Takedown Report

Day 8 wrap: Johnson qualifies for repechage, Sancho falls in quarterfinals and eliminated, Braunagel & Rau out at Senior Worlds

BELGRADE, Serbia – Xavier Johnson has the final opportunity to win a medal in Greco-Roman for the United States, as he has qualified for the repechage round at 62 kg at the World Wrestling Championships in Stark Arena.

Johnson will wrestle Hrachya Poghosyan of Armenia in repechage on Sunday afternoon. If he wins against Poghosyan, he reaches a bronze medal match against Georgij Tibilov of Serbia.

Johnson, competing in his first Senior Worlds, opened up his competition with a 10-0 technical fall over India wrestler Vikram Kurade of UWW. In his second bout, he was edged by past World silver medalist Murad Mammedov of Azerbaijan, 3-1. Mammedov won his Saturday night semifinal, which made Johnson eligible for repechage. Only losers to a finalist may compete in repechage.

2020 Olympian Alejandro Sancho won two matches to reach the Saturday afternoon quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Slavik Galstyan of Armenia, 9-0. When Galstyan was defeated in the semifinals in the evening, Sancho was eliminated.

Sancho had a strong start, with wins over Valentin Petic of Moldova, 5-1 and Husiyuetu of China, 3-1.

The other wrestler in Group 3 of Greco-Roman, first-time Senior World Team member Zachary Braunagel, opened up his 86 kg competition with an 8-3 victory over Azym Annamagomedov ofTurkmenistan. In the next round, he was beaten by Olympic champion and two-time World champion Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine, 5-1. When Beleniuk was beaten in the next round, Braunagel was eliminated from the tournament.

The other U.S. wrestler to compete was from Group 2, Joe Rau, who qualified for Saturday morning’s repechage at 97 kg. He was pinned by Nicu Ojog of Romania in 55 seconds. Rau finished with a 1-2 record for the tournament.

Both of the other U.S. wrestlers in Group 2 were eliminated on Friday, Patrick Smith at 72 kg and Olympian and multiple World Team member Ildar Hafizov at 60 kg. … rest of story at … Themat.com/news/2023/sept/23/day-8-wrap-johnson-qualifies-for-repechage-sancho-falls-in-quarterfinals-and-eliminated-braunagel-rau-out-at-senior-worlds

September 27, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized