U.S. wrestler Yapoujian drops knockout series at Beach World Series Da Nang in Vietnam, May 8

DA NANG, Vietnam – U.S. Beach wrestler Lain Yapoujian of Byers, Colorado, dropped his two matches at 70 kg at Beach World Series Da Nang on My Khe Beach in Da Nang, Vietnam on Saturday, May 8. The event was held alongside the South China Sea.

Yapoujian, a student-athlete at Stanford University, was the lone U.S. entry in the event, which is the first stop of the five-event Senior Beach World Series in 2026.

He was randomly drawn into a knockout series, which means he had to wrestle his way into one of the four-athlete Groups. In the past, United World Wrestling used a single match in the knockout phase, but has changed it to a best-of-three series to determine which athlete advances.

Competing in his first Beach World Series event, Yapoujian drew Daniel Sandu of Romania, who was a 2024 U20 Beach World bronze medalist and represented Romania in the 2025 Senior World Championships in freestyle. Sandu won the first match, 3-1, then swept the knockout series with a throw to a fall in 1:38.

The remaining Beach World Series stops this year are in Porec, Croatia (May 30-31), Batumi, Georgia (June 20-21), Baku, Azerbaijan (August 28-29) and with the Beach World Series Final in Katerini, Greece (September 26-27).