Match Notes: U23 World Championships Day One

The U23 World Championships kick off on Monday from Feti Borova Sports Hall in Tirana, Albania. Team USA has five athletes competing in Greco-Roman. Updates from each match can be found below.

A full set of brackets and match-by-match results is available on UWW Arena. A live broadcast of the event is available for the U.S. market at FloWrestling.com.

10: 30 a.m. – Qualification rounds (60-67-72-82-97 kg)

6 p.m. – Semifinals (60-67-72-82-97 kg)

* All times listed local to Tirana, Albania (GMT+2), which is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

60 kg – Max Black (Castle Rock, Colo./ NMU-National Training Center), eliminated

LOSS Nihad Guluzade (Azerbaijan), tech. fall, 9-0

67 kg – Robert Perez III (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), eliminated

WIN Nestor Almanza Truyol (Chile), 3-3

LOSS Haruto Yabe (Japan), tech. fall, 8-0

72 kg – Justus Scott (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP), eliminated

LOSS Seyed Sohrabi (Iran), tech. fall, 10-1

82 kg – Beka Melelashvili (Philadelphia, Pa./New York AC), gold medal match

WIN Daniel Bello Vega (Venezuela), tech. fall, 9-0

WIN Vadzim Paleyenka (Individual Neutral Athlete), 12-7

WIN Data Chkhaidze (Georgia), 5-2

WIN Elmin Aliyev (Azerbaijan), 3-3

VS Mohammad Naghousi (Iran)

97 kg – Wyatt Voelker (Manchester, Iowa/Panther WC-RTC), eliminated

LOSS Christos Chatsatourov (Greece), 6-4

Arm spin attempt for Melelashvili comes close to a correct throw in the first 30 seconds, but white paddled. Melelashvili goes for a front headlock toss and gets countered for a takedown halfway through the first period. Melelashvili hit for passivity and put down at the 4:11 mark in the first period, trailing 3-0. Aliyev locks up a tight, elbow-grip low-gutwrench but can’t convert. The first period ends with Aliyev leading 3-0. Aliyev hit for passivity and goes down at the 2:11 mark in the second period. Melelashvili locks up a gut and nearly gets the turn going out-of-bounds. No points were awarded on the action and the U.S. corner challenges the call. The challenge is won and things are tied up, 3-3, with 1:53 to go. It's a hard hand fight to the finish and Melelashvili emerges with the 3-3 decision.

Melelashvili goes down first, trailing 1-0 from the passivity call at the 4:35 mark. No turn from Chkhaidze and we go back to the feet at with 1:14 left in the first period. The 1-0 score holds until the break. Arm drag TD for Melelashvili to open the second period. He gives up a reversal on a gutwrench attempt but maintains the 2-2 criteria lead. Back to the arm drag, transitions to an arm spin finish going out-of-bounds for Melelashvili, only nets one point on a step out call, 3-2. Melelashvili awarded a step out point while attempting a toss out-of-bounds, which was close to a defensive leg foul. The Georgia corner challenged the call and lost, pushing Melelashvili’s lead to 5-2 with 1:10 remaining. Chkhaidze attempted a couple arm spins that were unsuccessful and called slip throws. The 5-2 score stands as the final.

Guluzade nearly converts an arm drag—Black somehow able to get out of it when dead to rights for the takedown. Black hit for passivity and goes down 1-0 at the 4:48 mark of the first period. Guluzade converts four-straight gut wrenches to take the match 9-0 in 1:40.  

*Guluzade lost to Alisher Ganiev (Uzbekistan) in the semifinals, 9-0, eliminating Black from medal contention.

Sag headlock from Paleyenka opens the scoring in the match. He takes a 2-0 lead just over one minute in. Melelashvili comes back with a takedown and two turns from the high gut position. He was reversed on third turn attempt, but took over the lead, 6-3. The score holds until the break. Paleyenka scores two off an over-under attempt from Melelashvili, but Melelashvili reverses with exposure to go up 8-5 with 2:11 left. An arm drag takedown for Melelashvili gives him some distance on the scoreboard, 10-5. Paleyenka cuts into the lead, 10-7, with a body lock, pressure takedown with 47-seconds left. Melelashvili ices the match 12-7 with a final takedown and rides it out on top.  

Sohrabi drives an underhook out-of-bounds to take 1-0 lead 22 seconds into the match. Scott put down at the 4:40 mark for passivity, now trailing, 2-0. Sohrabi gets a turn and a correct throw point to take a 5-0 lead. Scott attempts multiple arm spins to counter underhook pressure from Sohrabi in the back half of the first period. It’s 5-0 at the break. Sohrabi comes out with a takedown early in the second period to up his lead to 7-0. Scott attempts a body lock toss, which is called a slip throw. Iran challenges the call and loses making the score 7-1 in favor of Sohrabi with 2:32 remaining. A pair of step out points from the underhook position, plus a lost challenge, finish the match 10-1 for Sohrabi.

*Sohrabi was pinned by Shant Khachatryan (Armenia) in the quarterfinals, eliminating Scott from medal contention.

Yabe wastes no time, hits a four pointer to start the match and take the early advantage. Yabe goes right back to his high dive for another takedown, and converts a low gutwrench to end the match, 8-0, in 1:02.

*Yabe lost to Razzak Beishekeev (Kyrgyzstan) in the quarterfinals, 9-0, eliminating Perez III from medal contention.

After no scoring in the opening minute, Perez III is dinged for passivity and put down at the 4:52 mark of the first period, trailing 1-0. Almanza Truyol converts on a gut wrench attempt to push his lead to 3-0 halfway through the period. Perez III comes back with an arm drag takedown to close the gap to 3-2 before the period break. At the 2:06 mark of the second period Perez III gets his chance on top with Almanza Truyol being hit for passivity. Perez III didn’t convert a reverse gutwrench from top but maintained the lead on criteria, 3-3. The match finished 3-3 in favor of Perez III.

Melelashvili gets on the board first with passivity point and a chance on top. He picks up four consecutive turns from a gut wrench to end things, 9-0, at 4:14 mark of the first period.

Voelker goes on top first after Chatsatourov is hit for passivity. He comes close to securing a gutwrench but doesn’t convert. Voelker takes a 1-0 to the break. Chatsatourov goes on top 38 seconds into the second period and converts a low gutwrench to push his lead to 3-1. At the 1:21 mark, Chatsatourov is awarded a step out point from an overhook toss. The U.S. corner challenge, but is unsuccessful, so it’s 5-1 Chatsatourov. Voelker hits a feet-to-back but is called for offensive legs with 40 seconds left. Voelker gets a pair of step out points, plus a fleeing call to cut the lead to 5-4 with 21 seconds left. An over-under attempt on the edge from Voelker doesn’t land and he gives up the point. The final score is 6-4.

*Chatsatourov lost to Richard Karelson (Estonia) in the round-of-16, 9-0, eliminating Voelker from medal contention.