BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (August 22) – Barring the loss in the final of the Ivan Yarygin tournament at the start of the year, Ismail KHANIEV (RUS) has won gold medals at every tournament he has participated in.
On Saturday, he added one more gold by winning the 79kg title at the U20 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia by defeating Asian champion Keyvan GHAREHDAGI (JPN), 8-0 in the final.
The United States had a mixed results in the two finals it was competing on Saturday. Former U17 world champion Bowen BASSETT (USA) added the U20 world title after winning the 65kg gold medal while Isaiah CORTEZ (USA) dropped his final at 57kg.
Bassett, a bronze medalist from the 2024 U20 World Championships, had a slow start against Takuto OSEDO (JPN) in the final as both were in a tangle. Osedo was put on the 30-second activity clock and Bassett went up 1-0 at the break.
A minute into the second half, Bassett shot for Osedo's legs who used a counter lift to score two points before Bassett scored a reversal to make it 2-2 with Osedo leading on criteria. He then turned Osedo two times to extend his lead to 6-2.
Bassett continued his attacks and managed another leg-attack to score a takedown and lead 8-2. Osedo could not find the energy to make a comeback and the U.S. captured its third gold medal in Freestyle after two on Friday.
Isaiah CORTEZ (USA) finished with a second silver medal at the U20 World Championships, two years after winning silver in Greco-Roman at the 2024 edition. Cortez opened the scoring when Magomed MAGOMEDOV (RUS) was put on the activity clock but did not score, giving one point to Cortez.
He then got on the leg-attack and rolled over Magomedov for two points but Cortez also got reversal but fell behind on criteria. Magomedov managed a hard-fought takedown to lead 4-2 at the break.
Cortez got on multiple attacks but failed to finish them while Magomedov managed two more takedown against Cortez's one to win 8-4 and win Russia's first gold medal in Freestyle.
The final bout of the day brought the most drama as Sandro KURASHVILI (GEO) used a body throw in the last one second to beat Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI), 5-2, in the 92kg final. Rahmani led 2-0 till 5:54 in the six-minute final when he glanced at the clock.
Kurashvili used that slip in the concentration of Rahmani and locked him including one of his arm and threw him for four points with less than a second remaining to claim the gold medal 4-2. Iran, despite knowing that there was time left for the throw, challenged the decision. In a quick review, it was a clear Rahmani fell and turned more than 90 degrees before time expired.
The gold medal was the first in Freestyle for Georgia at the U20 level after 13 years. Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) was the last U20 world champion for the country in 2013.
RESULTS
57kg
GOLD: Magomed MAGOMEDOV (RUS) df. Isaiah CORTEZ (USA), 8-4
BRONZE: Nurassyl ASSAMBEK (KAZ) df. Ulugbek RASHIDOV (UZB), 13-6
BRONZE: Yamato OGAWA (JPN) df. Nurtilek ZAMIRBEKOV (KGZ), 7-0
65kg
GOLD: Bowen BASSETT (USA) df. Takuto OSEDO (JPN), 8-2
BRONZE: Zalimkhan UMAROV (RUS) df. Haci ZADE (TUR), 13-2
BRONZE: Isa ISAKOV (KGZ) df. Ivan OKSIUK (POL), via fall (13-2)
79kg
GOLD: Ismail KHANIEV (RUS) df. Keyvan GHAREHDAGHI (JPN), 8-0
BRONZE: Bohdan OLEKSIIENKO (UKR) df. Tristan ALEKSANDROV (EST), 10-0
BRONZE: Ryan BURTON (USA) df. Eljan ISMAYILZADA (AZE), 10-4
92kg
GOLD: Sandro KURASHVILI (GEO) df. Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI), 5-2
BRONZE: James MASTNY (USA) df. Beibarys YERGALI (KAZ), 3-2
BRONZE: Darius SAS (ROU) df. Alan TSAGARAEV (BLR), 6-2
