Kerkvliet and Figueroa advance to Cadet World Championships semifinals in Croatia

ZAGREB, Croatia – An action-packed morning ended with USA’s Daniel Greg Kerkvliet and Richard Figueroa earning spots in the Cadet World Championships semifinals at their respective weight classes on Monday in Zagreb, Croatia.

Returning World champion Kerkvliet teched his way to the 110 kg semifinals, taking out all three of his morning-session opponents with 10-0 victories.

En route, he defeated 2017 Cadet World ninth-place finisher Filip Jires of Czech Republic, 2018 Cadet European fifth-place finisher Vasyl Sova of Ukraine and 2018 Cadet Asian silver medalist Kumar Anirudh of India.

Kerkvliet also collected a 10-0 win over Jires in last year’s Worlds.

In the semifinals, Kerkvliet will take on Cadet European champion Sergey Kozyrev of Russia.

Figueroa came out on fire in his debut at the World Championships, running through the first half of competition at 48 kg.

To start the tournament, Figueroa put Xiaolong Ye of China on his back twice and was awarded the fall in 54 seconds. In the quarters, the California native breezed past Valerii Androsov of Russia in the first period.

Tonight, he will face Mykyta Abramov of Ukraine for a spot in the finals.

Awaiting their fate to see if they will pulled back into repechage are two-time Cadet World Team member Robert Howard at 55 kg and Abe Assad at 80 kg.

Howard fell in his second match to a tough Simone Piroddu of Italy. Should Piroddu win his semifinals matchup tonight, Howard will be pulled back into repechage and will have a shot at competing for a medal.

At 80 kg, Assad lost a second-round matchup to 2018 Cadet Asian champion Mohammadreza Ghiyasi of Iran. Ghiyasi has run through the competition so far and needs to win his semis bout to pull Assad back into repechage.

Four-time Cadet Pan American champion Carson Manville, who wrestled for the U.S. at 65 kg, was knocked out of the tournament on Monday afternoon, falling to Masaki Sato of Japan, who took fifth in the World last year and won bronze at the 2018 Cadet Asian Championships. Sato fell in a nailbiter to his opponent of Iran, which ended Manville’s run at Worlds.

The second session starts Monday evening at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET) live on Trackwrestling.com.

2018 CADET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

at Zagreb, Croatia, July 2-8

Semifinal pairings

48 kg
Giorgi GEGELASHVILI (GEO) vs. Alihasan AMIRLI (AZE)
Richard FIGUEROA II (USA) vs. Mykyta ABRAMOV (UKR)

55 kg
Simone PIRODDU (ITA) vs. Jamshidbek MARUFOV (UZB)
Daviti ABDALADZE (GEO) vs. Hayato FUJITA (JPN)

65 kg
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) vs. Mohammad KARIMISEIFABAD (IRI)
Bekzat ZHALGASSOV (KAZ) vs. Inalbek SHERIEV (RUS)

80 kg
Sagadulla AGAEV (AZE) vs. Mohammadreza Ezatollah GHIYASI (IRI)
Dmitrii ELKANOV (RUS) vs. Milan KORCSOG (HUN)

110 kg
Sergei KOZYREV (RUS) vs. Daniel KERKVLIET JR (USA)
Amir ZARE (IRI) vs. Islam ABUEV (AZE)

U.S. men’s freestyle results

46 kg/101 lbs. – Richard Figueroa, Sanger, Calif. (Sunkist Kids/Monster Garage)
WIN Xiaolong Ye (China), fall 0:54
WIN Valerii Androsov (Russia), 10-0
vs. Mykyta Abramov (Ukraine)

55 kg/121 lbs. – Robert Howard, Cranford, N.J. (Titan Mercury/Bitetto Trained)
WIN Aliaksei Kukharchyk (Belarus), 14-3
LOSS Simone Piroddu (Italy), 9-3

65 kg/143 lbs. – Carson Manville, Shakopee, Minn. (Banditos WC)
WIN Deividas Peciulis (Lithuania) , 13-2
LOSS Masaki Sato (Japan), 11-0

80 kg/176 lbs. – Abe Assad, Carol Stream, Ill. (Izzy Style WC)
WIN Medet Biliciturk (Turkey), 2-1
LOSS Mohammadreza Ghiyasi (Iran), 10-0

110 kg/242 lbs. – Daniel “Greg” Kerkvliet, Inver Grove, Minn. (Titan Mercury/Pinnacle)
WIN Filip Jires (Czech Republic), 10-0
WIN Vasyl Sova (Ukraine), 10-0
WIN Kumar Anirudh (India), 10-0
vs. Sergey Kozyrev (Russia)