"I feel really good about what we accomplished today," said coach Bruce Burnett. "Hopefully we can build on that and come back tomorrow strong. We started off scoring a lot of points and continued that effort."
Alex Dieringer, filling in for Jordan Burroughs, went 1-1 at 74 kilos on the opening day of the Freestyle World Cup in Los Angeles (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)"It was a screwy call," said Dieringer. "He for sure touched his knee in that match. You can't leave it in the hands of the judges. I shouldn't have given up those two takedowns in the second period."
After competing at 57 kilos for USA for the past two years, Tony Ramos earned his first win at 61 kilos, defeating India's Bajrang 3-3 on criteria. Bajrang was fifth at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas last September.
"I feel like I've gone up a whole level. More creative. More mat savvy. It's my new training situation. New motivation. New mind. "
Despite his success at 61 kilos, he isn't sure if he will remain at the weight class and try and make the team to compete in the world championships in December (for non-Olympic weights).
"Undecided," he said. "Right now, I'm leaning more towards 'no' but I've got to figure it out."
A tight match was expected against Azerbaijan after they lost a close match to four-time reigning World Cup champion Iran in a meet which came down to heavyweight, but USA won all eight matches.
Daniel Dennis looked methodical as he rolled to a second period 10-0 tech fall of Makhmud Magomedov.
"It's just walking down the path that is going to lead you to your goal. This is just another step," said Dennis about the World Cup. "It's fun in a competition like this where you know who your next opponent is going to be."
James Green, who won 10-0 in both his bouts said he felt strong back at 70 kilos, where he was a world bronze medalist last fall. After trying to make the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team at 65 kilos, James Green said he felt better back at 70 kilos
"Now I'm feeling good again," Green said after his second win of the day. "Lot of pop, lot of motion. Just back to my old ways. It feels great."
J'den Cox defeated world No. 3 Aleksandr Gostiyev at 86 kilos (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Standing World champ Kyle Snyder also won a close match, 2-1, over Aslan Alborov.
"Being able to win those one point matches and control the match at the end and come away with the victory. Those one-point wins become very important," said Coach Burnett. "That's a big lift for us and we feel really good about where we are right now."
On the day, Team USA outscored its opponents 101-17. USA will face Iran for their final dual meet within their pool Sunday morning and will wrestle for either the bronze or gold medal match in the fourth and final session.
Perhaps what's most surprising about USA's dominance at the World Cup is that is has been accomplished without America's best freestyle wrestler. Four-time gold medalist Jordan Burroughs had to skip the event at the last minute in order to be with his wife as she gave birth to their second child. Ora Burroughs was born at 4:45 a.m. on Saturday.
United States 8, Azerbaijan 0
57 kilos: Daniel Dennis (United States) tech. fall Makhmud Magomedov (Azerbaijan), 10-0
61 kilos: Tony Ramos (United States) dec. Akhmednabi Gvarzatilov (Azerbaijan), 10-4
65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Magomed Muslimov (Azerbaijan), 4-1
70 kilos: James Green (United States) tech. fall Gadzhimurad Omarov (Azerbaijan), 10-0
74 kilos: Alex Dieringer (United States) dec. Ashraf Aliyev (Azerbaijan), 8-0
86 kilos: J'den Cox (United States) dec. Alexander Gostiev (Azerbaijan), 3-2
97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) dec. Aslanbek Alborov (Azerbaijan), 2-1
125 kilos: Jake Varner (United States) tech. fall Said Gamidov (Azerbaijan), 10-0
United States 7, India 1
57 kilos: Daniel Dennis (United States) forfeit (India)
61 kilos: Tony Ramos (United States) dec. Bajrang (India), 3-3
65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Rajneesh (India), 5-0
70 kilos: James Green (United States) tech. fall Vinod Kumar (India), 10-0
74 kilos: Parveen Rana (India) dec. Alex Dieringer (United States), 4-4
86 kilos: J'den Cox (United States) tech. fall Pawan Kumar (India), 13-2
97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) tech. fall Kadian Satywart (India), 10-0
125 kilos: Jake Varner (United States) forfeit (India)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now