Escobedo finishes fifth in first day of Worlds
Angel Escobedo, who lost to Obe Blanc in this year’s World Team Trials, made the most of a second chance to compete in the Worlds — after Blanc was declared ineligible — when the former NCAA champ from Indiana won three of five matches to claim fifth at 55k/121 pounds at the Papp Laszlo Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary, and the first day of competition at the 2013 FILA World Championships.
Otherwise, both Brent Metcalf (66k/145.5) and J.D. Bergman (96k/211.5) lost their only matches of the tournament and failed to place.
The 2013 Worlds will continue Tuesday morning — 6 a.m. CDT — with the following weights and U.S. wrestlers: 60 kg (Reece Humphrey), 84 kg (Keith Gavin) and 120 kg (Tervel Dlagnev)
2013 FILA World Championships
Budapest, Hungary
Day 1 – Sept. 16 – Highlights of American wrestlers
Men’s Freestyle
55k/121 pounds
Angel Escobedo, Columbus, Ohio
Angel Escobedo (left) led 1-0 in the first period of his bronze medal match to Turkey’s Sezar Akgul before losing 2-1. The former Indiana All-American finished 3-2 on the day in Hungary. (Photo by Bob Mayeri)
1st round — defeated Andrei Dukov (Romania), 6-0
2nd round – defeated Robert Kardos (Hungary), 8-0
Quarterfinal – lost to Amit Kumar (India), 6-0
Repechage — defeated Zoheir El Ourraqe (France), 8-2
Bronze Medal — lost to Sezar Akgul (Turkey), 2-1
Other medalists:
Gold — Hassan Rahimi (Iran) defeated Amit Kumar (India), 2-1
Bronze — Nariman Israpilov (Russia) def. Rassul Kaliyev (Kazahkstan), 7-0
Escobedo was leading his bronze medal match 1-0 before giving up a second-period takedown to the Turkish wrestler, who won a World silver medal in 2009.
Earlier in the day, Escobedo used three takedowns to beat Dukov, then needed just a minute before a takedown and several guts quickly ended his second-round victory over the home country wrestler from Hungary.
In his quarterfinal loss, Escobedo trailed just 1-0 after the first period — after being penalized for passivity — then gave up three takedowns to the eventual gold medalist. With Kumar earning a spot in the finals, that send Escobedo to the repechage (wrestlebacks), where he used two takedowns in the first period to lead 4-2 before two more takedowns preserved his win over El Ourraqe.
Note — Obe Blanc, who defeated Escobedo in the World Team Trials in June, was supposed to compete at the Worlds but withdrew after testing positive for a banned substance.
According to a USA Wrestling release, Blanc has reported that he did not knowingly consume anything which contained a banned substance.
“I am very frustrated and disappointed that I am unable to represent the United States at the World Championships,” said Blanc, the former NCAA All-American from Lock Haven and Oklahoma State. “However, I have confidence that Angel Escobedo will represent our nation very well. I understand and respect the drug testing process and am working to resolve my case. I hope to be able to return to competition as soon as possible.”
66k/145.5 pounds
Brent Metcalf, Iowa City, Iowa
1st round – lost to Mehdi Taghavi (Iran), 5-2
Brent Metcalf (left) is now 0-2 in the two World Championships in which he competed. (Bob Mayeri image)
The two-time former World champion from Iran jumped on top 3-0 when his double leg of Metcalf also put the American on his back for an exposure point midway through the first period. Metcalf, the former two-time NCAA champ from Iowa, got on the board when his single attempt pushed Taghavi off the mat. The Iranian built his lead to 5-1 with a double leg before Metcalf’s final point came off a passivity call against Taghavi.
Metcalf was eliminated from bronze medal opportunity when Kermani lost to A. Kontoyev of Belarus in the 2nd round.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy3tSC0RKcs&feature=youtube_gdata
Medalists
Gold — Devid Safaryan (Armenia) defeated Livan Lopez (Cuba), 2-2 (criteria)
Bronze — Magomed Kubanaliev (Russia) defeated Levan Khabalashvili (Georgia), 7-5
Bronze — Mandakhnaran Ganzorig (Mongolia) defeated Jin Hyok Kang (North Korea), 3-1
Note: With Metcalf’s loss, the U.S. has now lost eight straight matches at this weight class over six years. The last time an American wrestler won a match at this weight at either a World or Olympic tournament was in 2007 when Doug Schwab defeated Buyanjav Batzorig (Mongolia), 3-2, 1-0, en route to claiming fifth in Baku, Azerbaijan; Since then, Schwab lost his final bout in 2007 Worlds before going 0-2 in the 2008 Olympics, Trent Paulson was 0-1 in 2009 Worlds, Metcalf was 0-1 in 2010 Worlds, Teyon Ware was 0-1 in 2011 Worlds and Jared Frayer was 0-1 in 2012 Olympics.
• Bulgaria’s Boris Novachkov, a past NCAA runner-up for Cal Poly, dropped a first-round decision to Japan’s Takahiro Inoue at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. The match finished with a 5-5 score, but Inoue won on a tiebreaker.
96k/211.5 pounds
J.D. Bergman, Columbus, Ohio
J.D. Bergman was leading 3-0 before Alexey Krupnyakov of Kyrgyzstan used a double overhook to take him to his back and score a fall in 3:58. (Bob Mayeri image)
1st round — lost by fall to Alexey Krupnyakov (Kyrgyzstan), 3:58
Bergman, the former Ohio State All-American and two-time World-team wrestler was leading 3-0 when Krupnyakov fought off a single and double underhook by the American and used a double overhook to take Bergman to the mat at the 3:40 mark and pinned him 18 seconds later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnquOSEMj-U
Bergman was eliminated when Krupnyakov lost his quarterfinal match to Khetag Gazyumov (Azerbaijan)
“I probably could’ve played defense the rest of the match and been totally fine because he didn’t have much offense,” Bergman told the Mat.com. “I’ve been in that position for the whole summer with a bear hug and pushing guys to the edge. I wanted him to try something like that and make a mistake, but it didn’t work out that way. It’s extremely unfortunate when I clearly felt I was in control of the match. I didn’t think I was in as much danger as I clearly was.”
Medalists
Gold — Reza Yazdani (Iran) defeated Khetag Gazyumov (Azerbaijan), 4-2
Bronze — Anzor Boltukaev (Russia) defeated Alexey Krupnyakov (Kyrgyzstan), 8-5
Bronze — Pavlo Oliinyk (Ukraine) defeated Dato Kerashvili (Georgia), 9-2
