Junior Worlds Reactions: Day 1, Men's Freestyle
Every American lands on the bottom half of their bracket on the first day of men’s freestyle.
Schedule | Brackets on FloArena | Entries | Ultimate Men's Freestyle Preview
50kg
Spencer Lee’s march toward his second junior world title starts with Engin Cetin (TUR), a silver medalist at this year’s Cadet European championships. He would then have the winner of South Africa and France; neither have particularly noteworthy credentials.
The quarterfinals should be Iowa commit’s first challenging match, as he will see Razvan Kovacs of Romania. Kovacs has enjoyed a strong year: bronze at last year’s Republic Cup, silver at this year’s junior Euros and gold at the Petko Sirakov.
The bottom quarter of his bracket is filled with credentialed athletes, which hopefully means the semifinals opponent has been through a few wars on his way to Lee. Two interesting first-round matchups feature a world bronze from Ukraine against a Euro bronze from Azerbaijan, as well as the Asian silver from India against last year’s world silver from Iran.
It seems likely that the quarters will come down to Aliabbas Rzazade (AZE) and Viktor Khan (RUS). Rzazade lost a nail-biter to Khan’s backup at Euros, but has a creative and devastating gut wrench that he used against Goodarzi, Lee’s finals opponent from last year. Khan is enormous for this weight, and one of the most calculated wrestlers in the bracket.
The Franklin Regional star has done nothing but dominate at 50kg the past two years, and there is no reason to think that will change this year. But his half presents some interesting challenges and has all of the top contenders. If he makes the finals, expect another quick tech and a third straight age-level gold medal.
74kg
Lee is not our only world champion wrestling tomorrow. Mark Hall as a very familiar opponent in his first-round match: 2014 Youth Olympic Games gold medalist Yajyuro Yamasaki (JPN). At the 2014 Cadet World Championships, Hall beat him 9-4 in the semifinals.
Last year, they wrestled in the first round at Junior Worlds, with Hall coming out on top 6-2. The big move there was a counter four when Hall was on the shot clock. He tried a leg attack, came to his feet with Yamasaki behind him, and chin-whipped him to the mat.
His next opponent would be either of two non-credentialed athletes from Ukraine or Kazakhstan. The quarters would likely be a battle with Euro bronze Lutfi Kucukyildirim, a Turk who was fifth at Cadet Worlds in 2014.
There are a host of formidable contenders in the bottom quarter. Included in that is Euro champion Murad Suleymanov, the Azeri that Hall pinned last year with an inside trip.
But Suleymanov has a brutal road to the semifinals, starting with a Euro bronze and then Carlos Izquierdo Mendez, the only Olympian in the field. We saw him battle Jordan Burroughs at the Pan Am championships in February. Also down there is 2014 cadet silver Georgiev (BUL).
60kg
Seth Gross has a very tough draw at 60kg, that starts with the same Turk he saw at 2012 Cadet Worlds. Selim Kozan took bronze that year and won Cadets the next year. He has continued to have success at this weight, going silver at junior Euros the last two years. If he is able to pull that upset, he’ll have gold-medal favorite Makhir Amiraslanov (AZE), last year’s 55kg world champion.
96kg
Kollin Moore starts his 96kg run with Emil Ashyrhziev (KGZ), who wrestled in 2014 Cadet Worlds at 100kg. He the runs into Russian Nationals champ Znaur Kotciev. Also in his quarter is Euro bronze Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov.