Irons wins 90 kg title at Barbados Open in Beach Wrestling, Cuba’s Torreblanca wins Grand Champion title
by Ed Duncan, Special to TheMat.com
Bridgetown, Barbados - Jabari Irons of the United States won the 90 kg title at the Barbados Open in Beach wrestling, the first U.S. champion in this event which entered its second year.
Irons dominated his weight class, winning all four of his matches in a five-athlete roundrobin. Irons outscored his opponents 13-0 in his matches.
Irons, who hails from Fort Myers, Fla., was a 2022 U.S. Beach Nationals champion.
The champions in each of the four men’s weight classes were placed in a Grand Championship bracket.
Irons pushed 3x Pan-American Champion Yurieski Torreblanca of Cuba to the brink in the Grand Championship semifinals, but Torreblanca scored a late point that propelled him to victory, 3-2, setting up a finals match with last year's Barbados Open Grand Champion Charlie Bowing of England.
Torreblanca showed why he is one of the top wrestlers in the world, winning 3-0 over Bowling to take home the Grand Championship for this year's Open.
70KG was won by home crowd favorite Kwami Inniss of Barbados won a very tough 70kg bracket by virtue of a spectacular three-pointer against Shiaeine Blake of Jamaica.
The tournament kicked off the 2023 Barbados Olympic Association Independence Games, which also includes beach volleyball, cycling, gymnastics and weightlifting.
Two other American athletes competed in the event.
Gabe Rangel won a tough 1-0 over eventual 90+kg silver medalist Aiden McVeigh of Canada but was forced to injury default his final pool match, handing the pool victory to McVeigh.
In the other 90kg+ pool Akmet Azizov of the United State scored a 4-1 victory over Mathew Arindell of Barbados, but fell to eventual champion Torreblanca and 90kg+ bronze medalist Tyrece Thompson of Barbados to finish third in his pool. He did not advance to the semifinals.
2023 BARBADOS BEACH WRESTLING OPEN
November 19, 2023
Senior Medalists
60KG Senior Women
1 Jessica Derrell Barbados
2 Rebecca Williams Barbados
70KG Senior Men
1 Kwami Inniss Barbados
2 Shiaeine Blake Jamaica
3 Lemar Tull Barbados
80KG Senior Men
1 Charlie Bowling England
2 Dmitriy Temirbayev Kazakhstan
3 Renaldo Diaz Trinidad & Tobago
90KG Senior Men
1 Jabari Irons USA
2 Billy Yole Canada
3 Roberto Williams Jamaica
90+ KG Senior Men
1 Yurieski Torreblanca Quealta Cuba
2 Aidan McVeigh Canada
3 Tyrece Thompson Jamaica
U.S. men’s Beach Wrestling performances
90 kg – Jabari Irons, Gold Medal
4-0 record
WIN Bojan Dodik (Jamaica) 3-0
WIN Billy Yole (Canada) 3-0
WIN Roberto Williams (Jamaica) 4-0
WIN Joshua Cooper (Trinidad & Tobago) 3-0
Over 90 kg – Gabe Rangel
WIN Aiden McVeigh (Canada) 1-0
LOSS Reuben Wiltshire (Barbados) Inj. dft
Over 90 kg – Akmet Azizov
1-2 record
LOSS Yurieski Torreblanca Quealta (Cuba) 3-0
WIN Mathew Arindell (Barbados) 4-1
LOSS Tyrece Thompson (Barbados) 3-0
Grand Championship
Semifinals
80kg Champion Charlie Bowling (England) dec. 70kg Champion Kwami Inniss (Barbados), 3-0
90+kg Champion Yurieski Torreblanca Quealta (Cuba) dec. 90kg Champion Jabari Irons (USA), 3-2
Finals
90+kg Champion Yurieski Torreblanca Quealta (Cuba) dec. 80kg Champion Charlie Bowling (England), 3-0