Toronto, Pan Am Games

Lopez Wins Fourth, Silva Gets First Gold for Brazil in Pan Am Games

Friday, July 17, 2015 - 03:56 By William May

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TORONTO, Canada (July 16) – Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) won his fourth wrestling gold medal at the Pan American Games on Thursday and Joice SILVA (BRA) improved on her bronze medal from four years ago by bagging Brazil’s first wrestling gold medal in the history of the Games.

For Lopez, who cruised into the 130kg final on two technical falls in the afternoon session, it was business as usual as he rolled up Andres AYUB (CHI) with a pair of takedowns and turns for a third technical fall in the evening and the gold medal.

With the triumph, Lopez joins fellow Greco-Roman greats Hector MILIAN (CUB) and Juan MAREN (CUB) as the only wrestlers, thus far, to achieve the feat at the Pan American Games.

Silva, meanwhile, battled throughout the first day of women’s events at Mississauga Sports Center, coming from behind to win three bouts at 58kg by a margin of four points for the gold medal.

In Thursday evening’s finale, Silva surrendered a four-point takedown to 2013 Pan American championships winner Yakeline ESTORNELL (CUB) early, but battled back to narrow the deficit to 5-4 by the break.

A late takedown that landed out of bounds in the second period knotted the score for Silva and a penalty point made it 6-5 for the jubilant Silva and the Brazilian fans in the arena.

Earlier in the evening, Yasmany LUGO (CUB) cranked Pan American junior champ Kevin MEJIA (HON) over with a windmill throw and pressed for the fall in the 98kg final to claim his first Games crown.

Lugo and Lopez gave Cuba its only gold medals of the Greco-Roman competition after being held to two bronze medals the previous day. The two gold medals lifted Cuba to second in the final Greco-Roman team rankings with 40 points, nine points behind the United States with two gold medals, a silver and two bronze.

Women’s wrestling also got under way with reigning Pan American championships winner Genevieve MORRISON (CAN) racing out to a 4-0 lead, then holding on to a 5-4 victory over Thalia MALLQUI (PER) for the gold medal.

Despite the loss, Mallqui’s silver medal was the best finish yet for Peru in women’s wrestling.

At 53kg, Whitney CONDER (USA) came out on top of a scramble in the first period and with the help of a penalty point in the second period, fashioned a 3-2 win over Alma VALENCIA (MEX). Valencia’s silver medal was the first medal in women’s wrestling at the Games.

Thursday’s Medal Match Results
Greco-Roman - 98kg
GOLD: Yasmany LUGO (CUB) df. Kevin MEJIA (HON) by Fall
BRONZE: Luillys PEREZ (VEN) df. Jose ROCHA (MEX), 4-0
BRONZE: Davi ALBINO (BRA) df. Oscar LOANGO (COL), 5-1

Greco-Roman - 130kg
GOLD: Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) df. Andres AYUB (CHI) by TF, 8-0
BRONZE: Josue ENCARNACION (DOM) df. Charles THOMS (CAN), 2-0
BRONZE: Robby SMITH (USA) df. Moises PEREZ (VEN) by Default

Women’s Wrestling - 48kg
GOLD: Genevieve MORRISON (CAN) df. Thalia MALLQUI (PER), 5-4
BRONZE: Alyssa LAMPE (USA) df. Yusnelis GUZMAN (CUB) by TF, 12-2
BRONZE: Carolina CASTILLO (COL) df. Angelica BUSTOS (ECU), 1-1

Women’s Wrestling - 53kg
GOLD: Whitney CONDER (USA) df. Alma VALENCIA (MEX), 3-2
BRONZE: Yamilka DEL VALLE (CUB) – uncontested
BRONZE: Betzabeth ARGUELLO (VEN) df. Luisa VALVERDE (ECU) by Fall

Women’s Wrestling - 58kg
GOLD: Joice SILVA (BRA) df. Yakelin ESTORNELL (CUB), 6-5
BRONZE: Lissette ANTES (ECU) df. Sandra ROA (COL) by TF, 12-1
BRONZE: Yanet SOVERO (PER) df. Alejandra ROMERO (MEX), 6-6 

#WrestleBudapest

Yazdani: 'I was 60 percent fit in Budapest, want to win Olympic gold'

Saturday, June 8, 2024 - 13:05 By Vinay Siwach

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (June 8) -- Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) returned to the mat for the first time in eight months. After winning the Asian Games, Yazdani underwent shoulder surgery and returned to training only a month ago. The selection process for the Paris Olympics needed him to participate in the Ranking Series in Budapest to prove his fitness.

Yazdani wrestled like he was never away. Yazdani ended a long day with a 12-2 win over Trent HIDLAY (USA), his fourth win via technical superiority in as many bouts.

"I thank God that I was able to get on the mat in international competitions after seven months and 13 days," Yazdani said. "I started wrestling training a month ago and, it was good. With my relative preparation, I tried to get an acceptable result in this course of competition."

Yazdani said that he still needs to work on a few of his weaknesses which were exposed in the tournament. Yazdani gave up six points in his four matches and was stuck in a danger position a couple of times.

"I had a little preparation and it was around 60 percent," he said. "I hadn’t wrestled for a long time and when they announced my name for this tournament, I had about 25 days to train and it got better as time passed. When you’re not ready, you may face problems. My opponents used this opportunity and scored some points on me."

"I have some weaknesses that I hope I can fix before the Olympics so that I can wrestle better than these competitions and get the gold medal. I hope that until the Olympics, I can eliminate my weaknesses so I can win the best medal for my country and our good people."

For his return to the mat, Yazdani expressed his gratitude to several individuals but was grateful for the support from his family.

"I want to thank all those who have been by my side during this time," he said. "Dr. Rezaei, my physiotherapist and also Samereh Ghanbari as they didn’t leave me alone during this time. Dr. Aslani, my doctor and Javad Rahmani, my bodybuilding coach, and of course, my old coach Mehdi Yegane Jafari, who was by my side during these difficult days after the shoulder surgery. My family has its own place but these loved ones contribute to winning this medal and the Olympics medal. So far everything has been successful, I hope we can get the best result in the future.

RESULTS

Freestyle

74kg
GOLD: Razambek JAMALOV (UZB) df. Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN), 7-4

BRONZE: Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ) df. Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB), via inj. def.
BRONZE: Ali Abbas REZAEI (IRI) df. Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO), 5-3

86kg
GOLD: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) df. Trent HIDLAY (USA), 12-2

BRONZE: Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN) df. Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ), 5-1
BRONZE: Evsem SHVELIDZE (GEO) df. Bobur ISLOMOV (UZB), 7-3

92kg
GOLD: Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO)
SILVER: Iuza TSERTSVADZE (GEO)
BRONZE: Balasz JUHASZ (HUN)