Local Hero Korpasi Wins Greco-Roman Title in Budapest

BUDAPEST (December 10) – Local hero Balint KORPASI (HUN) hammered out a 2-1 decision in the 71kg Greco-Roman final on Saturday to claim his first major title at the world championships for weight categories not contested at this summer’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Korpasi, who began 2016 with a triumph at the Grand Prix of Hungary in Szombathely, closes out the year on top of the medals podium at home after a bruising final with Daniel CATARAGA (MDA), the 2015 European under-23 champion.

In one of the bronze medal finals in Greco-Roman, 2010 world champion Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) forged a 2-1 win over 2015 world bronze medalist Adam KURAK (RUS) in a reversal of their championship final at the 2014 European championships.

Also at the Syma Csarnok event center in Budapest, Logan STIEBER (USA) got busy in the second period with a pair of low-level attacks for a six-point lead and then held on for an 8-4 win over European Games silver medalist Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) in the 61kg freestyle final.

Stieber, who needed a pair of last-second victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals in the morning session to reach the championship bout, claimed his first international title in his senior world championships debut.

In the women’s final at 55kg, junior world champ Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN) wrapped up a technical fall at 1:27 to assign Irina OLOGONOVA (RUS) a world championships silver medal for the third year in a row.

Mukaida, fresh from triumph at the junior world meet in August, claimed her second world title of the year and fourth “world” overall – with a pair of cadet world titles in 2012 and 2013 to go along with the gold medal at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.

Mukaida, one of the heirs apparent to take on the mantle of 13-time world champion Saori YOSHIDA (JPN), outscored her four opponents on Saturday 43-2 and heads home to Japan where she is seeking her first senior national championship title.

Results of medal matches Saturday evening:

Freestyle 61kg (22 entries)

Gold – Logan STIEBER (USA) df. Beka LOMTADZE (GEO), 8-4
Bronze – Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS) df. Behnam EHSANPOOR (IRI), 7-4
Bronze – Akhmednabi GVARZATILOV (AZE) df. Youri SIEMAKIN (FRA), 4-1

Semifinal – Logan STIEBER (USA) df. Behnam EHSANPOOR (IRI), 9-8
Semifinal – Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) df. Akhmednabi GVARZATILOV (AZE), 12-11

Greco-Roman 71kg (29 entries)

Gold – Balint KORPASI (HUN) df. Daniel CATARAGA (MDA), 2-1
Bronze – Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) df. Adam KURAK (RUS), 2-1
Bronze – Ilie COJOCARI (ROU) df. Aleksandar MAKSIMOVIC (SRB), 5-2

Semifinal – Daniel CATARAGA (MDA) df. Hasan ALIYEV (AZE), 3-3
Semifinal – Balint KORPASI (HUN) df. Ilie COJOCARI (ROU) by TF, 8-0, 2:37

Women’s Wrestling 55kg (17 entries)

Gold – Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN) df. Irina OLOGONOVA (RUS) by TF, 10-0, 1:27
Bronze – Aiym ABDILDINA (KAZ) df. Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN) by Fall, 2:17 (8-0)
Bronze – DAVAASUKH Otgontsetseg (MGL) df. Katsiaryna HANCHAR (BLR) by TF, 10-0, 1:46

Semifinal – Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN) df. Aiym ABDILDINA (KAZ) by TF, 10-0, 4:38
Semifinal – Irina OLOGONOVA (RUS) df. Katsiaryna HANCHAR (BLR) by TF, 12-2, 4:30