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Robby Smith wins bronze medal at Kristjan Palusalu Memorial in Estonia

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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling

Competition portrait of U.S. star Robby Smith by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors.


TALLINN, Estonia – 2016 Olympian and four-time World Team member Robby Smith (Chicago, Ill./New York AC/Chicago RTC) won a bronze medal at 130 kg/286 lbs. at the Kristjan Palusalu Memorial International on Saturday.


The tournament, which was not large in size, was very competitive, with top European powers including Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Norway, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia in the draw.


Smith finished with a 3-1 record, including a pin and two technical falls. Smith pinned Estonia’s Artur Vititn in the bronze-medal match.


He scored technical falls over Volodymyr Tesienko of Ukraine and Tomasz Wawrzyncyk of Poland. His only loss came in the semifinals, when he dropped a 5-0 match to six-time age-group World Champion Zviadi Pataridze of Georgia. Pataridze, who went on to win this tournament, boasts three Junior World titles, two Cadet World titles and a U23 World title.


Smith was also in Estonia last weekend, helping young athletes as a coach during the Tallinn Open, which featured age-group competition for boys and girls. Wyoming Seminary sent a team, as well as a large youth tour team including young athletes from across the nation.


Two other U.S. athletes entered and placed in the top 10 of their weight class: Chris Rodgers (Colorado Springs, Colo./OTC) at 67 kg and Nick Tarpley (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 72 kg.


KRISTJAN PALUSALU MEMORIAL


At Tallinn, Estonia, April 6



Greco-Roman results



60 kg

Gold - Ihor Kurochkin UKR

Silver - Andriy Martynyuk UKR

Bronze - Andrei Ivanov RUS


63 kg

Gold - Giorgi Gujabidze GEO

Silver - Hevorh Arzumanian UKR

Bronze - Vasyl Symonenko UKR


67 kg

Gold - Oleksii Kalinichenko UKR

Silver - Havard Jorgensen NOR

Bronze - Anton Kutsenko UKR


72 kg

Gold - Adlet Tjuljubaev RUS

Silver - Iuri Lomadze GEO

Bronze - Arslan Zubairov RUS


77 kg

Gold - Marad Huseinau BLR

Silver - Artem Komarov RUS

Bronze - Tsimur Berdyieu BLR


82 kg

Gold - Adel Sadykov RUS

Silver - Oleksii Osniach UKR

Bronze - Ruslan Vardanyan RUS


87 kg

Gold - Kiryl Maskevich BLR

Silver - Laimutis Adomaitis LTU

Bronze - Martynas Nemsevicius LTU


97 kg

Gold - Yevhenii Saveta UKR

Silver - Gerard Kurniczak POL

Bronze - Dzimitry Kaminski BLR


130 kg

Gold - Zviadi Pataridze GEO

Silver - Giorgi Barbakadze GEO

Bronze - Robert Smith USA


U.S. Greco-Roman performances


67 kg - Chris Rodgers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (OTC), 7th place

LOSS Havard Jorgensen (Norway), tech. fall 8-0

LOSS Oleksii Kalinichenko (Ukraine), pin

LOSS Kristo Vlidas (Estonia), pin


72 kg - Nick Tarpley, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), 10th place

LOSS Toni Ojala (Finland), 9-6


130 kg - Robby Smith, Chicago, Ill. (New York AC/Chicago RTC), bronze medal

WIN Volodymyr Tesienko (Ukraine), tech. fall 8-0

LOSS Zviadi Pataridze (Georgia), 5-0

WIN Tomasz Wawrzyncyk (Poland), tech. fall 10-0

WIN Artur Vititn (Estonia), pin

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