Lima

Surprises Abound Friday Morning at Pan Ams

Friday, May 4, 2018 - 20:14 By Taylor Miller

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LIMA (May 4) – Friday morning’s session of the 2018 Pan American Championships wrapped up with a few surprises as 2017 Junior World champion Kamal BEY (USA) was knocked out of the competition when he suffered a broken rib in his first round of action at 77 kg.

Bey was going back and forth with two-time Pan American silver medalist Jair CUERO MUNOZ (COL) when the setback occurred. Bey was then forced to medical forfeit out of the tournament.

Cuero moved on to the finals at 77 kg and will do battle with 2018 Central American and Caribbean Championships gold medalist Ariel FIS (CUB).

Other notable happenings from Friday morning included 2017 World bronze medalist Becka LEATHERS (USA) sealing a gold medal at 55 kg after she defeated the other two competitors in the field, Lady MORAN VALENZUELA (ECU) and Cara NANIA (CAN). It is her second-consecutive Pan Am title.

Moran Valenzuela and Nania will wrestle for silver tonight.

Also already securing a gold medal is Luis AVENDANO ROJAS (VEN), who has posted a 3-0 record at 82 kg in Greco, so far. Earlier in the day, he defeated the only 3-1 wrestler in the field, Geordan Speiller, a 2016 Pan Am champion, with an 8-0 tech fall.

At 87 kg, the third Greco weight of the day, past Pan American medalists Yorgen COVA PULIDO (VEN) and Daniel GREGORICH (CUB) sailed to the finals and will face each other tonight for the crown.

Gregorich defeated Ben PROVISOR (USA) in a rematch of last year’s Pan Am finals. Their last meeting ended in a 2-2 decision for Provisor. Not only did Gregorich flip the result but he also widened the gap, picking up a 9-0 technical fall.

On the women’s side, Andribeth RIVERA (PUR) knocked off two-time Pan American champion and 2012 Olympian Kelsey CAMPBELL (USA) with an decisive 10-4 win to put herself in position for gold at 59 kg, which is also a round robin weight.

Rivera will face off against Laurence BEAUREGARD (CAN) for the top prize in tonight’s session.

There were no matches wrestled at 65 kg in women’s freestyle as there are only two competitors in the bracket, counting 2017 Pan Am bronze winner Forrest MOLINARI (USA) and three-time University World medalist Breanne GRAHAM (CAN). The two will go head to head tonight for gold.

The final round of 72 kg competition will be contested tonight with three in the hunt for the top of the podium. Veronica KEEFE (CAN) leads the pack with a 2-0 record so far. She will take on Diana CRUZ ARROYO (PER), who is 1-1, suffering a loss to Josselyn PORTILLO MEJIA (ESA), who is also 1-1 on the day. Portillo Mejia will meet up with Hannah GLADDEN (USA) tonight.

The finals are set for 7 p.m. ET and can be watched live on unitedworldwrestling.org.

FINALS MATCH UPS

GRECO-ROMAN

77 kg
GOLD - Ariel FIS BATISTA (CUB) vs. Jair Alexis CUERO MUNOZ (COL)
BRONZE - Francisco Albano BARRIO (ARG) vs. Angelo Rafael MARQUES MOREIRA (BRA)
BRONZE - Reinier JIMENEZ TERRY (GUA) vs. Johan Antonio BATISTA (DOM)

82 kg
ROUND 5 - Brayden William AMBO (CAN) vs. Luis Eduardo AVENDANO ROJAS (VEN)
ROUND 5 - Carlos Moises ESPINOZA CASTRO (PER) vs. Adil Hendresson BARROS MACHADO (BRA)

87 kg
GOLD - Yorgen Jose COVA PULIDO (VEN) vs. Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB)
BRONZE - Alfonso Antonio LEYVA YEPEZ (MEX) vs. Benjamin Errol PROVISOR (USA)
BRONZE - Phillip Raweriio BARREIRO (CAN) vs. Carlos Alberto ADAMES PALMER (DOM)

WOMEN’S FREESTYLE

55 kg
ROUND 3 - Lady Raysa MORAN VALENZUELA (ECU) vs. Cara Gail NANIA (CAN)

59 kg
ROUND 3 - Andribeth RIVERA BELLIARD (PUR) vs. Laurence BEAUREGARD (CAN)
ROUND 3 - Karoline SILVA DE SANTANA (BRA) vs. Kelsey Rene CAMPBELL (USA)

65 kg
GOLD - Breanne Leigh GRAHAM (CAN) vs. Forrest Ann MOLINARI (USA)

72 kg
ROUND 3 - Veronica Helen Frances KEEFE (CAN) vs. Diana Luisa Victoria CRUZ ARROYO (PER)
ROUND 3 - Josselyn Tatiana PORTILLO MEJIA (ESA) vs. Hannah La Shae GLADDEN (USA)

#WrestleZagreb

In 68kg debut, Blades suplexes her way to gold

Saturday, February 8, 2025 - 06:55 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (February 8) -- Kennedy BLADES (USA) may have changed her weight class but there was no change in her style. Wrestling at 68kg, down from 76kg in which she won the Paris Olympics silver medal, Blades won the gold medal at Zagreb Open Ranking Series on Friday.

READ MORE: Blades shines, Jafarov injured

In a round-robin bracket which had four bouts for each wrestler, Blades was a notch above the rest as she secured two falls and two victory via superiority with none of the four bouts going to the second period.

Blades had moved from 76kg to 68kg for this tournament and is expected to remain at this weight class for the Los Angeles Olympic cycle.

"I feel really good," Blades said about the weight cut. "I ate the night so I'm just happy that I have a lot of energy still, and I was able to use my power, even though same day weigh-in. I'm feeling great."

Kennedy BLADES (USA)Kennedy BLADES (USA) completes a suplex over Karolina POK (HUN). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Blades began the day with a fall over Kendra DACHER (FRA) and another over world bronze medalist Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE) before Noémi SZABADOS (HUN) became the victim of her pace. Blades' moment of the day came in the Round 5 in the evening session when she launched a near-perfect suplex against Karolina POK (HUN). She was awarded five points for the suplex.

"I feel like a lot of people overlook wrestling," she said. "So I just want to make it as exciting as possible, and if I can do a big move or make it like, oh, then I just go for the big move."

The move over Pok reminded wrestling fans of the beautiful suplex Blades performed over Catalina AXENTE (ROU) at the Paris Olympics in the first bout itself. Blades went on to win the silver medal, and five months later she has captured her first Ranking Series gold medal using the same move.

"I've just been with my college team at University of Iowa," she said. "After Olympics, I only took about two weeks off because I was like I have college season. So I eased into it. I've just been competing and training hard and I just feel very prepared for what's to come."

At 68kg, Amit ELOR (USA) is the Olympic champion but with a new Olympic cycle, it is expected that she will be at 72kg before moving around to decide which weight class is beneficial for her. Blades hinted she will remain at 68kg for the World Championships.

"Honestly, I'm still deciding what I want to do," Blades said. "But I just feel really good at this whole tournament. I know it was plus two kilos, but I mean, I weighed like 68.9kg and I was like hydrated. So I'm like I'm fine. We'll see. I feel like it might be the move, so I just have to talk to my coaches, I'm going to figure some things out."

The U.S. won another gold medal at 62kg as Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA) won three bouts in the round-robin bracket, keeping a clean slate.

Nwachukwu was in trouble of finishing second as former world champion Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL) was winning 2-0 with less than 20 seconds left. However, Nwachukwu got a takedown and a turn to win the bout and confirm her gold medal.

In an all Azerbaijan final at 59kg, Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE) defeated Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE), 4-2, winning the gold medal.

Greco-Roman also began on Friday and Iran had a forgetful day in office. Treating the Zagreb Open as a trial for the Asian Championships, Iran had brought multiple wrestlers in various categories.

But it failed to win gold medal in the two Greco-Roman weight classes in action on Friday and drew a blank at 67kg.

U20 world champion Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI) dropped his semifinal against Valentin PETIC (MDA) 6-1 and then lost his bronze medal bout. Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR) stopped Mohammadreza GHOLAMI (IRI), 10-1, in the other semifinal.

Joergensen capped off his day with a stunning 9-1 win over Petic in the 67kg to win the gold medal.

At 63kg, U23 world silver medalist Dinislam BAMMATOV (AIN) dominated the field and defeated Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI), via fall in the final to win the gold medal.

RESULTS

Women's Wrestling

59kg
GOLD: Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE) df. Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE), 4-2

BRONZE: Micheala BECK (USA) df. Mariana CHERDIVARA (MDA), via inj. def.

62kg
GOLD: Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA)
SILVER: Amina TANDELOVA (AIN)
BRONZE: Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)

65kg
GOLD: Dinara KUDAEVA (AIN)
SILVER: Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
BRONZE: Elizaveta PETLIAKOVA (AIN)

68kg
GOLD: Kennedy BLADES (USA)
SILVER: Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)
BRONZE: Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)

Greco-Roman

63kg
GOLD: Dinislam BAMMATOV (AIN) df. Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI), via fall (10-0)

BRONZE: Ellis COLEMAN (USA) df. Ziya BABASHOV (AZE), 5-3
BRONZE: AYTJAN KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) df. Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB), 5-4

67kg
GOLD: Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR) df. Valentin PETIC (MDA), 9-1

BRONZE: Razvan ARNAUT (ROU) df. Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI), 5-0
BRONZE: Dominik ETLINGER (CRO) df. Mohammadreza GHOLAMI (IRI), 10-1