Molinaro and Cox receive draws for men's freestyle World Olympic Games Qualifier in Mongolia
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
| 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials champion at 86 kg/189 lbs. J'den Cox. Photo: Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com |
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia – Two U.S. athletes have weighed in and received their draws for Sunday’s men’s freestyle competition at the 1st Olympic Games World Qualifying Tournament at the Buyant-Uhaa Sports Arena.
U.S. Olympic Team Trials champions Frank Molinaro (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC) and J’den Cox (Columbia, Mo./Missouri WF) will attempt to qualify their weight class for the U.S. and themselves for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The U.S. has already qualified 57 kg, 74 kg, 97 kg and 125 kg to compete in men's freestyle wrestling in Rio.
Athletes competing in the men’s freestyle competition must place top three to qualify for the Olympic Games. A true third place match will be wrestled between bronze medal winners in each weight class to determine who will join both finalists as Olympic qualifiers.
Both Molinaro and Cox were able to navigate from No. 9 seeds to tournament champions at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials two weeks ago in Iowa City, Iowa. The Olympic Trials wins earned them right to wrestle for an Olympic berth in Mongolia.
This year’s Pan American Championships gold medalist, Molinaro is set to face Vietnamese World Team member Xuan Dinh Nguyen in the first round at 65 kg/143 lbs. tomorrow. Nguyen finished in eighth place at the Asian Olympic Games Qualification Tournament.
Cox, a two-time NCAA champion for Missouri, will open his first international competition at 86 kg/189 lbs. against the fifth place finisher at this year’s European Championships, Shamir Atyan of Armenia.
Complete brackets for the men’s freestyle competition in Mongolia, as well as a live webcast of the event, can be found at www.unitedworldwrestling.org.
The men’s freestyle competition will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday in Ulaanbaatar, 13 hours ahead of U.S. East Coast Time. This places the start of the tournament at 8 p.m. (ET) on Saturday night. Finals are slated for a 6 p.m. local/5 a.m. Eastern start in Mongolia.
1st OLYMPIC GAMES WORLD QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT
April 24 at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
U.S. men’s freestyle pairings
65 kg/143 lbs. – Frank Molinaro, State College, Pa. (Nittany Lion WC)
Vs. Xuan Dinh Nguyen (Vietnam), Eighth place at Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament
86 kg/189 lbs. – J’Den Cox, Columbia, Mo. (Missouri Wrestling Foundation)
Vs. Shamir Atyan (Armenia), Fifth place at European Championships
