Couch wins Greco-Roman title for USA at Bill Farrell Memorial International

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Army West Point student athlete Joseph Couch claimed the gold medal at 60 kg, the lone U.S. individual Greco-Roman champion at the Bill Farrell Memorial International at the New York Athletic Club on Friday night.

Couch capped off a strong performance in the finals, defeating fellow U.S. wrestler Paxton Creese in the finals, 7-3. Couch jumped to a 7-0 lead with takedowns and turns. He won three matches on the way to his victory.

The USA had three runners-up in Greco-Roman, with Paxton Creese (60 kg), Peter Del Gallo (55 kg) and Courtney Freeman (130 kg).

Del Gallo was defeated in the finals by Marat Garipov of Brazil, 6-0. Freeman was stopped by Zviadi Pataridze of Georgia, 6-0.

Ukraine had an amazing tournament, winning five gold medals and putting nine wrestlers in the finals. Ukrainian champions were Viktor Petryk (63 kg), Maksym Liu (67 kg), Parviz Nasibov (72 kg), Irfan Mirzoiev (77 kg) and  Artur Ovsepyan (87 kg). Nasibov, an Olympic silver medalist, was named Outstanding Wrestler.

Other individual champions were Peter Nagy of Hungary (82 kg) and Mostafa Elders of Egypt (97 kg).

BILL FARRELL MEMORIAL INTERNATIONAL

At New York, N.Y., November 8

 Greco-Roman finals pairings

55 kg

1^st - Marat Garipov (BRA) dec. Peter Del Gallo (USA), 6-0

3^rd – Fabian Gutierrez (USA) pin Jonghueon Kim, 5:10

60 kg

1^st - Joseph Couch (USA) dec. Paxton Creese (USA), 7-3

3^rd – Rhett Peak (USA) dec. Ruben Calderon (USA), 6-2

63 kg

Gold - Viktor Petryk (UKR)

Silver - Byeonggi Seo (KOR)

Viktor Petryk (UKR) tech fall Byeonggi Seo (KOR), 8-0 1:42

Viktor Petryk (UKR) dec. Byeonggi Seo (KOR), 7-1

67 kg

1^st - Maksym Liu (UKR) inj. dft. Oleksandr Hrushyn (UKR), 0:00

3^rd – Hunter Lewis (USA) pin Jurgen Uku (Albania), 2:57

72 kg

1^st - Parviz Nasibov (UKR) inj. dft. Amr Hussen (EGY), 2:31

3^rd – Peyton Robb (USA) dec. Aliaksandr Kikiniou (USA), 3-2

77 kg

1^st - Irfan Mirzoiev (UKR) dec. Ihor Bychkov (UKR), 2-1

3^rd – Kevin Kupi (ALB) tech fall Loiqi Amirkhonzoda (TJK), 8-0, 1:52

82 kg

1^st - Peter Nagy (HUN) dec. Volodymyr Yakovliev (UKR), 5-3

3^rd – Jesse Porter (USA) dec. Patrick Curran (USA), 3-1

87 kg

1^st - Artur Ovsepyan (UKR) dec. Nurzhan Assan (KAZ), 6-0

3^rd – Michael Altomer (USA) pin Boris Frrokaj (ALB), 0:45

97 kg

1^st - Mostafa Elders (EGY) dec. Vladlen Kozliuk (UKR), 5-2

3^rd – Serhii Omelin (UKR) dec. Josef Rau (USA), 1-1

130 kg

1^st - Zviadi Pataridze (GEO) dec. Courtney Freeman (USA), 6-0

3^rd – Mykhaolo Vyshnyvetskyi (UKR) tech fall Darrell Mason, 12-4, 0:53