Amos advances to Junior World finals, Bartlett to wrestle for bronze and two others pulled into repechage
by Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling
Photo of Braxton Amos by Kadir Caliskan, United World Wrestling.
UFA, Russia – USA’s 97 kg men’s freestyle representative Braxton Amos secured a spot in the 2021 Junior World finals after a successful two sessions on Monday in Ufa, Russia. He will wrestle for gold on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET). Beau Bartlett at 65 kg will wrestle for bronze, while Bryce Andonian and DJ Washington are still in the hunt for bronze.
Amos, who competes for the University of Wisconsin, went 2-0 in the morning session to advance to the semifinals. There, he faced Deepak Deepak from India, who he took down early for an eventual 3-0 lead at the break. In the second period, Amos gave up a point on a caution-and-one on a kick while Deepak was in on a single. To close out the match, Amos scored three sets of exposure from a crotch lift and a cradle in scramble situations for an eventual 9-1 win. In the gold-medal bout on Tuesday, Amos will take on 2021 Junior European champion Polat Polatci from Turkey.
Beau Bartlett had a tough matchup in the 65 kg semifinals, facing 2021 U23 European bronze medalist Ziraddin Bayramov of Azerbaijan. Bayramov took a 5-0 lead into the second period, scoring two takedowns from a double leg and drawing a caution-and-one from Bartlett for finger grabbing. In the second period, the Azeri added just one step out, while Bartlett got on the board in the last 15 seconds with a pair of step outs. Bayramov emerged with a 6-2 win, sending Bartlett to tomorrow night’s bronze-medal bout. The Penn State wrestler’s opponent will be either Mustafo Akhmedov from Tajikistan or 2021 Junior European bronze medalist Giorgi Tcholadze of Georgia, which will be determined in Tuesday morning’s repechage bouts.
USA’s Bryce Andonian and DJ Washington were pulled into tomorrow’s repechage competition at 70 kg and 79 kg, respectively. In the first round, Andonian fell to 2019 Cadet World silver medalist Erfran Elahi of Iran, who eventually made it to the finals, giving Andonian a shot at the bronze medal. The American will have to win three matches tomorrow to take third. First, he will face Josley Dibo of the Republic of Congo. At 79 kg, Washington dropped an early match to 2019 U23 World silver medalist Mohammad Nokhodilarimi from Iran, who dominated his way into the finals. Washington will face 2021 Junior European bronze medalist Richard Schroeder of Germany in his repechage match. Should he win, Washington will then take on 2020 Senior Asian silver medalist Baliyan Gourav from India for bronze.
University of North Carolina wrestler Lachlan McNeil, who is representing Canada at 65 kg, was pulled into tomorrow’s repechage, thanks to a semifinal win by Shamil Mamedov of Russia, who defeated McNeil in the quarterfinals. McNeil will face either Rohit Rohit of India or Bekzat Yermekbay of Kazakhstan for a chance to wrestle for bronze.
Repechage action begins Tuesday at 11 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) with the medal matches scheduled for 6 p.m. local time (9 a.m. 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) – bronze match
WIN Marcell Budai Kovacs (Hungary), 12-1
WIN Davit Margaryan (Armenia), 11-0
LOSS Ziraddin Bayramov (Azerbaijan), 6-2
vs. repechage winner
70 kg: Bryce Andonian (Blacksburg, Va./SERTC) – repechage
LOSS Erfran Elahi (Iran), 8-7
vs. Josley Dibo (Republic of Congo)
79 kg: Donnell Washington (Portage, Ind./Indiana RTC) – repechage
LOSS Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran), 6-3
vs. Richard Schroeder (Germany)
97 kg: Braxton Amos (Mineral Wells, W.V./Wisconsin RTC) – gold match
WIN Yunus Gafurov (Kazakhstan), 6-4
WIN Milan Korcsog (Hungary), 10-0
WIN Deepak Deepak (India), 9-1
vs. Polat Polatci (Turkey)
Finals matchups
57 kg: Ramazan BAGAVUDINOV (RUS) vs. Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR)
65 kg: Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) vs. Shamil MAMEDOV (RUS)
70 kg: Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) vs. Erfan ELAHI (IRI)
79 kg: Mohammad NOKHODILARIM (IRI) vs. Ashraf ASHIROV (AZE)
97 kg: Braxton AMOS (USA) vs. Polat POLATCI (TUR)