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Bellamy wins Veterans Greco-Roman gold medal, silvers to Horton and Bors, bronzes to Banko and Conn

by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling

Octavius Bellamy (USA) bites his Greco-Roman Veterans World medal. He also wears the USA flag after his victory in the final. Photos by Chris Brown.


LOUTRAKI, Greece – Day two of Greco-Roman at the Veterans World Championships was a good day for Team USA, capturing five medals including another individual Veterans World champion on Saturday.


Claiming the gold medal at 88 kg in Div. C (ages 45-50) was Octavius Bellamy of Bollingbrook, Ill.


Bellamy won three matches on the way to the title, all by decision. He stopped Tomas Tobola of Czechia in the gold-medal finals, 6-2. His preliminary wins were over Makhmud Orman of Kazakhstan, 5-1 and Vasileios Batalas of Greece, 5-2.


Bellamy becomes the 11th UWW Veterans Greco-Roman World champion from the United States, and the second so far this year. David Yi of Folsom, Calif. won a Greco-Roman gold at 62 kg in Div. B on Friday.


Bellamy and Yi are joined on a short list of Veterans Greco-Roman champions which also includes Chris Brown (2014, 2016), Ronald Hughes (2004), Valentin Kalika (2009), Gregg Stensgard (2012), Mohammed Taheri (2013), Shirzad Ahmadi (2015), Michael Tuck (2015), Steve Barkman (2015) and Hedj Nelson (2017).


The USA has now won seven Veterans World titles this year, with Bellamy and Yi joined by freestyle wrestlers Dan Chaid (Div. E, 130 kg), Rob Prebish of Richmond, Va. (Div. C, 62 kg), Stephen Horton of Cibolo, Texas (Div. D, 70 kg), Jon Banko of New Kensington, Pa. (Div. D, 78 kg) and Reese Humphrey of of Dayton, N.J. (Div. A 70 kg).


Claiming silver medals for Team USA were Stephen Horton (Div. D, 70 kg) and Gelu Bors (Div. D, 130 kg). Horton was attempting to be a double champion, after winning a Veterans World freestyle title on Wednesday.


Horton opened with three straight wins, with a 9-0 technical fall over Gannar Sprunk of Germany, and a pair of decisions, stopping Gabor Matyas of Hungary, 7-4 and Omer Topal of Turkey, 7-2. Horton was pinned in the finals by Tariel Shavadze of Georgia.


Bors also had a great start, shutting out Detlef John of Germany, 4-0 and Laszlo Kertesz of Hungary, 6-0. He lost a heartbreaking 1-1 criteria decision in the finals to Mohammed El Haddad of France.


Claiming bronze medals were Jon Banko of New Kensington, Pa. (78 kg) and Gregory Conn (130 kg). Both lost their first matches but rallied with a win in a repechage match then a victory in the bronze-medal round.


Banko claimed his bronze with a 10-0 technical fall over Fahri Kut of Turkey, while Conn won a tight 5-5 criteria decision over Janos Szlavik of Hungary in his bronze bout. Both have won two medals this week, with Banko getting a freestyle gold and Conn getting a freestyle bronze.


The USA Veterans Greco-Roman team has won seven medals so far, with Div. A coming up to end the competition on Sunday. The USA also added 20 freestyle medals earlier in the week.


All of the action is live on FloWrestling. Loutraki is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time zone.

VETERANS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Loutraki, Greece, October 23



Div. C Greco-Roman medals (ages 46-50)



62 kg

Gold - Farokh Morteza Hodei (Iran)

Silver - Nurzhan Nurbekov (Kazakhstan)

Bronze - Nuno Jose Polido Marques Berlinda (Sweden)


70 kg

Gold - Djamel Ainaoui (France)

Silver - Mose Chaknelidze (Urkaine)

Bronze - Andrei Shchigolev (Russia)

Bronze - Vasilis Boukis (Greece)


78 kg

Gold - Johan Mikael Sebastian Hedberg (Sweden)

Silver - Yury Bursin (Russia)

Bronze - Nurettin Aras (Turkey)

Bronze - Badri Antadze (Georgia)


88 kg

Gold - Octavius Bellamy (USA)

Silver - Tomas Tobola (Czechia)

Bronze - Vasileios Batalas (Greece)

Bronze - Seyedhossein Seyedali Sadati (Iran)


100 kg

Gold - Vasilii Iuvkin (Russia)

Silver - Tom Rune Angel Ljosaak (Norway)

Bronze - Jamshid Morad Mostafaei (Iran)


130 kg

Gold - Bahaaldin Mohammad Karimzadeh (Iran)

Silver - Rafal Wieslaw Koszowski (Poland)

Bronze - Gyula Papp (Hungary)

Bronze - Gregory Conn (USA)

U.S. Div. C results (ages 46-50)


62 kg – Gary Cook, Syracuse, N.Y., 5th place

LOSS Farokh Morteza Hodael (Iran), tech fall, 9-0

LOSS Nuno Jose Marques Berlinda (Sweden), 10-3

WIN Carlos Montano (USA), pin 0:25


62 kg – Carlos Montano, Oceanside, Calif., 6th place

LOSS Nuno Jose Marques Berlinda (Sweden), tech fall 11-0

LOSS Farokh Morteza Hodael (Iran), pin 0:41

LOSS Gary Cook (USA), pin 0:25


88 kg – Octavius Bellamy, Bollingbrook, Ill., gold medal

WIN Makhmud Orman (Kazakhstan), 5-1

WIN Vasileios Batalas (Greece), 5-2

WIN Tomas Tobola (Czechia), 6-2


130 kg – Gregory Conn, Antelope, Calif., bronze medal

LOSS Bahaaldin Karimzadeh (Iran), tech fall 9-1

WIN Cihan Kalender (Turkey), inj dft.

WIN Janos Szlavik (Hungary), 5-5

Div. D Greco-Roman medalist (ages 51-55)


62 kg

Gold - Terho Petteri Kettunen (Finland)

Silver - Vasilii Bashpakov (Russia)

Bronze - Jacek Marian Kusmierek (Poland)

Bronze - Ilkka Tapio Uhlbaeck (Finland)


70 kg

Gold - Tariel Shavadze (Georgia)

Silver - Stephen Horton (USA)

Bronze - Lars Mikael Dahl (Sweden)

Bronze - Omer Topal (Turkey)


78 kg

Gold - Anders Roger Sjoeqvist (Sweden)

Silver - Ercan Ayyildiz (Turkey)

Bronze - Osman Onder (Turkey)

Bronze - Jon Walter Banko (USA)


88 kg

Gold - Oleg Uglanov (Russia)

Silver - Alexander Sergeev (Russia) -

Bronze - Martin Inge Dalsbotten (Norway)

Bronze - Jerzy Sekura (Poland)


100 kg

Gold - Mohammed El Haddad (France)

Silver - Gelu Bors (USA)

Bronze - Detlef Hein Lothar John (Germany)

Bronze - Zeljko Jovisic (Serbia)


130 kg

Gold - Abdurashid Bagavdinov (Russia)

Silver - Ferenc Laszlo Nedbalek (Hungary)

Bronze - Istvan Bela Dezsereczky (Hungary)

U.S. Div. D results (ages 51-55)


62 kg – Joseph Raia Jr., South Elgin, Ill., 5th place

LOSS Terho Kettunen (Finland), 7-1

LOSS Ilkka Tapio Uhlbaeck (Finland), 4-1


70 kg – Stephen Horton, Cibolo, Texas, silver medal

WIN Gunnar Sprunk (Germany), tech. fall 9-0

WIN Gabor Matyas (Hungary), 7-4

WIN Omer Topal (Turkey), 7-2

LOSS Tariel Shavadze (Georgia), pin


70 kg – Ernesto Alarcon, Houston, Texas, 7th place

WIN Szabolcs Zsirka (Hungary), tech. fall 8-0

LOSS Omer Topal (Turkey), 2-0


78 kg – Jon Banko, New Kensington, Pa., bronze medal

LOSS Ercan Ayyildiz (Turkey), tech. fall 10-0

WIN Masoud Ali Abbasalipour (Iran), pin 0:35

WIN Fahri Kut (Turkey), tech. fall 10-0


88 kg – Jeffery Anderson, Zeeland, Mich., dnp/13th

LOSS Oleg Uglanov (Russia), 4-0

LOSS Martin Dalsbotten (Norway), tech fall 9-0


100 kg – Gelu Bors, Henderson, Nev., silver medal

WIN Detlef John (Germany), 4-0

WIN Laszlo Kertesz (Hungary), 6-0

LOSS Mohammed El Haddad (France), 1-1

U.S. Div. A draws for Sunday (ages 35-40)


70 kg – Jordin Humphrey, Crestline, Calif.

Vs. Eric Richter (Germany)


70 kg – Reece Humphrey, Dayton, NJ

Vs. Bagirs Bogdanovs (Latvia)


88 kg – James Medeiros II, Granada Hills, Calif.

Vs. Dmitry Pakhomov (Russia)


100 kg – Marko Bojkovic, Westmont, Ill.

Vs. Ilias Boukis (Greece)


130 kg – Ronald Dombkowski II, Waterford, Pa.

Vs. Semih Turgut (Turkey)


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