James wins silver and Lovell snags bronze at Veteran Freestyle World Championships

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Rudy James of St. Paul, Minn., earned a silver medal at 70 kg on Friday at the Veteran World Championships in Skopje, Macedonia. Three other Americans placed in the top five.

James competed in Division B, which is for athletes between the ages of 41 and 45. To start the tournament, James collected a pair of shutout technical falls, including a 10-0 win over Onder Ozgul of Turkey and an 11-0 win against M. Tanev of Macedonia.

In the semifinals, Hancock squeaked out a 3-0 decision over Ganbat Dorjgotov of Mongolia to land a spot in the finals.

There, he dropped a 12-2 bout to MuhammadAli Haghighatdou of Great Britain to wrap up a silver-medal finish.

“Rudy looked very strong winning his first two matches by tech falls,” said Team Leader and Coach Chris Brown. “Rudy was focused and primed to win FS gold this year. However, he defeated by a very tough MuhammadAli, an Iranian wrestling for Great Britain.” 

Also winning a medal for the USA was Daniel Lovell from North Dakota, who wrestled in Division B at 100 kg. Competing in a six-man round-robin bracket, Lovell won in the first round, pinning Kumar Sanjay of India andwas eventually pitted against him again in the third-place match, where Lovell, once again, won by fall, securing a bronze medal.

Tallying fifth-place finishes was Jason Cappiello of San Francisco, Calif., at 70 kg in Division B and Kevin Kares of Henderson, Nev., at 88 kg in Division E (56-60 years old).

The Freestyle Veteran World Championships continue tomorrow with Division C (46-50 years old) and Division D (51-55 years old).

VETERAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

at Skopje, Macedonia

DIVISION B - (41-45 years old)
70 kg – Jason Cappiello, San Francisco, Calif. - FIFTH
LOSS Mayis Ibadov (Azerbaijan), 10-0
WIN Reza Akbarpour Bahna (Iran), 10-0
LOSS Eiji Honna (Japan), fall

70 kg – Tom Donahue, Bethel, Ohio
LOSS Aslan Kaitov (Russia)

78 kg – Rudy James, St. Paul, Minn. - SILVER
WIN Onder Ozgul (Turkey), 10-0
WIN M. Tanev (Macedonia), 11-0
WIN Ganbat Dorjgotov (Mongolia), 3-0
LOSS M Haghighatdou (Great Britian), 12-2

88 kg – Alsandro Turner, Woodbridge, Va.
LOSS Tudor Eni (Moldova), 10-0

100 kg – Victor Ledon, Coral Springs, Fla.
WIN K. Czerczak (Poland), fall 1:10
LOSS Jacques Meyer (South Africa), fall 0:17
WIN Mustafa Lagap (Turkey), forfeit

100 kg – Daniel Lovell, Jamestown, N.D. – BRONZE
WIN Kumar Sanjay (India), fall 0:42
WIN Ljupcho Hadji Arsov (Macedonia), inj. def.
LOSS Jacques Meyer (South Africa), 6-4
WIN Kumar Sanjay (India), fall

DIVISION E - (56-60 years old)
70 kg – Keith Stagg, Washington Twp., N.J.
LOSS Evgeny Dayndapov (Russia), 10-2

88 kg – Jeff Henry, Los Angeles, Calif.
LOSS Bat Buyandelger (Mongolia), 10-0
LOSS W Putter (South Africa), fall 2:55

88 kg – Kevin Kares, Henderson, Nev. – FIFTH
WIN Stoyan Kon Stoyanov (Bulgaria), inj. def.
LOSS Hidemitsu Yugawa (Japan), fall