USA at the Worlds: Sept. 16-17

USA at the 2019 UWW World Championships

Competing Sept. 16-17

Greco-Roman wrestling will take place on the first four days of the 2019 UWW World Championships, which will be held Sept. 14-22 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The following is a closer look at three Americans, who hope to compete over two days.

Each weight will take place on two days; matches through semifinals on day 1, beginning at 1 a.m. EDT, and placement matches on day 2, repechage bouts beginning at 1 a.m. EDT and placement matches at 10 a.m. EDT.  All matches can be found at Trackwrestling.com.

60 K / 132 pounds

Ildar Hafizov

The 2019 Worlds in Kazakhstan will be somewhat of a homecoming for Ildar Hafizov, a native of nearby Uzbekistan. (Justin Hoch photo).

Bio:Age 31 (born Jan. 30, 1988); native of Tashkent, Uzbekistan; resident of Colorado Springs, Colo.; U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program; Immigrated to USA in 2014

International Experience:competed in four Senior Worlds; overall record 3-5; three for Uzbekistan; 2007-fifth (3-2), 2009-dnp (0-1) and 2011-dnp (0-1) and once for USA in 2017-dnp (0-1); also competed in 2008 Olympics for Uzbekistan, did not place (0-2 record)

2019 Final X:defeated Leslie Fuenffinger (U.S. Army WCAP) in best-of-three matches, 7-5, pin, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Sergey Emelin (Russia), ’18 World gold; 2. Seunghak Kim (Korea), ’17 World bronze; 3. Victor Ciobanu (Moldova), ‘18 World silver; 4. Ivan Lizatovic (Croatia), ’18 World silver.

 

77 K / 169.5 pounds

Pat Smith

Pat Smith (back) lost his first match to Kamal Bey before stunning the 2018 World Team member for two straight wins at Final X Rutgers. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 28 (born Dec. 19, 1990); native of Chaska, Minn.; resident of Minneapolis, Minn.; Minnesota Storm; wrestled at Minnesota.

International Experience:competed in one Senior Worlds; did not place in 2017 (1-1 record); also competed in 2014 University Worlds (silver).

2019 Final X:defeated 2018 World Team member Kamal Bey in best-of-three matches, 2-11, 2-1, 6-3, at Rutgers.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Hyeonwoo Kim (Korea), ’18 World bronze; 2. Viktor Nemes (Serbia), ’17 World gold, ’18 World bronze; 3. Tamas Lorincz (Hungary), ’17 and ‘18 World silver; 4. Pavel Liakh (Belarus), competed in last three Worlds.

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130 K / 286 pounds

Adam Coon

Adam Coon (left) beat Cohlton Schultz at Final X Lincoln to make his second World Team. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 24 (born Nov. 11, 1994); native of Fowlerville, Mich.; resident of Ann Arbor, Mich.; New York AC/Cliff Keen WC; 3-time All-American at Michigan (2015-18).

International Experience:Won a silver medal in the 2018 Worlds, going 4-1; Also competed in two Cadet Worlds; 2011 (gold in freestyle and dnp in Greco); Competed in two Junior Worlds; 2014, bronze in both freestyle and Greco.

2019 Final X: defeated Cohlton Schultz (Sunkist Kids/EAP) in best-of-three matches 8-0, 5-1, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Sergey Semenov (Russia), ’18 World gold, ’16 Olympic bronze; 2. Adam Coon (USA); 3. Minseok Kim (Korea), ’18 World bronze; 4. Heiki Nabi (Estonia), ’17 World silver.

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