Friday Session II Live Blog: Rau pulled into repechage, Greco-Roman Group One finals and Group Two semifinals

Team Standings after four weight classes

1. Azerbaijan, 70

2. Iran, 60

3. Turkey, 38

4. Uzbekistan, 31

5. Georgia, 30

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130 kg Olympic Playoff - Lingzhe Meng (China) dec. Romas Fridrikas (Lithuania), 1-1

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77 kg Olympic Playoff – Aram Vardanyan (Uzbekistan) dec. Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan), 5-4

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In 9 minutes, they will have the Olympic playoff matches in the two Olympic weights (77 kg and 130 kg).

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Add Cohlton Schultz (USA) to the list of 10th place finishers, which is where he finished at 130 kg

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130 kg

Gold - Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) dec. Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) , 2-2

Bronze - Abdellatif Mohamed (Egypt) dec. Lingzhe Meng (China), 3-2

Bronze - Oscar Pino Hinds (Cuba) dec. Romas Fridrikas (Lithuania), 3-1

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Both Brady Koontz (55 kg) and Kamal Bey (77 kg), who were in Group One in Greco-Roman, ended up 10th in their weight class, and scored points for the USA in the standings.

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77 kg

Gold - Akzhol Makhmudov (Kyrgyzstan) dec. Sanan Suleymanov (Azerbaijan), 1-1

Bronze - Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia) dec. Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan), 9-7

Bronze - Nao Kusaka (Japan) tech, fall Aram Vardanyan (Uzbekistan), 8-0

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82 kg

Gold - Rafig Huseynov (Azerbaijan) dec. Alireza Mohmadipiani (Iran), 2-1

Bronze - Aues Gonibov (Individual Neutral Athlete) dec. Burhan Akbudak (Turkey), 6-3

Bronze - Yaroslav Filchakov (Ukraine) dec. Mihail Bradu (Moldova), 1-1

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55 kg

Gold - Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan) tech fall Nugzari Tsurtsumia (Georgia), 13-4

Bronze - Poya Soulat Dad Marz (Iran) dec. Marlan Mukashev (Kazakhstan), 6-3

Bronze - Jasurbek Ortikboev (Uzbekistan) dec. Artiom Deleanu (Moldova), 6-1

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Moving forward, we will post the results of the three medal matches in each of the four Greco-Roman Group One weight classes as a single entry. FIrst up is 55 kg.

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Rau will face Nicu Ojog of Romania in repechage on Saturday morning. If he geats Ojog, he has another repechage match against Artur Omarov of Czechia. A win over Omarov would advance Rau to Saturday night’s bronze medal bout against Mindaugas Venckaitis of Lithuania.

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97 kg

Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) tech fall Mindaugas Venckaitis (Lithuania), 9-0

Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (Cuba) dec. Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran), 3-0

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At 97 kg, Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) scored a 9-0 technical fall over Mindaugas Venckaitis (Lithuania). This result means Joe Rau has been pulled back into repechage on Saturday morning, as he lost to Aleksanyan.
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Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan) defeated Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (Iran), 4-3 in the Greco-Roman semifinals at 60 kg, it eliminated Ildar Hafizov (USA), who is now not eligible for repechage.

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60 kg semifinals

Fumita Kenichiro (Japan) dec. Gevorg Gharibyan (Armenia), 5-1

Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan) dec. Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (Iran), 4-3

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72 kg semifinals

Ibrahim Ghanem (France) dec. Selcuk Can (Turkey), 4-0

Robert Fritsch (Hungary) dec.,Shingo Harada (Japan), 3-1

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There are no U.S. athletes competing tonight in Greco-Roman at the World Wrestling Championships, as all of those competing today have been defeated.

We start the session with the Group Two semifinals, which features three weight classes which began this morning. The results of this round is important to Team USA, as both Ildar Hafizov (60 kg) and Josef Rau (97 kg) are still possible for repechage on Saturday. Hafizov gets into repechage if Mehdi Mohsen Nejad of Iran wins his semifinals match. Rau gets pulled back in if Olympic and World champion Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia wins in his semifinals match. The other USA wrestler in Group Two, Pat Smith, was eliminated this morning.

Next will be the finals for Group Two, which features four weight classes that will be completed (55 kg, 77 kg, 82 kg, 130 kg). All four U.S. wrestlers in this group have been eliminated. Kamal Bey was the only American who competed in repechage this morning. He won his first match, but lost his second match. To get to a medal match, he needed to win three repechage matches in a row. We will determine medalists in these weight classes. There will be two Olympic Playoff matches (77 kg, 130 kg) at the end of the night. Just today, 10 Olympic quota spots will be set.

The session begins 15 minutes later tonight, at 5:00 p.m. local time.  Enjoy the action live on FloWrestling at https://flosports.link/42Kg0JY