BAKU, Azerbaijan – The U.S. had a strong team effort with six overall medals in men’s freestyle at the Heydar Aliyev Golden Grand Prix Finals on Friday. This prestigious event is the conclusion of FILA’s annual Golden Grand Prix series.
A very successful day ended on a down note, as the United States lost all four of its gold-medal matches.
Claiming silver medals were
• Shawn Bunch, Columbus, Ohio (Gator WC) at 60 kg/132 lbs.
• Travis Paulson, Ames, Iowa (Sunkist Kids) at 74 kg/163 lbs.
• Jake Herbert, Evanston, Ill. (New York AC) at 84 kg/185 lbs.
• Tervel Dlagnev, Columbus, Ohio (Sunkist Kids) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.
Bunch lost to 2008 Olympic silver medalist Vasyl Fedoryshin of Ukraine in the finals, 0-1, 0-1, He ended the day with a 3-1 record, including a first-round win over 2005 World champion Dilshod Mansurov of Uzbekistan. Bunch is currently No. 2 in the USA at his division, and was a 2009 U.S. World Team member.
Paulson, who will compete on the 2010 U.S. World Team, fell to Aleksander Gostiev of Russia in the finals, 0-3, 2-0, 0-1. Paulson finished the day with a 4-1 record, including a victory over 2003 World champion Irbek Farniev of Russia.
Herbert, a 2009 World silver medalist, was beaten by 2009 World Cup champion Nauruz Temrezov of Azerbaijan in the finals, 1-1, 0-1. Herbert finished 3-1 for the day, including a win over 2008 Olympic silver medalist Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan in the second round. Herbert is also a member of the 2010 U.S. World Team.
Dlagnev, a 2009 World bronze medalist, fell to 2010 European silver medalist Fatih Cakiroglu of Turkey in the finals. Dlagnev, who was the defending champion at this event, ended the day with a 3-1 record. He is currently ranked No. 2 in the USA at his division.
“There was a big bounty on the gold medal today and our four finalists didn't get one. No one hurts more than they do right now,” said National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones. “We went a combined 0-5 in ball pulls in the finals and there's only one way to overcome it, score points in the regulation time. But I tell you, Shawn, Travis, Jake, and Tervel were damn good today and they showed the world that they will be hard to beat in the future.”
The U.S. also rallied to win two bronze medals from Angel Escobedo (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Brent Metcalf (Iowa City, Iowa/New York AC) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.
Escobedo finished with a 4-1 record, including a victory over 2006 World champion Radislav Velikov of Bulgaria in the bronze-medal match. His only loss came to Russia’s Nariman Israpilov, a 2008 Junior World champion. Escobedo is currently No. 2 in the USA at his division.
Metcalf, the 2010 U.S. World Team member, finished at 3-1, including a victory over 2010 Asian bronze medalist Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan in the bronze-medal match. His only loss came to eventual champion Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan, a 2010 European champion.
“Metcalf and Escobedo battled back for a bronze like warriors. Metcalf got badly needed freestyle experience that will get him ready for the worlds and Escobedo beat former world champion for the bronze,” said Jones.
Medalists in this event receive prize money, and numerous past World and Olympic medalists entered the competition.
“Overall we're improving as a country. There's no question if you measure our results, we came away with more medals and beat more World and Olympic medalists in a day than we have in a long time. However, this is not the World Championships so we won't put too much emphasis on the results. We'll let everyone else do that. What we hang our hat on today is getting better and moving a step closer to wrestling domination,” said Jones.
Jones stressed that there will be a lot of improvement needed for the team leading up to the World Championships in Moscow in September.
“Our confidence grew today and our men know they can compete and win against anyone in the world. It is time to go back to work. It’s going to be harder to win since now we're a marked team going into the Worlds. We can't let up. Everyone has film on us now,” said Jones.
On Sunday, the U.S. team will compete in a dual meet against the Azerbaijan national team, an event which will also have considerable prestige and prize money at stake. The dual will be held between sessions of the Greco-Roman competition that day.
“On Sunday, we wrestle Azerbaijan. They're good, no doubt about it, and certainly are the favorite coming in. We'll need our best effort to beat them,” said Jones.
Four members of the U.S. World Team in women’s freestyle weighed in on Friday, for their competition on Saturday. They have received their first-round draws, which are listed below
