Defense won in end for Greco
Justin Ruiz could have been hearing the chants, “Defense, defense” in his head while he competed at the World Championships in Budapest.
For it was Ruiz’s ability to prevent his opponents from scoring that allowed the 26-year-old native of Salt Lake City, Utah, to earn his first World Championships medal — a bronze — in the Papp Lasxlo Sportarena, Oct. 2.
In Ruiz’s bronze medal victory over Margulan Assembekov of Kazakhstan and a first-round victory over Azat Erkimbaev of Kazakhstan, both opponents were disqualified after each received three cautions for illegal moves or not being able to score on Ruiz with a par terre advantage.
The disqualification in the bronze medal match came in the third period after Assembekov evened the match with a 1-1 victory in the second period.
“The rules are how things worked out for me, with three cautions and you are out,” said Ruiz, who did not allow a point to Assembekov in the entire match. “I think (Assembekov) didn’t know what was going on. He seemed happy to be on top in the third period. When he didn’t get the turn right away, he kind of stayed there. It was a slip on his part. I’ll take it.”
Ru
iz, whose only loss in Hungary was to Hungarian Lajos Viragm 4-0, 1-1, in the quarterfinals, provided the American’s only medal in Greco-Roman competition.“I feel great winning a world medal,” said Ruiz, who lost his Olympic team spot to Garrett Lowney in 2004. “I had a setback last year not making the Olympic team. It has been great here. In 2003, when I was on the world team, we didn’t get a medal. We got one this year. Hopefully, in the future, we get more.”
“The medal makes a big difference,” said U.S. coach Steve Fraser, who saw his team win just 8 of 16 matches in Budapest. “We want to be better. But considering how we started and with the new rules we are all learning, I’ll take one medal. We can leave here with our head high because of what Justin did. Our delegation can take pride in this achievement. We can leave with a shiny bronze medal. It is something to build upon.”
55K/121 pounds
Lindsey Durlacher (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) did not receive much Hungarian hospitality on the mat where he lost 5-0, 1-1 to Istvan Majoros of Hungary in a second-round match.
Majoros, who won Olympic gold for Hungary in 2004, scored all his points from the 30-second par terre positions. In the first period, the Hungarian scored a reversal and hold with one second remaining in the first 30 seconds, then scored on a two-point gut wrench with two seconds left after he had the par terre advantage.
Then in the second period, neither wrestler could score with a par terre advantage, including Durlacher who failed to turn Majoros in the final 30 seconds of the match.
“I got my confidence real high, going against the Olympic champion in his own country,” said the 31-year-old native of Evanston, Ill. “I knew it would be a dogfight. I didn’t get that done. I’m upset about that. I tried to force a few things against the Olympic champion. This is my first World Championships. I got overzealous a bit and it cost me.”
Unfortunately for Durlacher, who opened the Worlds with a 3-2, 5-1 victory over Italy’s Roberto Pira, he was eliminated from medal contention when Majoros lost a semifinal match to Park Eun-Chol of Korea.
“I knew I can wrestle at this level and in this arena,” Durlacher said. “I expected more from myself in that second match. I made little mental mistakes, first-time mistakes.”
60K/132 pounds
Also competing in his first World Championships, Joe Warren (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) provided plenty of excitement, especially in his first two matches when he defeated Luis Liendo of Venezuela, 9-5, 7-0 before pinning Eric Buisson of France 42 seconds into the second period.
Warren’s survived a wild match against Liendo. Warren had two cautions against him before he took the top position in the second period. Due to the new FILA rules, if Warren had not scored, he would have been disqualified from the match. Warren quickly released his reverse lock and applied a front headlock on Liendo, scoring three consecutive two-point rolls to win the period and the match 7-0.
The first period saw a lot of scoring and Warren sealed the period when he reversed Liendo to his back and held him for the count late in the period.
Prior to the pin of Buizzon, Warren, who won the first period 2-1, hit an explosive body lock near the edge of the mat for three points.
Those would be Warren’s final two victories as he first lost to two-time World University champion Ali Ashkani of Iran, 2-1, 7-0, in a quarterfinal bout before being eliminated by Vahan Juharyan of Armenia, 2-0, 1-1, in a consolation match.
In the first period against Ashkani, the Iranian scored at the 1:26 mark after escaping from par terre and earned a takedown when the two wrestlers scrambled for position. He earned an additional point at 1:30 when Warren was cautioned for failing to score from par terre. Warren scored a point at the end of the period when Ashkani also failed to score from par terre.
Meanwhile against Juharyan, the Armenian received a second point on a lift when Warren tried to earn an escape late in the first period. The second period was uneventful as each wrestler received a point and caution against them for failing to score from par terre. Because Juharyan scored the last point of the period, he was awarded the period and the match.
“I just embarrassed myself,” Warren said. “I wanted it worse than anything. It feels like the world came crashing down on me. You make a mistake in a big match and you lose. The second match (to Juharyan) I lost was pathetic.”
66K/145.5 pounds
Harry Lester (Akron, Ohio /USOEC /Gator WC) showed plenty of offense but struggled with his defense and could not hold off Eduard Kratz 5-3, 2-6, 5-1 in a first-round loss to the German.
In the first period, Lester jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a front headlock throw 24 seconds into the period. Kratz responded with a two-point reversal and exposure 1:22 into the period and received an additional point for the count to tie the match at 3-3. With Lester still winning the period because of his three-point score, Kratz scored the period winning points with a two-point gut wrench at the 1:42 mark.
Lester started the second period quickly, gaining a 5-0 lead with an out-of-bounds point and an explosive three-point body lock with a count. In a flurry of action late in the period, Kratz was able to score a two-point reversal with exposure followed by a point for Lester with a reversal of his own.
In the final period, Lester jumped out to a 1-0 lead when he drove Kratz out-of-bounds 26 seconds into the period. That would be the final scoring for Lester as Kratz scored five straight points from par terre to win the third period and secure the victory.
“I am disgusted with my performance,” said the 22-year-old Lester, who was eliminated from future matches when Kratz lost his next match to Yanyan Li of China. “People say it will be a learning experience for me. That is bull. This is just a tournament with a big name. I have to wrestle not just on my feet. I need to get better in par terre. After this, I will work my tail off, get better, in order to get here next year and be the world champion.”
74K/163 pounds
The new Greco rules were expected to help the normally explosive T.C. Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) at the World Championships but that meant little when he drew the defending Olympic champion Alexandr Dokturishvili of Uzbekistan in a first-round match.
The result was a 2-0, 2-0 victory by Dokturishvili and eventually an early departure from medal contention by Dantzler when the Olympic champ lost a quarterfinal match to Konstantin Schneider of Germany.
“I never got my lock,” said the 34-year-old Dantzler, competing in his third World Championships. “I couldn’t get my offense going on top. I never had the chance on top and that neutralized the match. I felt like once I got on top I could turn him. I got him tired. I neutralized him on the feet. On the mat it makes all the difference. It was my fault. Coming in, you know you have to beat the Olympic champion. I didn’t do it. I did not beat him.”
84K/185 pounds
Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) expected big things from himself considering the 28-year-old native of Howells, Neb., had finished fifth in the 2002 and 2003 World Championships and also competed in the 2004 Olympics.
Unfortunately, Vering’s time on the mat in Budapest lasted just over three minutes as Ntante Charempasvili of Greece pinned the American in 1:16 of the second period.
Vering also lost the first period 2-1 with the deciding point coming on a one-point gut wrench, setting up a critical second period for Vering. Instead the Greek made the most of his par terre advantage when he caught Vering in a three-point reverse lift and eventually scored a fall.
“Brad’s match was baffling,” said U.S. coach Steve Fraser. “It looked like his rhythm was off and he was a little tired. He sprained his LCL in training and this was the first time on the mat for him. The Greek hit two nice reverse lifts. The second one may have broken his rib. It wasn’t Brad’s day. This was tough to understand.”
Vering was then eliminated when Charempasvili lost a quarterfinal match to Sándor Bárdosi of Hungary.
96K/211.5 pounds
Justin Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) won four of five bouts in Budapest, including a 3-0, 0-5, 1-1 second-round victory over the Czech Republic’s Marek Svec who forced a third period when he caught Ruiz in five-point body lock from the par terre position.
After losing to Virag in a quarterfinal, Ruiz toughed out a 3-1, 2-0 consolation win over Shata Narmaniya of Belarus. At the midway point of the first period, Ruiz started on top in par terre and scored on an explosive three-point reverse body lock.
120K/264.5 pounds
There would not be another world championship for Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) this year; not after he lost a second-round match to Olympic silver medalist Georgiy Tsurtsumia of Kazakhstan, 3-1, 1-1.
And once Tsurtsumia lost a semifinal match to Mijail Lopez of Cuba, there would not be a medal for Byers (a world champion in 2002).
“I was undecided what I would do on the top,” said Byers in his loss to Tsurtsumia in which the American failed to score any offensive points. “I went for the reverse lift. I was in a great position for that. I sat there a second thinking; being a professor, not a doer. I waited too late and could not switch it on. I could tell he wanted a par terre game. I said that’s all right. I can do that.”
Byers opened the tournament with a 4-1, 1-0 victory over Rocco Daniele Ficara of Italy as the American scored four points off two takedowns and one gut wrench.
(This story was compiled from on-site reports from TheMat.com.)
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