Senior World champ Petriashvili of Georgia adds U23 World champion to long list of accolades

BYDGOSZCZ, Poland – The first four men’s freestyle U23 World champions were crowned on Saturday night in Bydgoszcz, Poland. All four represented different nations.

Highlighting the night was Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili, who claimed his second World title of 2017, defeating Magomedamin Dibirov of Russia in the 125 kg/275 lbs. finals.

Petriashvili rode into the tournament fresh off a World gold medal at the Senior World Championships in Paris, France, in August.

The Georgian rolled to an 11-0 technical fall, thanks to three takedowns and two trapped-arm guts.

He adds to an already impressive career, which includes a 2013 Junior World title, 2016 Olympic bronze medal and four other age-group World medals.

The final at 61 kg/134 lbs. also ended in a tech fall as 2011 Cadet World bronze medalist and 2017 Senior World fifth-place finisher Rinya Nakamura of Japan took out Kuat Amirtayev of Kazakhstan, 12-2.

The bout was tied, 2-2, in favor of Amirtayev, but the Japanese stud laid on 10 unanswered points halfway through the second period en route to a World title.

At 86 kg/189 lbs., Russia’s Alikhan Zhabrailov edged out 2014 Junior World silver medalist and 2011 Cadet World bronze medalist Azamat Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan for the gold.

Zhabrailov held a 2-1 advantage at the break, but early in the second period, Dauletbekov hit a smooth duck under for four points and followed it with a gut wrench to take over the lead, 7-2.

The Russian persisted, picking up three takedowns in the second period, including two within the final 30 seconds for an 8-7 victory.

At 57 kg/125 lbs., 2017 Senior Pan American bronze medalist Reineri Andreu Ortega of Cuba shut down six-time age-group European Championships medalist Mikyay Naim of Bulgaria with a 6-1 win.

Ortega trailed 1-0 after the first period but snagged two points early in the second period on a takedown. He closed out the bout with a four-pointer to seal a World title.

Opponents that Americans Daton Fix, Mitchell McKee and Sam Brooks lost to earlier in the day all went on to secure bronze medals, including Parviz Ibrahimov of Azerbaijan at 57 kg, Sedat Ozdemir of Turkey at 61 kg and Uri Kalashnikov of Israel at 86 kg.

Tomorrow is the final day of the U23 World Championships. Representing the USA is Joey McKenna (65 kg), Richie Lewis (70 kg), Isaiah Martinez (74 kg) and Ty Walz (97 kg).

The preliminary rounds begin at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET), with the medal matches beginning at 6 p.m. (12 p.m. ET) each day. Bydgoszcz is six hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time zone.

Fans can find live streams and brackets on Trackwrestling.com.

2017 U23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

at Bydgoszcz, Poland (Six hours ahead of ET)

Finals results
57 kg
Gold - Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) dec. Mikyay Salim NAIM (BUL), 6-1
Bronze - Parviz IBRAHIMOV (AZE) dec. Zhandos ISMAILOV (KAZ), 2-2
Bronze - Suleyman ATLI (TUR) dec. Wanhao ZOU (CHN), 6-3

61 kg
Gold - Rinya NAKAMURA (JPN) tech. fall Kuat AMIRTAYEV (KAZ), 12-2
Bronze - Sedat OZDEMIR (TUR) dec. Mihai ESANU (MDA), 8-3
Bronze - Islam DUDAEV (RUS) dec. Husein SHAKHBANAU (BLR), 5-0

86 kg
Gold - Alikhan ZHABRAILOV (RUS) dec. Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ), 8-7
Bronze - Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR) dec. Raman CHYTADZE (BLR), 7-4
Bronze - Irakli MTSITURI (GEO) dec. Lazaro Daniel HERNANDEZ LUIS (CUB), 6-1

125 kg
Gold - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) tech. fall Magomedamin DIBIROV (RUS), 11-0
Bronze - Amin Hossein TAHERI (IRI) tech. fall Mihaly NAGY (HUN), 10-0
Bronze - Danylo KARTAVYI (UKR) dec. Zhanxiang HU (CHN), 6-0