Rodriguez, Mir drop quarters, Melelashvili falls short in repechage at U23 World Championships

NOVI SAD, Serbia – Following a day that saw Team USA blitz the U23 World Championships field, the American bunch regressed to the mean with a tough morning session in downtown Novi Sad.

2024 U20 World champion and current Senior World Team member Cristelle Rodriguez started the day strong with a powerful, first period pin against two-time U20 World medalist Gultakin Shirinova of Azerbaijan at 55 kg. She was well on her way to a quarterfinal win, up 6-0 on Germany’s Amory Andrich, before getting reversed from top and pinned in 2:22.

Also posting a 1-1 record on Thursday morning was two-time age-group World Team member Isabella Mir at 65 kg. It was a similar story for Mir, who notched a 35-second pin against Cara Du Plessis of South Africa in round one before meeting her match in the quarters. UWW athlete Elizaveta Petliakova, a two-time U20 World medalist, took a 7-1 decision over Mir to end the session.

Both Rodriguez and Mir eagerly await tonight’s semifinal results, needing wins from Andrich and Petliakova for repechage opportunities.

Returning silver medalist Beka Melelashvili ran into Iranian buzzsaw Abolfazl Mohmedi in the 82 kg Greco-Roman repechage. The match was back and forth early, but Mohmedi pulled away in the second period, his pace and sound technique from neutral proving the difference in the 13-4 match. Melelashvili, a Senior World Team member, will finish outside of the medal matches for the first time in his three trips to the U23 Worlds. His previous placements were second and fifth.

Two U.S. women finished the session with an 0-1 record, losing matches to UWW opponents, and were eliminated from the tournament—Cecilia Williams at 57 kg and Brooklyn Hays at 68 kg. Williams was competing in her first World Championships event. Hays finished in fifth place at this event last year.

The tournament continues at 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday with the women’s freestyle group two (55-57-65-68 kg) semifinals, followed by the Greco-Roman group three (60-82 kg) and women’s freestyle group one (50-72-76 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

Going for gold medals in women’s freestyle this evening are Audrey Jimenez at 50 kg, Jasmine Robinson at 72 kg and Kylie Welker at 76 kg. On the Greco-Roman side, Max Black will shoot for the third U.S. bronze medal in the classic style at 60 kg.

The U23 World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results can be found on UWW Arena.