Takedown Report

In front of enthusiastic crowd, Zain Retherford earns trip to worlds

WILKES-BARRE – It will go down as one of the longest wrestling matches ever, one of the best atmospheres at a Luzerne County sporting event and one of the fastest events you’ll ever see. It took 85 days for the 65k Final X series between Zain Retherford and Yianni Diakomihalis to conclude its wrestle-off. But on Sunday, inside a rocking, jam-packed Marts Center in a match that lasted only about 10 minutes, Retherford secured his berth in the World Championships with a 2-1 victory.

“I’m feeling great. That was a lot of fun,” said Retherford, a three-time national champion from Penn State. In the continuation of a match originally held on June 8, all the points were scored in the first period. Diakomihalis took a 1-0 lead on a failed challenge by Retherford’s corner when he shot a low-double and Diakomilas tried to expose him with a chest wrap. Retherford’s corner thought that he either had a takedown or exposed Diakomihalis.

Retherford took a 2-1 lead shortly after when Diakomihalis took a shot, but Retherford countered and got two points for the takedown. “He’s the funkiest wrestler I ever wrestled, and there’s no way to prepare for that other than just control your ties, get to your attacks and that’s kinda what I focused on,” Retherford said. “That’s what I can control.” In the second period, the two scrambled for most of the time.  Rest of the story at
https://www.timesleader.com/sports/754460/wrestling-in-front-of-enthusiastic-crowd-zain-retherford-earns-trip-to-worlds?mc_cid=a67bf910f7&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

September 5, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized