Takedown Report

Burroughs beats Askren, Yianni stops Bajrang in historic Beat the Streets event in Madison Square Garden

By Gary Abbott and Mike Willis, USA Wrestling
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The sport of wrestling was the big winner during the 10th Beat the Streets competition, with a sold-out crowd of 5,000 fans supporting many of the best wrestlers in the nation and world at the Hulu Theater in the world-famous Madison Square Garden. In the Main Event, 2012 Olympic champion and four-time World champion Jordan Burroughs scored an 11-0 technical fall over 2008 Olympic wrestler and MMA star Ben Askren to close out the evening. Burroughs nailed a couple of patented blast doubles including one for four points. Up 9-0 at the break, Burroughs ended the bout with a low level attack early in the second period to win 11-0. “I absolutely love to wrestle. This is what I do fulltime,” said Burroughs, who was then joined by Askren in the interview area. “Ben, thank you. We have done this a lot in the past, but we have never been able to create this kind of fanfare. Let’s do it again next year.”

“It is May 6 on a Monday and there are 5,000 people in this theater to see wrestling. It was awesome,” said Askren. Ben Askren was in the first Beat the Streets Gala competition a decade ago on the U.S.S. Intrepid. Burroughs won his ninth match in Beat the Streets competition. Olympians in the same weight class, Askren competed for Team USA in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China and Burroughs competed in the 2012 Olympics in London, England and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There were four international matches and the United States won them all. The biggest battle happened at 65 kg, when two-time NCAA champion and two-time Cadet World champion Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell edged 2018 World silver medalist and two-time Asian champion Bajrang Punia of India, 10-8. Tied 2-2 at the break, Diakomihalis was up 8-4 in the second period, and came out of a wild scramble late to win 10-8. Diakomihalis was a 2019 U.S. Open champion a few weeks ago in his first full-season competing at the Senior level. When asked about beating the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the world in Bajrang, Diakomihalis was honest about what that means. “It don’t mean anything. I did not win a World title in that match. It just shows me that I am ready to win a World tournament. It’s good to know,” said Diakomihalis. The other U.S. winners against foreign opponents were Kyle Snyder (97 kg), Mallory Velte (62 kg) and Becka Leathers (57 kg), all World medalists for Team USA. Snyder, a 2016 Olympic champion and two-time World champion, scored a technical fall over 2015 Junior World bronze medalist Nishan Randhawa of Canada, 15-1. Up 9-0, Snyder nailed a big throw to close out the … Rest of the story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2019/May/06/BTS-wrap-Burroughs-beats-Askren?mc_cid=7e512389ee&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

May 7, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized