U.S. Advances Three to Gold Medal Finals in Pan Am Games Wrestling
Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 21:44 By William May
TORONTO, Canada (July 14) – World bronze medalist Andrew BISEK (USA) notched a pair of one-sided wins in the opening session of Greco-Roman wrestling at the Pan American Games on Wednesday while leading a trio of 2014 Pan American finalists into the evening’s gold medal bouts.
Bisek stopped Juan ESCOBAR (MEX) by technical fall in the semifinals at 75kg to advance to the championship match against Alvis ALMENDRA (PAN), who finished seventh at the Pan American championships in April.
Bisek, last year’s winner at the Pan American championships, will be joined by fellow Pan American champ Jon ANDERSON (85kg) and 2014 silver medalist Bryce SADDORIS (66kg).
Saddoris will square off with Wuileixis RIVAS (VEN), the Pan American champ last year at 71kg, while Anderson is slated to meet Querys PEREZ (VEN) in the evening’s finale at 85kg. Rivas reached the 66kg final with a 2-1 win over last year’s Pan Am champ Miguel MARTINEZ (CUB).
For the Cubans, the opening session was a disaster as three-time Pan Am champ Ismael BORRERO (CUB) fell to Spenser MANGO (USA), 3-3, on a last-second force-out in the 59kg quarterfinals.
At the same time, Alan VERA (CUB) was stunned early in the semifinals with a duck-behind to back-arching throw by Anderson, who rolled into the gold medal final with an 8-0 technical fall.
In the first gold medal final of the evening at 59kg, 2013 Pan Am bronze medalist Ali SOTO (MEX) will square off with 2012 silver medal winner Andres MONTANO (ECU).
Montano advanced to the final with a 9-1 win over Mango, countering the U.S. wrestler’s front headlock with a duck-under and short back arch that dropped Mango on his back for four points.
Greco-Roman
59kg
GOLD: Ali SOTO (MEX) v Andres MONTANO (ECU)
BRONZE: Dylan WILLIAMS (CAN) v Cristobal TORRES (CHI)
BRONZE: Jansel RAMIREZ (DOM) v Spenser MANGO (USA)
66kg
GOLD: Wuileixis RIVAS (VEN) v Bryce SADDORIS (USA)
BRONZE: Jair Alexis CUERO (COL) v Miguel MARTINEZ (CUB)
BRONZE: Mario MOLINA (PER) v Jefrin MEJIA (HON)
75kg
GOLD: Alvis ALMENDRA (PAN) v Andrew BISEK (USA)
BRONZE: Maximiliano PRUDENZANO (ARG) v Carlos MUNOZ (COL)
BRONZE: Luis AVENDANO (VEN) v Juan ESCOBAR (MEX)
85kg
GOLD: Querys PEREZ (VEN) v Jon ANDERSON (USA)
BRONZE: Alfonso LEYVA (MEX) v Cristian MOSQUERA (COL)
BRONZE: Oscar MARTINEZ (HON) v Alan VERA (CUB)
Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG) will be looking to earn a Paris spot for Algeria in GR 60kg. (Photo: UWW / Bayrem Ben Mrad)
Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) will lead a strong Nigerian team for the qualifiers. (Photo: UWW / Amirreza Aliasgari)
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