Wrestling World Championships Notebook

by InterMat

Day One, 55-60-66kg

Delayed The first session of the FILA World Wrestling Championships blew the whistle on Mat D at 9:19 a.m. local time. There was no scoring in the first minute between Duque DeJesus of Columbia and Dishod Aripov of Uzbekistan. Apriov scores the first point of the tournament as DeJesus could not turn Apriov in the top position during his first period lock.

Applause Not too many fans here in the arena this morning, but the first two three-point throws netted applause and the blowing of horns from the stands. On Mat A, Lithuanian Oleg Luvruvjanec picked up a three pointer against Canadian Promise Mwenga and picked up a two-period victory to advance at 55kg.

The Baku Press? There is zero press seating here in Baku. There’s a media center on the second floor, roughly 100 yards from the entrance to the floor. Some of the media have varying degrees of passes. Travis Shives of USA Wrestling has “Press,” Craig Sesker at USA Wrestling has “Photographer,” and yours truly, Jason Bryant of InterMat has “TV.”

There’s a power strip on the edge of Mat A and luckily, there is minimal security actually inside the competition area, but once you get past them, you’re pretty much open here on the floor.

It’s about 90 degrees in here and some of us are already sweating profusely. The Danes brought a spirited group and their 55kg wrestler Anders Nyblom just won his opening round bout against V. Venkov of Bulgaria.

Dur-La-Shay? It wasn’t the first time American Lindsey Durlacher has probably had his name mispronounced, but he’ll take it, French announcer and all. Durlacher advanced in his first round match over Norway’s Thomas Ronningen 4-1, 1-1, 5-0 and will face Italy’s Roberto Pira, a 3-5, 4-3, 4-3 victory over Belarus’ Maksim Kazharski.

Short lived The wireless dropped out of the arena, forcing the American press back to the Press Center. On the bright side, the hard-lined internet works and there are screens with all four mats in here, so I’ll have a view of what’s going on, but I’ll still have to go back through the maze of non-English speaking security guards that have “No” as the first word out of their mouths.

Lester impressive Harry Lester opened up with a crowd-pleasing 7-0, 6-0 win over Finland’s Juha Hiltunen. Lester planted Hultunen in the first but did not get the fall and proceeded to put it to the Fin. In the second, Lester worked from double overhooks and threw Hultunen for three points and cruised into the next round.

Betterman to play waiting game The first World Championships experience for Joe Betterman might not last too long. Betterman lost 3-1, 1-1 to Norway’s Stiga Berge to open the tournament. Berge was the European runner-up and now Betterman must hope for Berge to reach the finals before he can come through the repechage in hopes to place top eight.

No more Tens FILA also announced (sometime) before the tournament that only the top eight places at the World Championships would qualify the weight for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Instead of doing something most American fans might understand – a consolation bracket or wrestle-back – FILA will decide the 7th and 8th placers by classification points – which might be a plus for the U.S. wrestlers that drew first round opponents.

Mansurov pleases the public Former Olympic Gold Medalist Farid Mansurov started out the tournament impressing the folks of his native Baku. Mansurov dominated Venezuela’s Endrix Arteaga 6-0, 5-0 including a fabulous back-arch suplay for five points to end the second period. The victory gave the small, but vocal crowd in Baku something to cheer for and the fans of this country are very passionate about their nation’s athletes.

… and so does Bayramov Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan picked up a huge early win, sending the locals into a frenzy with his three-period victory over 2006 European Champion Roman Amyoan of Armenia. Bayramov scored the final point to work out a 1-3, 2-1, 3-3 victory at 55 kg. The locals in the press room also got loud.

Lester and Durlacher move to 2-0 Harry Lester and Lindsey Durlacher advanced to the third round after each scored two-period victories over their opponents. Durlacher wasn’t pressured in a dominant win over Italy’s Roberto Pira, while Lester had a bit of trouble with scrappy Turk Seref Eroglu, he prevailed 3-2, 3-0. Lester nearly pinned Eroglu in the first round, countering a throw attempt, popping his hips and landing on top of Eroglu. Durlacher will now face reigning World Champion Hamid Soryan of Iran.

Betterman officially eliminated There will be no repechage for Joe Betterman. After falling in his opening round bout, he needed Norway’s Stiga Berge to advance to the finals in a large bracket to get new life. Well, that did’t happen as Berge was knocked out of finals contention with a loss to Davor Stefanek of Serbia 4-0, 2-1, 4-1.

Notable to keep an eye out for There’s still plenty of time for this to happen, but Israel’s Mechman Alaev is on the same side of the bracket at 55kg as Iran’s Hamid Soryan. They both have to win twice to reach the semifinals, but due to Iran’s political stance and refusal to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation, the two would likely not meet. It’s happened before. While the Iran-Israel issue isn’t a religious one, note that Soryan’s next opponent – Durlacher – is Jewish.

Top quarter The “blind draw” at the World Championships can often lead to some very weak draws and some very tough draws. At 55kg, a tough draw would be considered a quarterfinal that puts last year’s silver and bronze medalists in the same match. Azerbaijan’s Rovshan Bayramov will face Korea’s Eun-Choi Park in the top quarterfinal, with the winner potentially facing last year’s fifth place finisher – Tibor Olah of Hungary in the semifinals. Three top five placers are in the top bracket, while two top three finishers are at the bottom.

Lester into quarters Harry Lester continued his run through Monday’s morning session, winning his third straight match, a 1-1, 3-0 victory over Cuban Mailan Consuegra. Lester will face Romania’s Ionel Puscasu in the quarterfinals. Puscasu defeated North Korea’s Su in Pak.

Park tops Bayramov Last year’s world bronze medalist Eun-Choi Park of Korea moved into the semifinals with a two-period victory over world silver medalist Rovshan Bayramov of host Azerbaijan. Park needed a score in the second period from his lock to prevent a third period and it was a trapped-arm gutwrench for two points that pushed his lead to 3-0 in the second period and deflated the host crowd. Just seconds after Farid Mansurov topped Jimmy Samuelsson of Sweden at 66 kilos, the boisterous crowd was hushed with Park’s victory.

Durlacher stopped by World Champ American Lindsey Durlacher will have to root for Iranian world champion Hamid Soryan after Soryan topped Durlacher 3-0, 1-0 to move into quarters where he’ll face Romania’s Virgil Munteanu. The Romanian defeated Cuba’s Yangiel Hernandez in the Round of 16 to advance.

Lester dominant in quarterfinal win Harry Lester hasn’t look out of control all day here in Baku. The recent Northern Michigan University graduate looked strong in his quarterfinal victory over Ionel Puscasu of Romania with a 6-0, 3-1 victory. In the first period, Lester scored two exposure points on front-headlock rolls to build a 4-0 lead. A reversal for one and a point for not giving up a point in the locks gave him the 6-0 period. In the second, a counter exposure on a throw attempt by Puscasu gave him two points before the two traded points in the locks. He next has Azerbaijan's Farid Mansurov, a local and perennial world championship contender.

Semifinals
55kg
Eun-Choi Park (Korea) dec. Ildar Hafizof (Uzbekistan) 3-1, 7-0

Hamid Soryan (Iran) dec. Kristijan Fris (Serbia) 1-1, 1-1
Soryan makes the finals and pulls American Lindsey Durlacher into the repachage with a chance to qualify the U.S. for the weight in the 2008 Olympics.

60kg
Makoto Sasamoto (Japan) dec. Ji-Hyun Jung (Korea) 1-2, 2-1, 1-1
Sasamoto advanced to the World Finals with a three-period victory over Jung. That will eliminate Azerbaijan’s Romvash Bayramov from placement contention. Other wrestlers eliminated are: China’s Jiang Sheng and Iran’s Ali Aghbolah.

David Bedinadze (Georgia) dec. Eusebiu Buisson (Romania) 3-3, 4-2
The returning World silver medalist had problems early with the Romanian, but recovered and took a two-period win to reach his second final in as many years. He’s a decided favorite against Sasamoto.

66kg
Steeve Guenot (France) dec. Arman Adikayan (Armenia) 0-3, 1-1, 3-1
After losing the first period, Steeve Guenot rallied to take the last two periods to give France a finalist with a 0-3, 1-1, 2-1 victory over Armenian Arman Adikyan.

Farid Mansurov (Azerbaijan) dec. Harry Lester (USA) 6-3, 4-1
Baku native Farid Mansurov made his country proud and the arena loud with a two-period victory over American Harry Lester in the semifinals at 66kg. Mansurov scored three points late in the first on a back-arch, elevating on Lester's front-headlock and exposing his back to the mat. In the second, Mansurov scored on a slick passby, then scored a point on a pushout, then with time winding down during his lock period, Mansurov hit a quick two-point gut-wrench to build a 4-0 lead going into Lester's lock. Lester's lone point was with a pushout with 10 seconds to go. Lester will still place in the top six and qualify the weight for the 2008 Olympics. The best he can get now is a bronze medal.

SECOND SESSION
Durlacher stays alive
American Lindsey Durlacher stayed alive and kept the hopes of the U.S. for a qualification into the 2008 Olympic Games in positive motion with a two-period victory over Denmark's Anders Nyblom, a past World placer. Durlacher now has to face Romania's Virgil Munteanu to reach the Bronze Medal match.

Most common sight on FILA site When looking for results from this tournament in the Press Center, the most common sight is this graphic from the FILA web site.

Any updates on Monday's weigh-ins are delayed, mainly because the site went down ... again. In case you are wondering, FILA isn't to be confused with the shoe company with the same moniker. FILA, the international governing body for wrestling means: "Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées"

Durlacher, Lester will wrestle for Bronze Lindsey Durlacher knocked off Romanian Virgil Munteanu in three periods to advance to the Bronze Medal match at 55kg. He and Harry Lester's opponents have been determined, but due to the lack of being able to get results from FILA and the lack of brackets available to follow who's wrestling who, we're just throwing darts at the board right now.