Gilman, Gross and Retherford go for gold at Zouhaier Sghaier in Tunisia

TUNIS, Tunisia – Five U.S. men’s freestyle athletes will battle for medals on Sunday afternoon at the Zouhaier Sghaier International in Tunis, Tunisia.

The medal matches will take place Sunday at 1 p.m. ET live on FloWrestling.org.

Seeking gold medals is World champion and Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Gilman and 2022 World Team members Seth Gross and Zain Retherford.

Wrestling at 57 kg, Gilman suffered a first-round loss by fall against Justin Lehr of Germany in pool action. The American bounced back to take out Nodirjon Safarov from Uzbekistan, 11-1, sending him to the Nordic bracket’s semifinals, where he shut down World silver medalist Alireza Sarlak from Iran, 11-7, in a rematch of the 2021 World Championships finals. The win advanced Gilman to the brackets gold-medal match, where he will face off against India’s Udit, a 2019 Cadet World bronze medalist.

Gross and Retherford are perfect on the day so far, competing at 65 kg and 70 kg, respectively.

Gross opened his tournament with back-to-back tech falls, including a 16-5 win over 2019 World silver medalist Suleyman Atli from Turkey. In his third match, Gross dominated Cadet World bronze medalist Aman of India, 11-2. In his final bout, he will face Turkey’s Nebi Uzun. Should he win, Gross will lock up the gold medal.

Three-time World Team member Retherford competed in a Nordic bracket, recording wins in all four of his morning-session bouts with two pins, one technical fall and one injury default. For gold, Retherford will battle two-time Junior World bronze medalist Syrbaz Talgat from Kazakhstan.

At 65 kg, Yianni Diakomihalis went 1-1 in the first session of his four-man round-robin, defeating Argentina’s Agustin Destribats before falling to U23 Asian champion Sujeet of India. Later today, Diakomihalis will take on 2019 U23 World silver medalist Adlan Askarov of Kazakhstan. The American’s medal color will be determined at the conclusion of competition.

Competing for bronze at 79 kg this afternoon is Final X runner-up Chance Marsteller, who went 2-2 in the first session. The American opened with wins over Senior European champion Georgios Kougioumtsidis of Greece and U23 World bronze medalist Ali Savadkouhi of Iran before dropping his next two bouts, one of which was to Senior World silver medalist Mohammad Nokhodilarimi. For bronze, Marsteller will go up against Junior World bronze medalist Baliyan Gourav from India.

ZOUHAIER SGHAIER – UWW RANKINGS SERIES EVENT #4

Tunis, Tunisia | July 14-17, 2022

U.S. men’s freestyle results
57 kg: Thomas Gilman (Nittany Lion WC/TMWC) – gold match
LOSS Justin Lehr (Germany), fall 1:27
WIN Nodirjon Safarov (Uzbekistan), 11-1
WIN Alireza Sarlak (Iran), 11-7
vs. Udit Udit (India)

61 kg: Seth Gross (Wisconsin RTC/Sunkist Kids) – fourth match of round robin
WIN Assylzhan Yessengeldi (Kazakhstan), 14-3
WIN Suleyman Atli (Turkey), 16-5
WIN Aman Aman (India), 11-2
vs. Nebi Uzun (Turkey)

65 kg: Yianni Diakomihalis (Spartan Combat RTC/TMWC) – third match of round robin
WIN Agustin Destribats (Argentina), 9-2
LOSS Sujeet Sujeet (India), 8-2
vs. Adlan Askarov (Kazakhstan)

70 kg: Zain Retherford (Nittany Lion WC/TMWC) – gold match
WIN Sanzhar Doszhanov (Kazakhstan), fall 2:04
WIN Haydar Yavuz (Turkey), injury default
WIN Karan Karan (India), fall 0:56
WIN Kossai Ajimi (Tunisia), 11-0
vs. Syrbaz Talgat (Kazakhstan)

79 kg: Chance Marsteller (Annapolis RTC/TMWC) – bronze match
WIN Georgios Kougioumtsidis (Greece), 11-0
WIN Ali Savadkouhi (Iran), 9-6
LOSS Mohammad Nokhodilarimi (Iran), 10-0
LOSS Bolat Sakayev (Kazakhstan), 6-1
vs. Baliyan Gourav (India)