Olympic Champion Borrero Wows Home Crowd To Make Granma Cup Finals

Sunday, February 18, 2018 - 03:10 By

HAVANA, Cuba – The heavy hitters emerged as day one of the Granma Cup Greco-Roman scrap came to a close on Saturday evening in Cuba’s illustrious capitol city.

Havana raved the return of its Olympic champion, Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB), who competed in front of his home-country crowd for the first time since the Rio Games.

Competing eight kilograms above the weight class in which he won his Olympic gold medal, Borrero Molina navigated his way through three bouts to qualify for tomorrow afternoon’s final at 67kg.

He tackled a pair of countrymen to kick off his day, downing Damian CRISTIAN (CUB), 5-1, and Miquel MARTINEZ (CUB), 3-2. Hitting his stride in round three, Borrero Molina executed a sweeping five-point arm throw to pin Alejandro SANCHO (USA) in just over one minute.

Borrero Molina, also a 2015 world champion, will rematch against Martinez for the gold medal.

Three additional finals feature two competitors from the host nation of Cuba. None are larger than the 130kg final pitting 2016 Olympic silver medalist Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (CUB) opposite 2017 world bronze medalist Oscar PINO HANDS (CUB).

Both heavyweight combatants went unscored upon throughout the day, with each grabbing two individual victories. Pino Hinds earned the tougher win of the two by edging 2017 European silver medalist Balint LAM (HUN) in the semifinals, 3-0.

The past two years Lugo Cabrera and Pino Hinds have been Cuban teammates at the Pan American Championships. Both earned gold on each occasion. In fact, Lugo Cabrera has amassed a whopping seven Pan American titles dating back to 2009.

The remaining Cuba-on-Cuba finals come at 60kg between Luis ORTA (CUB) and two-time Pan American champion Javier DUMENIGO (CUB), and at 63kg with Joy MAREN (CUB) and Janier ALMENARES (CUB) earning the nod.

The 87kg final will be a rematch of the Grand Prix of Zagreb final held two weeks ago in Croatia. Two-time world bronze medalist and reigning European champion Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) and U23 world champion Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) are slated to meet in an all-Hungarian final tussle once more. Lorincz won the latest battle between the two top-tier talents.

A highly-anticipated Hungary-Cuba showdown will take place at 72kg, with 2016 world champion Balint KORPASI (HUN) meeting two-time defending Granma Cup champion Yosvani PENA (CUB) for the gold.

The electric junior world champion from the United States, Kamal BEY (USA), downed two of last year’s Pan American medalists to secure a berth in the 77kg finals against Ariel FIZ (CUB).

Two-time Pan American bronze medalist Luigi PEREZ (VENEZUELA) will be challenged by Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) in the 97kg final contest.

The 82kg weight class featured a four-man round-robin, therefore will not have a designated gold-medal match. The last bout scheduled to be wrestled in this bracket comes with 2016 world bronze medalist Lazlo SZABO (HUN) facing Antonio DURAN (CUB). Should Szabo take this bout, he will be named champion.

Of note, Szabo won a tight, 2-0 bout over 2014 world champion Peter BACSI (HUN) in the opening round of the day. Bacsi is positioned to win the silver medal if Szabo holds serve tomorrow.

The Greco-Roman medal matches at the Granma Cup will take place at 2 p.m. (ET) on Sunday. Complete results and a live stream of the event can be found at unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS: http://uww.io/NQ6AU

MEDAL MATCHES

60kg

Gold – Luis ORTA (CUB) vs. Javier DUMENIGO (CUB)

Bronze – Andrej GINC (GER) vs. Dalton ROBERTS (USA

67kg

Gold – Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (Cuba) vs. Miquel MARTINEZ (Cuba)

Bronze – Alejandro SANCHO (United States) vs. Wilexys RIVAS (Venezuela)

72kg

Gold – Balint KORPASI (Hungary) vs. Yosvani PENA (Cuba)

Bronze – Anthony SANDER (Germany) vs. Logan KASS (United States)

77kg

Gold – Ariel FIZ (Cuba) vs. Kamal BEY (United States)

Bronze – Juan ESCOBAR (Mexico) vs. Luis AVENDANO (Venezuela)

87kg

Gold – Erik SZILVASSY (Hungary) vs. Viktor LORINCZ (Hungary)

Bronze – Friedrich FOUDA (Germany) vs. Geovanis CARRERAS (Cuba)

Bronze – Kevin RADFORD (United States) vs. Daniel GREGORYCH (Cuba)

97kg

Gold – Luigi PEREZ (Venezuela) vs. Gabriel ROSILLO (Cuba)

Bronze – Monteaqudo REINIER (Cuba) vs. Hayden ZILLMER (United States)

Bronze – Kevin MEJIA (Honduras) vs. Pablo REINIER (Cuba)

130kg

Gold – Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (Cuba) vs. Oscar PINO HINDS (Cuba)

Bronze – Diego ALMENDRA (Chile) vs. Balint LAM (Hungary)

Bronze – Eduardo MORRELL (Puerto Rico) vs. Franz RICHTER (Germany)

#WrestleSamokov

U20 Worlds: Japan gets 2 more finalists, Kajal stuns Robinson

Thursday, August 21, 2025 - 14:50 By Vinay Siwach

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 21) -- Two-time World U20 silver medalist Audrey JIMENEZ (USA) earned herself a chance to finally win the gold medal as she reached the final for the third time at 50kg in Samokov on Thursday.

The U.S. wrestler scored three technical superiority wins in three bouts to reach the final in which she will take on 2023 world U17 champion Rinka OGAWA (JPN) also looks in good form.

In the semifinals, Jimenez used her leg-lace to good effect and humbled Diana RYSOVA (UKR), 14-3. Ogawa also used the leg-lace to beat SHRUTI (IND), 10-0.

Jimenez had reached the final in 2022 but lost to Umi ITO (JPN) and then in 2023, she lost to Yanrong LI (CHN) to finish with a silver medal. She also has a silver medal from World U23 Championships after dropping the final against Ito again.

Japan got its second finalist on Thursday when Natsumi MASUDA (JPN) pinned Abigale COOPER (USA) after building a 9-0 lead. She will now wrestle for gold against European U20 champion Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR) who leg-laced SAARIKA (IND) for a 10-0 win.

At 72kg, Asian U20 champion and world U17 silver medalist this year KAJAL (IND) stunned defending champion Jasmine ROBINSON (USA) in a wild semifinal. Robinson got the first takedown and exposure for a 4-0 lead. But Kajal scored a takedown and turned Robinson in the same sequence. The U.S. challenged the second turn but it was given two points as Kajal took a 5-4 lead.

There was no turning back for the Indian from that as she scored two four-point throws and two takedowns in her 13-6 win over Robinson.

Kajal now chance the challenge of returning silver medalist Yuqi LIU (CHN) who dominated her semifinal against Haticenur SARI (TUR) and won 13-2. Liu will look to her upgrade silver from last year to gold.

Yurik MKHITARYAN (ARM) reached the 60kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Greco-Roman action also began at the World U20 Championships Samokov on Thursday with two weight classes -- 60kg and 82kg.

Two 18-year-olds reached the 60kg final in Greco-Roman as European U20 champion Aykhan JAVADOV (AZE) and Yurik MKHITARYAN (ARM) won their respective semifinals in dominant fashion.

Javadov was wrestling senior European bronze medalist Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO) and scored a headlock for four and kept Lolua on the mat for a fall. This was Javadov's third win over Lolua in four encounters.

The 2024 world U17 champion will now face Mkhitaryan who gut-wrenched SURAJ (IND) after a headlock throw for four and win 8-0. India challenged the decision but lost it to add one more point to his score.

At 82kg, a potential rematch from 2023 World U17 Championships final was denied after Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN) lost his semifinal at 82kg to Asian U20 champion Dias SEITKALIYEV (KAZ).

Yoshida, a returning bronze medalist, was put in par terre in the first period and Seitkaliyev hit suplex for four before turning Yoshida twice to win 9-0.

In the other semifinal, European U20 champion Mikhail SHKARIN (UWW) blanked Martik PETROSYAN (ARM), 9-0. Shkarin had lost to Yoshida in Istanbul and finished with a silver medal.

RESULTS

Women's Wrestling

50kg
GOLD: Audrey JIMENEZ (USA) vs. Rinka OGAWA (JPN)

SF 1: Audrey JIMENEZ (USA) df. Diana RYSOVA (UKR), 14-3
SF 2: Rinka OGAWA (JPN) df. SHRUTI (IND), 10-0

53kg
GOLD: Natsumi MASUDA (JPN) vs. Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR)

SF 1: Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR) df. SAARIKA (IND), 10-0
SF 2: Natsumi MASUDA (JPN) df. Abigale COOPER (USA), via fall

72kg
GOLD: Yuqi LIU (CHN) vs. KAJAL (IND)

SF 1: Yuqi LIU (CHN) df. Haticenur SARI (TUR), 13-2
SF 2: KAJAL (IND) df. Jasmine ROBINSON (USA), 13-6

Greco-Roman

60kg
GOLD: Aykhan JAVADOV (AZE) vs. Yurik MKHITARYAN (ARM)

SF 1: Aykhan JAVADOV (AZE) df. Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO), via fall
SF 2: Yurik MKHITARYAN (ARM) df. SURAJ (IND), 9-0

82kg
GOLD: Mikhail SHKARIN (UWW) vs. Dias SEITKALIYEV (KAZ)

SF 1: Dias SEITKALIYEV (KAZ) df. Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN), 9-0
SF 2: Mikhail SHKARIN (UWW) df. Martik PETROSYAN (ARM), 9-0

Olympic Champion Borrero Wows Home Crowd To Make Granma Cup Finals

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U20 Worlds: Japan gets 2 more finalists, Kajal stuns Robinson