U.S. Men's Freestyle Squad Learns Opening Draws for 26th Stepan Sargsyan Cup in Armenia

YEREVAN, Armenia – The draws for the 26th Stepan Sargsyan Cup were released on Thursday morning. Team USA’s five-man men’s freestyle team will compete in the three-day tournament at the Dynamo Sports Hall in Yerevan, Armenia.

Leading the U.S. is 2025 World champion Zahid Valencia, who takes on Georgia’s Tornike Tulashvili, who is coming off a third-place finish at the Ion Corneanu & Ladislau Simon Memorial, in the opening round at 86 kg. In international competition this year, Valencia has won gold at the Pan American Championships and the Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov Tournament.

Two-time age-group World medalist Joey McKenna faces four-time age-group World Team member Vasile Marcu of Moldova to start his tournament at 65 kg. McKenna won a pair of bronze medals at the first two United World Wrestling Ranking Series events of the year.

At 74 kg, Cameron Amine represents the U.S. and battles 2023 Asian champion Darkhan Yessengali of Kazakhstan. Amine made his international debut at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series, where he placed fifth.

Capping off the U.S. lineup in Armenia are Izzak Olejnik at 79 kg and Killian Delaney at 57 kg. Olejnik is coming off a fifth-place finish in Poland two weeks ago and goes up against Dias Sagdatov of Kazakhstan in his first bout this weekend. This is set to be Delaney’s second international appearance, and he opens against 2024 World Military bronze medalist Amir Chamzyn of Russia.

Day one of the tournament features 57 kg, 65 kg, 74 kg, 86 kg and 97 kg divisions in action, starting at 11 a.m. Day two features the conclusion of group one with the start of group two (61-70-79-92-125 kg). The full event schedule is available below.

Results will be reported by USA Wrestling on TheMat.com as they become available.