ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Bey has to win three in repechage to get to the Bronze match. He's got Sarkkinen of Finland first, a U23 2023 Gold at 82kg, but Kamal can win that. In the last year, the Finn has beaten USA's RaVaughn Perkins by one and lost to Spencer Woods by four. Then, it's Gutu of Moldova next, another 2023 U23 Gold, but at 77kg. Finally, there's Zhadrayev of Kazakhstan, who is a 2017 World Silver.

It not happening.

Bey is back in through repechage. New life! He'll have to wade through a group of World Medalists, but he's been waiting and rehydrating. Go America!

Please select another stream.

This is a swell idea. Makes sense.

Bey still in it. The Azeri (himself a World Silver) beat another World medalist. Now the Azerbaijani has to beat a World Gold, who he lost to by one point at the 2022 Euro Championships. This was the Group of Death. Repechage, if Kamal gets in, will be tough. Still have hopes for a Bey Bomb.

And Koontz is out. Romania just got teched. O-Bey Kamalnobi, you're our only hope!

Anybody know if Max Nowry retired or was injured? I've seen that he is coaching now, but sure do miss him as the most consistent American Greco guy the last few years.

Bey and Koontz are what's left. Kamal's opponent has a former World Silver from about 5 years ago, then either a World Championship Gold from 2017 or the Gold at 72kg from 2021. Yikes!

Bey was pushing the action, and he overextended. The Azerbaijani made him pay. Then, down big, Kamal got concerned and in a bad position again while pushing the action, and his opponent made him pay again. The number one seed in that bracket just got upset, so we still might could see Kamal in repechage. And I know that #1 seeds in the World Championships haven't meant a lot. I think UWW should study it afterwards. It might be that a neutral AI seeding process is what eventually takes place, although it is good that the current seeds are based on things that are completely objective. I don't know.

I hope he doesn't. He can be big time in Greco.

Koontz got jobbed pretty hard in a tech fall loss. Romania would've been pinned except they called a mystery leg foul that I couldn't see. Romania frantically points to his leg while laying on his back. Nice ploy! So, instead of a pin for Brady, the Romanian gets another caution point and Brady's put back down. Bey is still in it, as Suleymanov of Azerbaijan wins in the next round. It was only 3-1 and took a lot out of him. His road only gets harder. Fingers crossed for Kamal.

Spencer Woods is out. His AIN opponent Shafarenka just lost. Koontz is up on Mat C in two. He's the last man standing in the championship bracket today for the World Leader in Freedom, the Land of Liberty, the United States of America!

Schultz gets pinned in the first minute. The Lithuanian bear hugged and took him straight to the mat. That was unfortunate.

Disappointment! Kamal Bey goes out very active. Over-extends himself and gets thrown. Now down 6-0 after an additional gut, he again is aggressive and gets taken down. Loses 0-8. Don't know Sulymanov's chances at the finals. He'll have to face the #1 seed. Man, you can lose a dream in an eye blink in Greco. Even with the disappointment, Bey is gracious at the end. I'm still a Bey Believer, and will always be a Bey fan, but not this year (probably).

Kamal Bey on deck at Mat D. He's got the Azerbaijani Suleymanov. Just who I thought he'd see.

Brady Koontz up 7-0 at the break. He's comically taller than his Korean foe. Koontz called for passivity when he was anything but. That's my hang-up again with Greco. The Korean gets that point and a gut. Brady almost pins the over-eager tiny man. 7-3 win for Koontz! Really, really nice day so far for the beacon of Democracy in the World!

Colton Schultz with the pin! To the poster above who asked about medal threats from the USA, well, in my non-expert opinion, it is the two winners on the day so far: Bey and Schultz. They call it a tech fall 9-1 and not a pin. Schultz was stronger and had a better gas tank than his opponent. One thing I really dislike about Greco is that they will put both men down in the match, even in cases like this when Schultz so obviously dominated the action.

Cohlton Schultz on Mat D. He looks bigger than ever, even bigger than Micic if you can believe that. He got the first passivity point but couldn't turn his Czech opponent. Not a good sign, that. Then, he got a pushout. That's a good sign! 2-0 Schultz at the break.

Spencer Woods dropped a 5-3 match to Shafarenka of AIN. I thought he was Bulgaria? Close match. Good fight from Woods but I doubt he gets a chance at repechage.

Dang! The one day I fall asleep and miss the start of the tournament. On the results board, it looks like a 4-1 win. I'm so pissed at myself!

I actually think the three ILLINOIS wrestlers have good draws. They all get winnable matches in the first round. Then, for Kamal Bey, his toughest opponent before the semifinals is a guy he doubled up at the last ranking series tournament. That fellow is the #1 seed, but Bey has shown he can beat him. Joe Rau has a guy in the first round that he pinned two years ago, and Zac Braunagel gets a young fellow who is 1-4 in age-group Asian Championships. But the best part of their draws is their second round matches. They both get Greco legends. So, they either shock the world or have a nice chance for repechage. Remember, though, they don't call me Homelander for nothing!

Nice win for Adeline! Really impressive coming back to the sport after twins.

I've finished up a post about the ILLINOIS guys going Greco in the next few days. The brackets are out. I have a question: Zac Braunagel faces a first round opponent named Annamammedow from Turkmenistan at 87 kilos. There is not a wrestler by that name ranked in the top 100 by UWW at 87, 82 or 97 kg. I also checked the google and youtube and zilch. Finally, I translated "Wrestling Greco Annamammedow" into the Turkmen language (göreş Annamammedow grek) and got bupkis. Anybody know this guy?

That was me screaming.