Jim Mullen advances to Greco-Roman bronze medal match, seeking second medal at the Cadet World Championships
by Mike Willis, USA Wrestling
Photo of Jim Mullen courtesy of United World Wrestling
Budapest, Hungary – Jim Mullen will wrestle for his second medal of the week in tonight's Greco-Roman medal round. Mullen, who won silver in men’s freestyle, scored a come-from-behind victory over Lyova Sargsyan of Armenia to punch his ticket into the bronze medal match. Sargsyan scored a takedown and two turns with a gut wrench, taking a 6-0 lead. Trying to earn the technical fall, Sargsyan went for one more turn, which Mullen countered, stepping over Sargsyan for the pin.
Mullen wrestles 2021 European Championships fifth-place finisher Artur Sarkisjan of Czechia tonight for bronze, joining Cory Land (55 kg) and Otto Black (48 kg) in the medal round. Land wrestles Russia’s Valerii Mangutov for gold, and Black has 2021 Cadet European champion Faraim Mustafayev of Azerbaijan for bronze.
The rest of the American contingent who started their tournaments this morning had a tough opening round.
At 51 kg, Kaedyn Williams won his first match against Iran’s Abolfazl Niya, 6-3. Williams scored all of his points in the first period. He got on the scoreboard early with a passivity point and then took Niya feet-to-back for four more points. In the second period, Niya earned his own passivity point and a takedown at the buzzer. Williams's uncanny scrambling ability proved to be too much for the Iranian.
Williams fell in the subsequent round to Uzbekistan’s Kuvonchbek Yakhshiboev, who lost before making the finals, eliminating Williams from competition.
Bo Bassett (45 kg), Brock Bobzien (60 kg) and Nathan Wemstrom (92 kg) all dropped their opening matches and were eliminated from competition after their opponents also lost.
At 71 kg, Braden Stauffenberg is Team USA’s last hope for repechage. Stauffenberg dropped his opening match to Azerbaijan’s Ruslan Nurullayev, who advanced to this afternoon’s semifinals. Stauffenberg needs Nurullayev, a 2021 Cadet European bronze medalist, to defat Iran’s Alireza Abdevali in order to qualify for repechage.
The semifinals kick off at 10:45 a.m. EST and are followed by the medal round at 12:00 p.m. EST., streaming on FloWrestling.
2021 Cadet World Championships
at Budapest, Hungary, July 19-25
Greco-Roman results
45 kg: Bo Bassett (Windber, Pa.)
LOSS Ruslan Lukiaev (Russia), 8-0
51 kg: Kaedyn Williams (Lancaster, Pa.)
WIN Abolfazi Shahraki Niya (Iran), 6-3
LOSS Kuvonchbek Yakhshiboev (Uzbekistan), 8-0
60 kg: Brock Bobzien (Poway, Calif.)
LOSS Bagdat Sabaz, 10-1
71 kg: Braden Stauffenberg (Plano, Ill.)
LOSS Ruslan Nurullayev (Azerbaijan), 9-0
92 kg: Nathan Wemstrom (Buffalo Grove, Ill.)
LOSS Rasmus Liisma (Estonia), 3-1
Greco-Roman Repechage Results
110 kg: James Mullen (Harrington Park, N.J.)
LOSS Nikita Ovsjanikov (Germany), 7-2
WIN Lyova Sargsyan (Armenia), Fall 1:06