Elsayed wins Egypt’s first world gold since 2006, USA Greco wraps up U23 Worlds

Photo of Mohamed Elsayed (Egypt) by Martin Gabor, UWW.

BUCHAREST, Romania – For the first time in 12 years, at any age group and in any style, Egypt produced a World champion with Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed winning the U23 World title at 67 kg in Greco-Roman on Wednesday night in Bucharest, Romania.

The last Egyptian World champion was Mohamed Ibrahim Abdelfattah, who won a 2006 Senior World gold in Greco-Roman at 84 kg. Abdelfattah is now a part of the U.S. Greco-Roman National coaching staff.

For Elsayed, it was a dominant run to the gold. At the break, Elsayed held a 2-0 lead over 2012 Cadet World champion Karim Jafarov of Azerbaijan. From there, the Egyptian kept piling on the points, eventually shutting out his opponent for an 8-0 technical fall.

At 60 kg, Kenichiro Fumita of Japan won his second World title in as many years, picking up a technical fall in the gold-medal match.

Taking on Murad Mammadov from Azerbaijan in the 60 kg final, Fumita trailed, 1-0, at the break. The second period saw big action from Fumita, who landed two big four-point throws and exposure. On his second throw, Fumita held Mammadov to his back for the fall at 4:37. The new U23 World champion led 10-1 at the time of the pin.

Last year, Fumita won gold at the 2017 Senior World Championships in Paris, France.

Russia picked up its first champion of the tournament as Aleksandr Golovin won his second-straight U23 World championship, holding off Zsolt Toeroek of Hungary. Golovin secured a 4-2 lead in the first period and added to it in the second period, drawing a passivity point from Toerek. The Russian held on for a 5-2 win.

After falling short in last year’s U23 World finals, Gela Bolkvadze from Georgia made his way to the top of the podium, winning the 82 kg crown.

Despite a loud Romanian crowd surrounding him, Bolkvadze battled back from a 3-0 deficit against Nicu Ojog of Romania. With less than a minute left, Ojog was put down for passivity, giving 2015 Junior World champion Bolkvadze a chance on top.

The Georgian worked hard before exposing Ojog on a gut wrench to even it up 3-3 and hold onto an eventual win on criteria.

At 72 kg, 2018 U23 European silver medalist Cengiz Arslan from Turkey defeated two-time Junior World champion Ramaz Zoidze of Georgia with a 2-1 decision with no offensive points scored.

In the team race, Georgia ran away with the title, thanks to its three World champions, scoring 126 points. Russia was second as a team, putting up 101 points. Rounding out the top five was Turkey, Japan and Azerbaijan.

The USA wrapped up its tournament on Wednesday morning as Nolan Baker and Carter Nielsen both dropped their first repechage matches.

Baker, once again, came out aggressive and looking to score points. He carried a lead over his opponent Ryo Nakahashi of Japan, but it was not enough as the Japanese wrestler took over the lead and claimed a 16-8 technical fall.

In Neilsen’s match, it looked like it was an 8-0 tech fall for Gegham Tormogyan of Armenia. The USA challenged the takedown and won the challenge, keeping Nielsen in the bout. The American battled back, putting up four more points, but Tormogyan held on for a 7-4 win.

Overall, the USA went 0-12 at the tournament. Throughout the summer, the U.S. Greco-Roman program won at least one medal in three of the four age groups, including one silver at the Senior level, a silver and bronze at the Junior level and a bronze at the Cadet level.

2018 U23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
at Bucharest, Romania, Nov. 12-18

Team results (top five)
1. Georgia – 126
2. Russia – 101
3. Turkey – 87
4. Japan – 80
5. Azerbaijan – 71

Final results
55 kg
GOLD – Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) dec. Vitalii KABALOEV (RUS), 3-2
BRONZE - Balbai DORDOKOV (KGZ) dec. Norayr HAKHOYAN (ARM), 7-3
BRONZE - Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ) tech. fall Shota OGAWA (JPN), 8-0

60 kg
GOLD – Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) df. Murad MAMMADOV (AZE), 10-1
BRONZE – Kerem KAMAL (TUR) df. Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB), 9-1
BRONZE – Mehdi Seifollah MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI) df. Armen MELIKYAN (ARM), 10-1

63 kg
GOLD – Katsuaki ENDO (JPN) df. Alexandru BICIU (MDA), 8-0
BRONZE – Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU) df. Turabek TIRKASHEV (UZB), 11-2
BRONZE – Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR) df. Meysam Karamali DALKHANI (IRI), 12-4

72 kg
GOLD – Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR) df. Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO), 2-1  
BRONZE – Kaharman KISSYMETOV (KAZ) df. Narek OGANIAN (RUS), 5-0
BRONZE – Tamas LEVAI (HUN) df. Artur POLITAIEV (UKR), 9-0

77 kg
GOLD – Daniel CATARAGA (MDA) df. Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN), fall 2:45
BRONZE – Fatih CENGIZ (TUR) df. Khalid KERCHIYEV (SWE), 5-1 
BRONZE – Ismail SAIDKHASANOV (RUS) df. Sajan SAJAN (IND), 6-5 

82 kg
GOLD – Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO) df. Nicu OJOG (ROU), 3-3
BRONZE – Mikita KLIMOVICH (BLR) df. Takahiro TSURUDA (JPN), 10-0
BRONZE – Mahdi Asgar EBRAHIMI (IRI) df. Ahmed Hassan AHMED (EGY), 5-4 

87 kg
GOLD – Semen NOVIKOV (UKR) df. Daniel GREGORICH (CUB), 10-2
BRONZE - Anton KURS (BLR) df. Gazi KHALILOV (RUS), 10-0
BRONZE - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Mohamed METWALLY (EGY), 3-3

97 kg
GOLD – Aleksandr GOLOVIN (RUS) df. Zsolt TOEROEK (HUN), 5-2  
BRONZE – Ali HEIDARI (IRI) df. Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE), 2-1
BRONZE – Giorgi MELIA (GEO) df. Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA), 3-1

130 kg
GOLD – Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO) df. Osman YILDIRIM (TUR), 6-5
BRONZE - Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) df. Oskar MARVIK (NOR), 2-1
BRONZE – Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) df. Konsta MAEENPAEAE (FIN), 5-0

U.S. Greco-Roman results
55 kg: Dalton Duffield (Moore, Okla./NMU-OTS) – dnp/12th
LOSS Bence Kovacs (Hungary), 10-2

60 kg: Randon Miranda (Palmdale, Calif./New York AC) – dnp/25th
LOSS Justas Petravicius (Lithuania), 9-0

63 kg: Travis Rice (Washington, Ill./Illinois RTC/New York AC) – dnp/14th
LOSS Oleksandr Hrushyn (Ukraine), 4-0

67 kg: Nolan Baker (Byron, Ill./Northern Illinois Elite WC) – dnp/15th
LOSS Karim Jafarov (Azerbijan), 14-6
LOSS Ryo Nakahashi (Japan), 16-8

72 kg: Logan Kass (New Prague, Minn./NMU-OTS) – dnp/18th
LOSS Nikita Masjuks (Latvia), 8-0

77 kg: Jesse Porter (Albany, N.Y./New York AC) – dnp/25th
LOSS Fatih Cengiz (Turkey), 8-0
82 kg: Carter Nielsen (Foley, Minn./NMU-OTS) – dnp/26th
LOSS Nicu Ojog (Romania), fall 0:55
LOSS Gegham Tormogyan (Armenia), 7-4

87 kg: George Sikes (Fort Pierce, Fla./NMU-OTS) – dnp/20th
LOSS Anton Kurs (Belarus), 4-2

97 kg: G’Angelo Hancock (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) – dnp/17th
LOSS Vladlen Kozliuk (Ukraine), 17-7

130 kg: Cohlton Schultz (Parker, Colo./New York AC) – dnp/16th
LOSS Boban Zivanovic (Serbia), 4-0