PARIS (January 29) – 2016 Olympic bronze medalists Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Marwa AMRI (TUN) were the toast of Paris on Sunday, capping off the final day of competition at the Paris International with dynamic performances and gold medals dangling from their necks.
World No. 3 Petriashvili, who also owns two World Championships bronze medals, took down Daniel LIGETI (HUN) 8-2 in a battle of Olympians to win the 125-kg men’s freestyle gold. The Georgian navigated to the finals with two decisive technical fall wins over American opponents Zach REY and Bobby TELFORD.
Amri, currently ranked No. 3 in the World, was impressive as ever in Paris as she earned three victories to claim the 63 kg women’s freestyle crown. In the gold-medal match, Amri secured a second-period fall over Natalia KUBATY (POL) to finish her tournament.
A trio of highly-credentialed Iranians captured gold medals during the day’s Greco-Roman competition.
Three-time World Military medalist and 2010 World University champion Mohsen HAJI POUR (IRI) soundly defeated 2015 World Military Games champion Mirambek AINALUGOV (KAZ) in the 59-kg final, 8-0.
Two-time Junior World medalist Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI) edged 2016 World University champion Peter NAGY (HUN) 3-1 for the 80-kg gold. Taherisartang currently sits at No. 11 in the World rankings.
2016 Asian champion and World University bronze medalist Amir GHASEMIMONJAZI (IRI) dominated his two bouts on the day en route to the 130-kg gold medal. The 19th ranked wrestler in the World won 9-0 over Oskar MARVIK (NOR) in the championship match.
Armenia’s high-flying Karen ASLANYAN wowed spectators on his run to the 66 kg Greco-Roman title. He ousted 2016 U23 European champion Mateusz BERNATEK (POL) 4-1 in the finals.
Circling back to the men’s freestyle competition, 2016 U23 European bronze medalist Shota PHARTENADZE (GEO) joined his countryman Petriashvili atop the podium. Phartenadze scored a 9-2 decision over a red-hot Jayson NESS (USA) in the 57-kg gold-medal match.
Champions Kyle DAKE (USA) and David TAYLOR (USA) were pitted against fellow Americans in their gold-medal matches. Dake, a U.S. Olympic Team Trials runner-up, ran through upstart Alex DIERINGER (USA), 10-0, to win his second-ever international medal at 74 kg. Taylor, a two-time Grand Prix of Spain champion and 2013 World University Games bronze medalist, won by 8-5 decision over Richard PERRY (USA) to claim the 86-kg title.
The U.S. contingent in Paris came away with five of the eight gold medals up for grabs throughout the men’s freestyle tournament.
2016 Olympians Michelle FAZZARI (CAN) and Epp MAE (EST) found themselves with gold medals in women’s freestyle. Fazzari was dominant in a 9-2 win over 2015 Junior World champion Elin NILSSON (SWE) in the 58-kg championship match. Mae emerged the highest point scorer in a five-woman round-robin to take the 75-kg title.
Coming off a loss in the 55-kg bronze-medal match at the 2016 World Championships, World No. 6 Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN) moved to the top of the podium with a 7-0 win over Nadzeya SHUSHKO (BLR) in the finals.
Visit the Paris International event page on unitedworldwrestling.org for complete brackets, match-by-match results and archived video from the event.
Sunday’s medal match results:
Men’s Freestyle 61 kg (11 entries)
Gold – Shota PHARTENADZE (GEO) df. Jayson NESS (USA), 9-2
Bronze – Jozsef MOLNAR (HUN) df. Randy VOCK (SUI), 8-5
Bronze – Tony RAMOS (USA) df. Iurii SIEMAKIN (FRA) by Injury Default, 0-0
Men’s Freestyle 74 kg (12 entries)
Gold – Kyle DAKE (USA) df. Alex DIERINGER (USA) by TF, 10-0
Bronze – Matt BROWN (USA) df. Dan VALIMONT (USA), 8-2
Bronze – Kubilay CAKICI (GER) df. Henri SELENIUS (FIN), 10-9
Men’s Freestyle 86 kg (12 entries)
Gold – David TAYLOR (USA) df. Richard PERRY (USA), 8-5
Bronze – Istvan VEREB (HUN) df. Akhmed AIBUEV (FRA), 6-0
Bronze – Raman CHYTADZE (BLR) df. Arkadzi PAHASIAN (BLR), 6-1
Men’s Freestyle 125 kg (7 entries)
Gold – Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) df. Daniel LIGETI (HUN), 8-2
Bronze – Zach REY (USA) df. Bobby TELFORD (USA), 1-1
Bronze – Vitali PIASNIAK (BLR) df. Catriel Pehuen MURIEL (ARG) by FALL, 5-2
Greco-Roman 59 kg (12 entries)
Gold – Mohsen HAJI POUR (IRI) df. Mirambek AINALUGOV (KAZ) by TF, 8-0
Bronze – Bagylan ZHAKANSHA (KAZ) df. Miczal TRACZ (POL), 6-0
Bronze – Zhanserik SARSENBIYEV (KAZ) df. Tigran GALUSTYAN (FRA), 6-3
Greco-Roman 66 kg (20 entries)
Gold – Karen ASLANYAN (ARM) df. Mateusz BERNATEK (POL), 4-1
Bronze – Martin TOTH (HUN) df. Ali ARSALAN (IRI) by FALL, 10-8
Bronze – Roman PACURKOWSKI (POL) df. Hrachia MALKHASIAN (FRA), 10-6
Greco-Roman 80 kg (10 entries)
Gold – Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI) df. Peter NAGY (HUN), 3-1
Bronze – Alex KESSIDIS (SWE) df. Dragutin DUKIC (FRA), 1-0
Bronze – Daulet ZHAXYLYKOV (KAZ) df. Anis GHARBI (FRA), 4-1
Greco-Roman 130 kg (6 entries)
Gold – Amir GHASEMIMONJAZI (IRI) df. Oskar MARVIK (NOR) by TF, 9-0
Bronze – Ferenc ALMASI (HUN) df. Eric FADER (USA) by TF, 8-0
Women’s Freestyle 55 kg (9 entries)
Gold – Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN) df. Nadzeya SHUSHKO (BLR), 7-0
Bronze – Emilie DUFOUR (FRA) df. Zalina SIDAKOVA (BLR) by forfeit, 0-0
Bronze – Lenka HOCKOVA (CZE) df. Ronja Marlen BUROE (NOR) by FALL, 10-0
Women’s Freestyle 58 kg (13 entries)
Gold – Michelle FAZZARI (CAN) df. Elin NILSSON (SWE), 9-2
Bronze – Yuliya PISARENKA (BLR) df. Aurélie BASSET (FRA), 6-0
Bronze – Agnieszka KROL (POL) df. Sonia BAUDIN (FRA) by FALL, 9-6
Women’s Freestyle 63 kg (12 entries)
Gold – Marwa AMRI (TUN) df. Natalia KUBATY (POL) by FALL, 6-2
Bronze – Moa NYGREN (SWE) df. Sara DA COL (ITA) by FALL, 10-0
Bronze – Braxton STONE (CAN) df. Kriszta INCZE (ROU) by forfeit, 0-0
