Toronto, Pan American Games

U.S. Advances Three to Gold Medal Finals in Pan Am Games Wrestling

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)

#WrestleIstanbul

Wednesday's U17 World semifinals set

By Eric Olanowski

ISTANBUL, Turkiye (August 2) --- The third day of wrestling at the 2023 U17 World Championships welcomes women's wrestling action at 43kg, 49kg, 57kg, 65kg and 73kg. 

 The morning session, which starts at 11:00 (local time), will run through the quarterfinals before taking our mid-day break. We'll return at 17:00 for the semifinals, then roll directly into the final set of Greco-Roman medal bouts at 18:00.

Wednesday's opening session will feature 19 medalists from this year's continental champions, including seven wrestlers who reached the top of the podium at the 2023 Asian, European, African or Pan-American Championships.

Everything you need to know:
📍Istanbul, Turkiye 🇹🇷
🗓️: July 31-August 6
Qualification: 11:00
🥇🥈🥉= 18:00
#️⃣#WrestleIstanbul
🖥️: uww.org 
📱: UWW App

Here's a list of the reigning continental champs in action on Wednesday:
43kg  - Aleksandra BEREZOVSKAIA (AIN)
43kg -  Parveen PARVEEN (IND)
49kg -  Sviatlana KATENKA (AIN)
57kg  - Sabah KHAMIS (EGY)
57kg  - Neha NEHA (IND)
73kg  - Mouda HAMDOUN (EGY)
73kg -  Shiksha SHIKSHA (IND)

Wednesdays night's women's wrestling semifinals

43kg
Nilufar NURMUKHAMMADOVA (UZB) vs. Morgan Nicole TURNER (USA) 
Mona EZAKA (JPN) vs. Maria Louiza GKIKA (GRE) 

49kg
Rinka OGAWA (JPN) vs. Tana TIULIUSH (AIN) 
Sviatlana KATENKA (AIN) vs. Heather Marie CRULL (USA) 

57kg
Aziza KELDIBEKOVA (KGZ) vs. Eylem ENGIN (TUR) 
YeoJin MIN (KOR) vs. Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN) 

65kg
Chisato YOSHIDA (JPN) vs. Margarita SALNAZARIAN (AIN) 
Duygu GEN (TUR) vs. Maryia MAKARCHANKA (AIN) 

73kg
Aliaksandra KAZLOVA (AIN) vs. Piper Meredith FOWLER (USA) 
Lotta ENGLICH (GER) vs. Asaloy AMANGELDIEVA (UZB) 

Japanese score tracker: 68-10 (Record: 9-1 with five technical superiority wins and two falls)

13:30: That'll do it for our morning session. We'll see you back here at 17:00 for the women's wrestling semifinals, followed by the closing session of Greco-Roman action at 18:00.

13:26: Reigning U17 world champion Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN) punched her ticket to the 57kg semifinals with a hard-fought 7-4 win over 2023 U17 Asian champion Neha NEHA (IND).

13:02: Morgan Nicole TURNER (USA) at 43kg is someone to keep an eye on. She's picked up consecutive tech falls over Saadat GULIYEVA (AZE) and Alina MAZHAROUSKAYA (AIN). She awaits the winner of Yagmur KARABACAK (TUR) and Nilufar NURMUKHAMMADOVA (UZB).

12:59: Tack on two additional wins for Japan, as they improve to 7-1 in the morning session with back-to-back wins over Indian athletes.

12:42: Piper Meredith FOWLER (USA) takes out Ako UCHIYAMA (JPN), 6-0, at 73kg, handing Japan their first women's wrestling loss of the competition.

12:30: Despite falling to Elmira YASIN (TUR) in the opening round, Sarah RANDRIANANDRASANA (MAD) just became the first U17 wrestler--in women's wrestling, freestyle or Greco-Roman--to compete at the U17 World Championships.

12:23: Shiksha picked up two takedowns before planting Pupp on her back for the first-period fall. Next, she'll wrestle the winner of Sabina Nicoleta PETRACHE (ROU) and Margarita SALNAZARIAN (AIN).

12:05: Reigning U17 Asian gold medalist Shiksha SHIKSHA (IND) will wrestle last year's U15 European champion Viktoria PUPP (HUN) next on Mat C.

11:47: After the first three dominant Japanese performances, it looks like a score tracker is a must for the day. Thus far, they are 3-0 and have outscored their opponents 27-0--including two wins via technical superiority and one by fall.

11:36: The match between Ezaka and Berezovskaia was short-lived. The reigning U17 European champion was no match for the Japanese wrestlers, as Ezaka walked her way to a fall in 75 seconds after leading 6-0.

11:20: That does it for the repechage matches. We're rolling right into the qualification rounds for women's wrestling. The first star-studded match of the day that'll be up will take place on Mat B in three matches. Mona EZAKA (JPN), the reigning U17 world silver medalist, will square off against 2023 U17 European champion Aleksandra BEREZOVSKAIA (AIN).

11:00: Before we get into our women's wrestling matches, we'll start the morning off with Greco-Roman repechage matches to see who will compete in Wednesday night's medal matches.

10:45: We're 15 minutes from kicking off day three action in Istanbul.