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Olympic Wrestling - Freestyle Recaps: 30 July (Day 11)

Freestyle Wrestling/Preliminary Round 2

MKRCHYAN Stops VILA PERDOMO at 48kg

Armen MKRCHYAN of Armenia, the bronze medalist in the 1995 World Championships, stunned two-time World Champion Alexis VILA PERDOMO of Cuba 4-2, to advance to the semifinals.

VILA PERDOMO was one of eight former world champions falling out of the gold medal picture in first-round Group A matches Tuesday.

Semifinals: Armen MKRCHYAN (ARM) vs. Vitalii RAILEAN (MDA); KIM Il (PRK) vs. JUNG Soon-Won (KOR)

"From the beginning, I knew I could beat him," MKRCHYAN said after his victory over VILA PERDOMO. "This was my main rival for the gold. If everything goes okay, I'm counting on winning the gold medal."

CROSS Stops ABE; SISSAOURI Advances at 57kg

Kendall CROSS of Raleigh, North Carolina got by Sanshiro ABE of Japan 4-2 to advance to the semifinals of the 57kg weightclass. CROSS jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening minute on a takedown and two-point tilt and never let ABE, the 1996 national collegiate champion for Pennsylvania State University, closer than two points the rest of the way.

Advancing to the semifinals in the other bracket was Gia SISSAOURI of Canada. The 1995 world silver medalist had a scare in his second-round match, winning a 1-1 referee's decision over Bagavden UMAKHANOV of Russia, before blanking Damir ZAKHARTDINOV of Uzbekistan 8-0 to reach the semifinals.

Semifinals: Saban TRSTENA (MKD) vs. Gia SISSAOURI (CAN); Kendall CROSS (USA) vs. Ri Yong-Sam (PRK)

"A lot of it is the luck of the draw," CROSS said after having to wrestle only once Tuesday night to reach the semifinals. "I had to pull out an egg (with my draw number) on it at the weigh-in and I thought to myself, 'Should I swirl them around real good or just take the one on the top?' I said to myself, 'Nah, just take the one on top.' It worked out. I can win (the gold medal). The opportunity is here."

BOGIYEV Stuns FADZAEV in Overtime at 68kg

Vadim BOGIYEV of Russia scored a takedown 1 minute, 24 seconds into overtime to beat two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Arsen FADZAEV of Uzbekistan 3-1 in a second-round match. FADZAEV, an eight-time world-level champion, became the second defending Olympic gold medalist and the fifth world champion to lose in just over one session.

BOGIYEV, the world silver medalist in 1993, never trailed in the match, taking a 2-0 lead on a gut wrench 2 minutes, 50 seconds into the match. FADZAEV scored his only point on a takedown at the edge with just under one minute remaining in the 5-minute regulation period. BOGIYEV later advanced to the semifinals by beating Zaza ZAZIROV of Ukraine, 5-3.

BOGIYEV advanced to the semifinals against HWANG Sang-Ho of Korea, the only nation in addition to the United States to advance three wrestlers to the semifinals.

After his loss to BOGIYEV, FADZAEV was eliminated in his next match, losing to Ahmad ALAOSTA of Syria 9-8.

Arayik GEVORGYAN of Armenia, the 1995 world champion, edged Oleg GOGOL of Belarus, 3-2, at 5 minutes, 38 seconds of overtime to advance to the semifinals against Townsend SAUNDERS (USA). SAUNDERS became the second U.S. wrestler to advance to the semifinals, beating Gary ROBERTS of Canada, 3-1, in the quarterfinals. It was the first time SAUNDERS, fourth in the 1993 World Championships, had reached the semifinals of a world-level event. He lost to GEVORGYAN at the world championships a year ago.

Semifinals: Vadim BOGIYEV (RUS) vs. HWANG Sang-Ho (KOR); Arayik GEVORGYAN (ARM) vs. Townsend SAUNDERS (USA)

JABRAILOV Derails GUTCHES in Overtime at 82kg

Having beaten his older brother, Lucman, in Tuesday morning's session, Elmadi JABRAILOV of Kazakhstan turned his attention to the rest of the field at 82kg.

With Lucman sitting in his corner, Elmadi JABRAILOV scored a two-point tilt 40 seconds into the match and held on to beat Les GUTCHES of (USA) 2-1 in overtime to advance to the semifinals.

GUTCHES, competing in his first Olympic Games, scored a takedown 2 minutes, 50 seconds into the match to narrow the gap to 2-1. But JABRAILOV held off GUTCHES's advances the rest of the way.

Sebahattin OZTURK of Turkey, the 1993 world champion, remained alive for a bronze medal in Pool B.

Semifinals: YANG Hyun-Mo (KOR) vs. Elmadi JABRAILOV (KAZ); Khadzhimurad MAGOMEDOV (RUS) vs. Amir Reza KHADEM AZGHADI (IRI)

ANGLE Advances; Gold medalist KHABELOV, World Champion SABEJEW lose at 100kg

Arawat SABEJEW of Germany, the 1994 world champion and 1995 world silver medalist, and Leri KHABELOV of Russia became the sixth and seventh world-level champions knocked out of gold-medal contention in the second round Tuesday evening.

SABEJEW was up 3-0 and seemingly in command against Sahid MURTAZALIYEV of Ukraine late in their match. Then MURTAZALIYEV scored a takedown with just over one minute remaining in regulation time, locked up a leg lace and scored six 2-point turns in succession to end the match at 4 minutes, 21 seconds.

Two matches later, KHABELOV, a four-time world champion, became the third defending Olympic gold medalist - and the second from Russia - to lose, dropping a 4-0 decision to Abbas JADIDI of the Islamic Republic of Iran. JADIDI moved up a weight class this year from 90kg, where he was the world bronze medalist last year. KHABELOV was out of the tournament less than an hour later when he forfeited his Pool B consolation match to Oleg LADIK of Canada.

Fresh off his upset win over SABEJEW, MURTAZALIYEV nearly added Kurt ANGLE (USA), the 1995 world champion, to his list of victims in the quarterfinals, taking ANGLE down to his back with a fireman's carry for 3 points 45 seconds into the match. But ANGLE struck back immediately for a takedown to make it 3-1, and then tied the score at 3-3 with a gut wrench 2 minutes, 55 seconds into the match. ANGLE spun behind for the winning takedown with 52 seconds remaining.

ANGLE had beaten Wilfredo MORALES SUAREZ of Cuba , 2-0, in overtime in the second round. Already ahead on passivity calls, ANGLE scored both his takedowns in the final minute of overtime for the win.

Semifinals: Kurt ANGLE (USA) vs. Kontstantin ALEKSANDROV (KGZ); Abbas JADIDI (IRI) vs. Marek GARMULEWICZ (POL)

"(MURTAZALIYEV) definitely surprised me when he hit that fireman's carry for three points," ANGLE said. "I knew I had to tie it up. I baited him. He tried (the fireman's carry) again, and I capitalized on it. I knew I was in good shape when I hit the gut wrench. He put his hands over his face and I think he knew he was in trouble."


Freestyle Wrestling/Preliminary Round 1

KIM, VILA Advance at 48kg

KIM Il of the People's Republic of Korea, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, and Alexis VILA PERDOMO of Cuba, the 1993 and 1994 World Champion, advanced toward a possible gold-medal final with two victories each in the first session Tuesday morning at the Georgia World Congress Center.

KIM, 25, who ended a three-year retirement to return to competition this year, advanced by scoring a 12-2 technical superiority win over Jafar MOSTAGHIM BESARATI of Sweden at 4 minutes, 36 seconds and shut out European champion Viktor YEFTENI of Ukraine 3-0. YEFTENI had defeated the 1995 World Champion, Vugar ORUDZHOV of Russia, 4-3 in tone of the top first-round matchups. KIM will meet JUNG Soon-Won of Korea in an all-Korean semifinal Wednesday morning.

VILA PERDOMO beat Isaac JACOB of Nigeria 4-0 at 6 minutes, 4 seconds of overtime, then needed only 1 minute, 54 seconds to finish a 11-0 technical superiority win over Filiberto FERNANDEZ of Mexico. VILA PERDOMO will meet 1995 World bronze medalist Armen MKRCHYAN of Armenia in the quarterfinals Tuesday evening. MKRCHYAN advanced with a 9-2 second-round victory over Rob EITER of the United States.

Also advancing to Wednesday morning's semifinals was Vitalii RAILEAN of Moldova.

CROSS-ABE matchup an American classic at 57kg

Kendall CROSS of Raleigh, North Carolina and Sanshiro ABE of Japan may have different nations of origin, but they know each other very well.

CROSS wrestled the shortest match of the Tuesday morning session, winning by 10-0 technical superiority over Talata EMBALO of Guinea Bissau in just 54 seconds. ABE also won 10-0 over Bogdan CIUFULESCU of Romania at 3 minutes, 34 seconds.

Despite his Japanese roots, ABE is familiar to American wrestling fans. He was the National Collegiate Champion this year at 126 pounds competing for the Pennsylvania State University. As an assistant wrestling coach at the University of North Carolina, CROSS scouted ABE for his school's wrestlers. This evening, he'll use that scouting report himself.

Carlos PUERTO DIAZ of Cuba was the only 1992 Olympic gold medalist to fall Tuesday morning, losing 4-3 in overtime to Saban TRSTENA of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Trailing 3-2, TRSTENA scored a takedown with 5 seconds remaining in regulation time, then won it with another takedown 1 minute, 28 seconds into the extra session.

Giuvi SISSAOURI of Canada, the 1995 World silver medalist, beat 1993 World bronze medalist Tserenbaatar TSOGTBAYAR of Mongolia 8-3 and could meet 1994 World silver medalist Mohammed TALAEI of the Islamic Republic of Iran Tuesday evening. In an upset, 1995 World bronze medalist Harun DOGAN of Turkey lost 3-0 to RI Yong Sam of the People's Republic of Korea.

"I wanted to get (the match) over with," CROSS said. "I'd heard of the country (Guinea Bissau, that first-round opponent) was from, but I didn't know where it was. I have to create good position. If I give (ABE) a chance, he's really tough."

FADZAEV Rallies to Win Referee's Decision at 68kg

Arsen FADZAEV of Uzbekistan, the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist and a seven-time World-level champion, erased a 2-0 deficit in the 3-minute overtime period and scored a 2-2 referee's decision over 1994 World Champion Ali Akbar FALLAH of the Islamic Republic of Iran in one of the top first-round matches.

FALLAH scored the only point in the 5-minute regulation period, on a knee-pick takedown 4 minutes, 20 seconds into the match, then extended his lead to 2-0 in the first minute of overtime. International rules require a competitor to score 3 points to win a match prior to the end of overtime, however. FADZAEV was able to tie the match with two takedowns of his own, the second 50 seconds before the end of overtime. FADZAEV was awarded the decision on a 2-1 edge in passivity calls.

Townsend SAUNDERS of Phoenix, Arizona, fourth in the 1993 World Championships, rallied to beat Yuksel SANLI of Turkey 3-1 at 5 minutes, 36 seconds of overtime. SAUNDERS will face the 1995 World Champion, Arayik GEVORGYAN of Armenia, in the second round. GEVORGYAN eased past Ahmad ALAOSTA of Syria 9-1.

"I'm back, but it's tough," said FADZAEV, who ended a three-year retirement to return to competition this year. "I feel great about the victory, and I fell great about getting back to the big sport."

JABRAILOV Brothers Featured in Showdown at 82kg

So often in wrestling, what matters most is "the luck of the draw."

It was good and bad luck for brothers Elmadi and Lucman JABRAILOV, who found themselves facing each other in the second round Tuesday morning. Elmadi, competing for Kazakhstan, advanced to the semifinals with a 10-8 decision over Lucman, competing for Moldova.

Les GUTCHES of Corvallis, Oregon displayed his entire arsenal in scoring two victories in his Olympic Games debut. GUTCHES scored a 3-point crotch-lift throw 1 minute into the opener and made it stand up for a 3-2 victory over Alexsandr SAVKO of Belarus. He showed his strength on his feet in the second round, scoring four takedowns in a 4-0 shutout over Serhiy HUBRYNYUK of Ukraine.

GUTCHES would advance to the semifinals with a win over YANG Hyun-Mo of Korea this evening.

Also in the semifinals: Khadzhimurad MAGOMEDOV of Russia and Amir Reza KHADEM AZGHADI of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Sebahattin OZTURK of Turkey, the 1994 World Champion, lost 3-2 to Ruslan KHINCHAGOV of Uzbekistan in his first-round match.

See story.

ANGLE Opens World Championship Defense with Overtime Win at 100kg

Kurt ANGLE of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, scored the second of two 2-point gut wrenches 1 minute, 27 seconds into overtime to finish off Dolgorsuren SUMIYABAZAR of Mongolia 4-0 in his first-round match.

ANGLE, shut out on his feet during the match, nevertheless controlled the tempo and had a 4-1 edge in passivity calls during the match. After failing to score on his first two attempts on top, ANGLE scored his first gut wrench 10 seconds before the end of regulation time for a 2-0 lead.

ANGLE will face Wilfredo MORALES SUAREZ of Cuba, who shut out 1988 Olympic bronze medalist KIM Tae-Woo of Korea 6-0.

Arawat SABEJEW of Germany, the 1994 World Champion who lost to ANGLE in the World Championship final last year, advanced toward a possible third-round matchup against ANGLE, which would take place in this evening's session. SABEJEW beat Sergry KOVALEVSKIY of Belarus, fourth in the World Championships last year, 3-0.

"I had been scouted well," ANGLE said. "I had to score on the mat. It was my first match and I was a little tense. I was standing straight up. I wanted to wear (SUMIYABAZAR) down because I know I'm in better condition than any of my opponents."


This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.


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Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium.