Day II Draws At Cadet Worlds

Day II Draws At Cadet Worlds

Five more U.S. wrestlers have their opening bouts set at the Cadet World Championships

Jul 29, 2019 by Willie Saylor
Day II Draws At Cadet Worlds
While the first flight of US freestylers were in action on Monday, five more U.S. wrestlers have their opening bouts set at the Cadet World Championships.

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While the first flight of US freestylers were in action on Monday, five more U.S. wrestlers have their opening bouts set at the Cadet World Championships.

Stevo Poulin, Robert Howard, and Clayton Ulrey are in repechage Tuesday looking for Bronze. Ryan Sokol (1-1) and Hunter Catka (0-1) have been eliminated.

Our  next five guys include two returning medalists in Richie Figueroa and Alex Facundo. We'll take a look at their paths here. 


45KG - Marc-Anthony McGowan, FL

Opening Bout - Sujad Annikeri (IND)

Annikeri was Bronze at this year's Asians where Ali Firouz (IRI), who is in the bottom bracket, was the champ.

Also in McGowan's Half - Win in the first round and the path looks very managable. The second bout offers a very winnable match with either Harutunyan (ARM) who was 5th at Euro U15's or Kikkuchi (JPN) who is making his UWW debut. No other credentialed wrestler resides up top.

Bottom Half - It's brutal down below. Russia's Vladimir Gienko won U15 a couple years ago. So he's seasoned. His first round match is against his finals opponent from that U15 title - Artur Voitovich (UKR). 

Euro Youth Games Champ and Euro Cadet Runner-Up Murad Hagverdiev (AZE) will meet the winner of the above. And Firouz is awaiting in the bottom quarter. 


51KG - Richie Figueroa, CA

Opening Bout - Ato Maryuama (JPN)

Maruyama is making his UWW debut.

Also in Figs' Half - Our returning World finalist should win Round 1 then hit Russia's Mukhamed Khaniev who despite never wrestling in a major Cadet tournament, won Euro U15's the last two years. The top quarter will likely bring Sunil (IND), who was Bronze at Asians.

Bottom Half - All the top guys are in the bottom quarter with Asian Champ Ali Gholi (IRI) facing 2017 U15 Euro Champ Riad Aslanov (AZE) in Round 1. Another impact to that quad will be Arslan Rakhimov (UZB) who was the Asian Champ last year at 51kg and the Asian Runner-Up this year at 55KG. 


60KG - Jesse Mendez, IN

Opening Bout - Osama Abdellatif (EGY)

Abdellatif was the African Champ, which is always tough to gauge based on the fluctuating quality and depth of weights in that Continental.

Also in Mendez's Half - Jesse is up top on the smaller side. Azerbaijan had the Euro Champ at the weight but he isn't in the bracket. Farhad Karimli is in his stead and is likely Mendez's second round bout. 

In the other quarter of the top half is Genik Asatryan (ARM) who was the runner-up to AZE at Euro's this year. He has the Asian Runner-Up Erfan Elahi (IRI) who lost to Japan's Kota Takahashi, who is also replaced by a teammate.

Bottom Half - Another Russian with no Cadet experience, but with two Euro U15 titles resides in the bottom half in Arip Abdulaev. Euro Bronze Ayub Musaev (BEL), would be a likely quarter with Abdulaev there.

Georgia's Davit Abdaladze placed Top 5 in his last four Euro Cadet tournaments. He'll be one of the favorites to come out of the quarter along with two Asian Bronze medalists in Tulegenov (KAZ) and Deepak (IND).


71KG  - Alex Facundo, MI

Opening Bout - Shokhrukh Juraev (UZB)

Juraev was the Asian Runner-Up to Vijay (IND), who is also in Facundo's quad.

Also in Facundo's Half - If there's one wrestler on our team that had to go through the meat grinder, we'd probably pick Facundo. He's in the bottom half and it's loaded. But make no mistake; as the only returning medalist in the bracket, Facundo is the big dog here.

He opens with Juraev and then likely gets Russia's Soslan Tigiev after Tigiev beats Italy. Vijay would be next in the quarters. 

In the final quad, which feeds into Facundo's semifinal, the top contenders all did well at Euro's - Runner-Up Davit Kutchuashvili (GEO), Bronze medalist Menua Yeribekyan (ARM) and 5th placer Lilian Balan (MDA).

Top Half - The top half is pretty thin and features just a couple contenders. One is Euro 5th Iglesias (ESP). Another is Kuanyshbay (UZB) who was Bronze at Asians. Iran's Valipour is also up top. 


92KG - Kyle Haas, KS

Opening Bout - Er Hurilebate (CHN)

Hurilebate was Bronze at Asians behind Yousefi (IRI) and Dahiya (IND), who are both on the bottom side of the bracket.

Also in Haas's Half - Kyle's road to the semi's will go through Asian Bronzes. First Hurilebate and then Bekzat Tazhi (KAZ). In the semi's he'd be looking at the winner of Zagid Karimov (RUS) and Sagadullah Agaev (AZE) a Euro Bronze medalist. Karimov's backup was runner-up at Euro's. Karimov has Euro 5th placer Hajdari (MKD) in Round 1.

Bottom Half - With Yousefi and Dahiya, the bottom half is loaded, also featuring contenders in the Euro Champ Lyova Gevorgyan (ARM), Euro Bronze Agtas (TUR), and Euro 5th Gamtenadze (GEO).