J'den Cox was one of three Americans to advance to the semifinals on Sunday (Photo/Martin Gabor, UWW)BUDAPEST, Hungary -- The Americans had a strong start to Day 2 at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Thomas Gilman (57 kilograms), Kyle Dake (79 kilograms) and J'den Cox (92 kilograms) wrestled their way to the semifinals.
Gilman, a returning world silver medalist began his day against Givi Davidovi of Italy. Gilman got to his attacks with a few takedowns and built a 5-0 heading into the break. He coasted to a 6-3 victory.
In his second match, Gilman wrestled Giorgi Edisherashvili of Azerbaijan. It was a match that showed Gilman's great position and strength as he successfully scored on four step outs for a decisive 4-0 victory. In the semifinals he will face Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan.
Kyle Dake, known as Kid Dynamite, wrestled exceptionally well in both of his matches in the opening session. He dominated Martin Obst of Germany by the score of 11-0 to move into the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Dake was dominant yet again, winning by the same score, 11-0, over Davit Khutishvili of Georgia. This time Dake used a few takedowns to a snug gut wrench to turn Khutishvili for the technical victory, prior to the end of the first period. Notwithstanding, Dake has yet to be scored on this tournament and will face a tough competitor in Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov of Russia, in the semifinals.
Cox, an Olympic and world bronze medalist, got off to a sluggish start in his opening match against world medalist Dato Marsagishvil, of Georgia. Cox was losing 2-0 at the break, but turned up his offense in the second period and was able to reach Marsagishvil's legs for three consecutive takedowns to build a commanding lead, 6-2, which would be the final score.
Cox put on a takedown clinic in his second match against Nicolai Ceban of Moldova, scoring
three takedowns to breeze to a 6-0 victory. He will face Alireza Karimimachiani of Iran in the semifinals.
It was a tough day for 2016 world champion Logan Stieber as he opened with Akhmed Chakaev, of Russia. Stieber found himself losing 4-0, before using an enormous four-point throw to even the score and giving Stieber the lead on criteria. But Chakaev would rebound and take a 6-4 into the break, before winning 7-5.
Chakaev won his quarterfinal match, keeping Stieber alive. If Chakaev wins his semifinal match, Stieber will be pulled back into repechage.
Each American who competed on Saturday will compete for a medal tonight.
Yesterday David Taylor advanced to the gold-medal match at 86 kilograms, while Joe Colon secured a spot in the bronze-medal match at 61 kilograms.
In Sunday's first session, Jordan Burroughs, a four-time world champion and 2012 Olympic champion, won his repechage match convincingly over Miroslav Kirov of Bulgaria. Burroughs stayed offensive and was able to build a commanding lead to win 9-0. He will face world champion Frank Chamizo of Italy in the bronze-medal match at 74 kilograms. It will mark the third meeting between the two, with each winning a match.
Nick Gwiazdowski claimed a victory in his repechage match over Amar Dhesi of Canada 7-0 at 125 kilograms. Although he represents Canada, Dhesi wrestled collegiately for Oregon State, while Gwiazdowski wrestled for North Carolina State.
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