Baker and Nielsen pulled back into U23 World repechage in Greco-Roman
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by Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling
BUCHAREST, Romania – Two U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers will compete in the U23 World Championships repechage rounds on Wednesday, including Nolan Baker at 67 kg and Carter Nielsen at 82 kg.
In his international debut, Baker came out with high energy and scored six points on 2012 Cadet World champion Karim Jafarov of Azerbaijan at 67 kg. However, it was not enough as the seasoned Azeri went on to win the match, 14-6.
Jafarov advance to the finals by way of two more technical falls and a decision to pull Baker back into Wednesday’s repechage.
Tomorrow, Baker will have to win two matches to advance to the bronze-medal bout. The Northern Illinois wrestler will face Ryo Nakahashi of Japan in the first round of repechage. Should he win that match, Baker will take on 2017 Senior World bronze medalist Meiirzhan Shermakhanbet of Kazakhstan to move on to the medal match.
In his first match at 82 kg, Nielsen, a 2017 Malar Cup silver medalist, fell by pin to Romania’s Nicu Ojog, who is a 2015 Cadet World bronze medalist.
Ojog picked up two more technical falls to advance to the semifinals. There, he stormed back from a 4-0 deficit, scoring 12 unanswered points against Ahmed Hassan Ahmed of Egypt to move onto the finals and give Nielsen a shot at a medal.
Similar to Baker, Nielsen must win two matches to move onto the bronze match. First, the Northern Michigan wrestler will take on Gegham Tormogyan of Armenia. Should he win that bout, Nielsen will face 2017 Asian Indoor Games champion Mahdi Asgar Ebrahimi of Iran.
The other three Americans that competed today wrapped up their tournaments in Romania.
At 60 kg, Miranda, a two-time Junior World Team member, fell in the first round to Justas Petravicius of Lithuania, who is a 2017 World Military bronze medalist. Petravicius lost his round of 16 bout to 2016 Junior World champion Dato Chkhartishvili of Georgia by technical fall, 12-1, ending Miranda’s tournament.
Two-time U.S. Open All-American Logan Kass wrapped up his run at the 2018 U23 World Championships at 72 kg after dropping an 8-0 match to 2011 Cadet Nordic silver medalist Nikita Masjuks of Latvia. Masjuks failed to make it to the finals, losing to two-time Junior African champion Mohamed Elsayed of Egypt in the quarterfinals.
A controversial opener at 97 kg ultimately ended 2016 Junior World bronze medalist and two-time Senior World Team member G’Angelo Hancock’s tournament as he suffered a 17-7 loss to 2017 Junior World champion and 2014 Cadet World champion Vladlen Kozliuk of Ukraine.
Kozliuk then lost in the next round to reigning U23 World champion Aleksandr Golovin of Russia, 9-0.
Repechage begins at 10:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET) Wednesday. It will be contested side-by-side with the first women’s freestyle matches of the tournament. Fans can watch live on Trackwrestling.com.
2018 U23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Bucharest, Romania, Nov. 12-18
U.S. Greco-Roman results
60 kg: Randon Miranda (Palmdale, Calif./New York AC)
LOSS Justas Petravicius (Lithuania), 9-0
67 kg: Nolan Baker (Byron, Ill./Northern Illinois Elite WC)
LOSS Karim Jafarov (Azerbijan), 14-6
vs. Ryo Nakahashi (Japan)
72 kg: Logan Kass (New Prague, Minn./NMU-OTS)
LOSS Nikita Masjuks (Latvia), 8-0
82 kg: Carter Nielsen (Foley, Minn./NMU-OTS)
LOSS Nicu Ojog (Romania), fall 0:55
vs. Gegham Tormogyan (Armenia)
97 kg: G’Angelo Hancock (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
LOSS Vladlen Kozliuk (Ukraine), 17-7
