U.S. Greco-Roman squad knocked out of medal contention in Friday action at U20 Worlds

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria – The U.S. Greco-Roman team got off to a slow start on Thursday at the U20 World Championships at Arena Samokov in Samokov, Bulgaria. Things didn’t pick up much on Friday either, as all four American wrestlers took early losses and were eliminated from medal contention.

Joel Adams was the lone wrestler of Friday’s second group to win a match, taking his 72kg opener over UWW athlete Rabil Askerov, but that was it. Adams was beaten by Greece’s Arionas Kolitsopoulos in the second round and was eliminated from competition when Kolitsopoulos was beaten in the semifinals by Armenia’s Gaspar Terteryan, 5-1. Terteryan will take on Uzbekistan’s Ahmad Kodirov in the finals. Kodirov teched Finland’s Oliver Pada, 11-3.

At 55kg, 17-year-old Caleb Noble was beaten in his opening-round bout by U20 European fifth-place finisher Nazarii Babinskyi by technical superiority, 8-0 in the first round. Babinskyi received a forfeit in the next round and then was beaten in the quarterfinals, 10-0, by Azerbaijan’s U20 European silver medalist Turan Dashdamirov. The finals will see Dashdamirov, a 10-2 winner over Japan’s Daisuke Morishita in the semifinals, take on Iran’s Payam Ahmadi, who defeated Kazakhstan’s Arsen Zhuma 3-0 in the other semifinal.

At 67kg, returning U20 world silver medalist Otto Black went up 4-0 in his match against Japan’s Takaku Suzuki, but one second-period sequence gave Suzuki eight points and control of the bout. Suzuki was beaten in the next round by returning U20 world champion Erzu Zakriev, representing UWW. The finals at 67 will see Zakriev, who won a wild 14-7 semifinal against Azerbaijan’s Faraim Mustafayev, take on Kyrgyzstan’s Zhantoro Mirzaliev, who was a 5-1 winner over Uzbekistan’s Fayozbek Rashidovich Eshmirzaev.

Soren Herzog lost his only bout, a 2-1 decision to Hungary’s Vendel Vitai at 97kg. Vitai was beaten the following round by U20 European champion and returning U20 world silver medalist Darius Kiefer of Germany. Kiefer then fell in the semifinals to Ukraine’s Yehor Yakushenko, 5-2. The win avenged a loss to Kiefer in the U20 European Championships back in June. Yakushenko will take on U20 Asian champion Mohammad Seydi of Iran, who beat UWW athlete Ilia Komarov 5-3 in the semifinals.