Bartlett and Amos secure spots in Junior World semifinals
by Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling
Photo of Beau Bartlett by Kadir Caliskan, United World Wrestling.
UFA, Russia – Beau Bartlett and Braxton Amos advanced to the men’s freestyle semifinals at 65 kg and 97 kg, respectively, on the first day of the 2021 Junior World Championships in Ufa, Russia.
SEMIFINALS SET FOR MONDAY AT 9 AM U.S. ET
Competing at 65 kg, Beau Bartlett had an incredible morning, winning his first two matches by technical fall. In his tournament opener, Bartlett dominated Marcell Budai Kovacs of Hungary, 12-1, before taking out Armenia’s Davit Margaryan with a quick 11-0 victory. For the semis, the Penn State wrestler will face off against 2021 U23 European bronze medalist Ziraddin Bayramov from Azerbaijan.
Braxton Amos, who will compete in freestyle and Greco-Roman this week, is off to a hot start defeating 2018 Cadet Asian silver medalist Yunus Gafurov from Kazakhstan in a smart 6-4 match. In the quarterfinals, Amos downed 2021 Junior European bronze medalist Milan Korcsog of Hungary with an easy 10-0 win. Tonight, Badger Wrestling’s Amos will face Deepak Deepak from India, who is making his international debut.
Two other Team USA wrestlers await tonight’s semifinals results to see if they will be pulled into repechage. Bryce Andonian of Virginia Tech and DJ Washington of University of Indiana each dropped their first-round matches to opponents from Iran; however, both Iranians have advanced to the semifinals. Wins from each of them tonight will pull the American from their respective bracket into tomorrow’s repechage. Andonian, wrestling at 70 kg, lost his first bout to 2019 Cadet World silver medalist Erfran Elahi in an 8-7 heartbreaker, while Washington fell to 2019 U23 World silver medalist Mohammad Nokhodilarimi at 79 kg, 6-3.
Returning Cadet World silver medalist Richard Figueroa, the 57 kg representative for USA, was knocked out of the tournament on Monday morning. He dropped his first-round bout to Ali Gholi Zadegan Koloukhi from Iran, 15-2. Unfortunately, the Iranian lost a controversial quarterfinal bout to 2021 Junior European silver medalist Manvel Khndzrtsyan of Armenia, ultimately ending Figueroa’s 2021 Junior World run.
There are two NCAA Division I wrestlers representing other countries at this year’s 2021 Junior Worlds, including Lachlan McNeil of Canada and Victor Voinovich of Serbia. McNeil, who wrestles for the University of North Carolina, rattled off two wins at 65 kg, advancing to the quarterfinals before falling to a Russia’s Shamil Mamedov. Should Mamedov win tonight’s semifinal, McNeil will be pulled into repechage. Oklahoma State wrestler Victor Voinovich was eliminated from 70 kg competition in the first session, dropping his first match to Narek Harutyunyan of Armenia, who eventually lost in the quarters to seal Voinovich’s fate.
Semifinals action takes place Monday at 6 p.m. local time (9 a.m. U.S. ET). Fans can watch live on FloWrestling or follow along on USA Wrestling’s twitter @USAWrestling.
2021 JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Aug. 16-22 | Ufa, Russia
U.S. men’s freestyle results
57 kg: Richard Figueroa (Sanger, Calif./Sunkist Kids) – eliminated
LOSS Ali Gholi Zadegan Koloukhi (Iran), 15-2
65 kg: Beau Bartlett (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC) - SEMIFINALS
WIN Marcell Budai Kovacs (Hungary), 12-1
WIN Davit Margaryan (Armenia), 11-0
vs. Ziraddin Bayramov (Azerbaijan)
70 kg: Bryce Andonian (Blacksburg, Va./SERTC) – awaiting semifinal results
LOSS Erfran Elahi (Iran), 8-7
79 kg: Donnell Washington (Portage, Ind./Indiana RTC) – awaiting semifinal results
LOSS Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran), 6-3
97 kg: Braxton Amos (Mineral Wells, W.V./Wisconsin RTC) - SEMIFINALS
WIN Yunus Gafurov (Kazakhstan), 6-4
WIN Milan Korcsog (Hungary), 10-0
vs. Deepak Deepak (India)