer, Crosby, Minn. (Minnesota Storm), fifth
WIN Donde Pesut (Serbia), tech fall
LOSS Daniel Gastl (Austria), 5-1
WIN Felix Radinger (Germany), 5-3
LOSS Ivan Nemeth (Hungary), 3-1

130 kg/286 lbs. – Toby Erickson, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP), bronze
WIN Stepan David (Czech Republic), 8-0
LOSS Balint Lam (Hungary), tech fall
WIN Arata Sonoda (Japan), 2-0