Drury, Matthews & Voelker pulled into repechage in Greco-Roman at U20 World Championships

AMMAN, Jordan – Three U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers were pulled back into Saturday morning’s repechage at the U20 World Championships after the athlete who beat them won their semifinal match on Friday. Only athletes who lose to a gold-medal finalist are eligible to wrestle back in the repechage rounds.

Advancing to Saturday morning’s repechage rounds at Princess Sumaya Lounge in Amman’s Sports City were Landon Drury (63 kg), Derek Matthews (77 kg) and Wyatt Voelker (87 kg).

Drury was pulled back into repechage after U17 Asian champion Zhantoro Mirzaliev of Kyrgyzstan had an amazing comeback to defeat Dinislam Sagitzhan of Kazakhstan by fall. Sagitzhan jumped to a 7-0 lead, needing just one point to finish it. Mirzaliev scored 14 unanswered points before getting the pin in 4:13

Drury will battle Vasyl Myshanych of Ukraine in his repechage match. Should Drury win that bout, he would advance to a bronze-medal match on Saturday night against Dinislam Sagitzhan of Kazakhstan.

Matthews was also pulled into repechage after U20 World silver medalist and U20 European champion Alexandru Solovei of Moldova won his semifinal match. Solovei fell behind 3-0 at the break but defeated Erlan Mars Uulu of Kyrgyzstan, 7-3.

Matthews, who competes for Northern Colorado, must win two repechage matches on Saturday morning to advance to a bronze-medal bout. He opens against Individual Neutral Athlete Abdulmasih Abdulmasih, who lives in Belarus. If Matthews wins, he draws Mihael Lukac of Croatia, who was eighth in the 2022 U17 Worlds. Should Matthews get to the bronze-medal bout, he would face Erlan Mars Uulu of Kyrgyzstan, a 2022 Asian U20 silver medalist.

Voelker, a U20 Pan-American champion this year, got into repechage when 2022 U20 World silver medalist Abolfazl Choubani of Iran won his semifinals bout by criteria. Voelker had won his first two bouts before falling to Choubani in the quarterfinals.

Voelker will battle Ivaylo Ivanov of Bulgaria in his repechage match. Should he win, he draws 2022 U20 World champion Vigen Nazaryan of Armenia in the bronze-medal round.

Two U.S. wrestlers were eliminated when the athlete who beat them lost in the semifinals, Zachary Silvas (55 kg) and 2022 U20 World bronze medalist Aden Attao (130 kg).

Silvas was eliminated when the athlete who defeated him, 2022 U17 World champion Ali Ahmadi Vafa of Iran, was defeated in the semifinals by technical fall. Silvis finished his day with a 1-1 record.

When Achilleas Chrysidis of Greece, who stopped Attao in the quarterfinals, was defeated by technical fall in the semifinals, Attao was knocked out of the tournament. Attao won his first two bouts before falling to Chrysidis, 6-4.

The morning session was a promising start for Team USA, as four of the five U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers in Group One advanced to the quarterfinals, but all were unable to advance to the semifinals.

The USA had a 6-5 overall record on Friday in Greco-Roman and will look to improve on that effort on Saturday, with the Group One repechage plus five more U.S. athletes in Group Two.

The Group One Greco-Roman semifinals was followed by the women’s freestyle Group Two medal matches, which will be reported in another article.

Amman, Jordan, is in the GMT +3 time zone, which is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Those in the U.S. can watch all the action live on FloWrestling.com. Brackets and updated results will be provided by United World Wrestling on uww.org and the UWW mobile app.

2023 U20 World Championships

At Amman, Jordan, August 14-20

Greco-Roman Group One (55-63-77-87-130 kg) finals pairings

55 kg - Farid Sadikhli (Azerbaijan) vs. Iskhar Kurbayev (Kazakhstan)

63 kg - Ahmadreza Mohsen Nezhad (Iran) vs. Zhantoro Mirzaliev (Kyrgyzstan)

77 kg - Alexandru Solovei (Moldova) vs. Alireza Abdevali (Iran), 3-1

87 kg - Abolfazi Choubani (Iran) vs. Achiko Bolkvadze (Georgia)

130 kg - Fardin Hedayati (Iran) vs. Wenhao Jiang (China)

Greco-Roman Group One (55-63-77-87-130 kg) semifinals results

55 kg

Farid Sadikhli (Azerbaijan) tech fall Ali Ahmadi Vafa (Iran), 9-0

Iskhar Kurbayev (Kazakhstan) dec. Nurislan Suiorkulov (Kyrgyzstan), 3-3

63 kg

Ahmadreza Mohsen Nezhad (Iran) dec. Komei Sawada (Japan), 5-1

Zhantoro Mirzaliev (Kyrgyzstan) pin Dinislam Sagitzhan (Kazakhstan), 4:13

77 kg

Alexandru Solovei (Moldova) dec. Erlan Mars Uulu (Kyrgyzstan), 7-3

Alireza Abdevali (Iran) dec. Tornike Mikeladze (Georgia), 3-1

87 kg

Abolfazi Choubani (Iran) dec. Vigen Nazaryan (Armenia), 1-1

Achiko Bolkvadze (Georgia) tech fall Tourpal Magamedov (France), 10-2

130 kg

Fardin Hedayati (Iran) tech fall Fekry Eissa (Egypt), 8-0

Wenhao Jiang (China) tech fall Achilleas Chrysidis (Greece), 13-2

U.S. Greco-Roman Group One (55-63-77-87-130 kg) Results

55 kg – Zachary Silvis (Cottage Grove, Minnesota/Pinnacle WC), eliminated

WIN Dzianis Vitaroi (Individual Neutral Athlete), fall, 5:57

LOSS Ali Ahmadi Vafa (Iran), tech. fall, 11-0

63 kg – Landon Drury (Colorado Springs, Colorado/Betterman Elite Wrestling), in repchage

WIN Suhib Alhasanat (Jordan), tech. fall, 9-0

LOSS Zhantoro Mirzaliev (Kyrgyzstan), 8-5

REPECHAGE Vasyl Myshanych (Ukraine)

77 kg – Derek Matthews (Burley, Idaho/Northern Colorado WC), in repechage

LOSS Alexandru Solovei (Moldova), 8-1

REPECHAGE Abdulmasih Abdulmasih (Individual Neutral Athlete)

87 kg – Wyatt Voelker (Manchester, Iowa/Panther Wrestling Club RTC), in repechage

WIN Yhlas Abdurazakov (Turkmenistan), tech. fall, 10-0

WIN Mohit Khokhar (India), 6-3

LOSS Abolfazl Choubani (Iran), 7-2

REPECHAGE Ivaylo Ivanov (Bulgaria)

130 kg – Aden Attao (Boise, Idaho/Suples WC), eliminated

WIN Ayumu Iwasawa (Japan), 3-1

WIN Koppany Laszlo (Hungary), 8-7

LOSS Achilleas Chrysidis (Greece), 6-4