ROME, Italy (June 15) --- Kyle DAKE 🇺🇸 dominated Olympic bronze medalist Soner DEMIRTAS 🇹🇷 en route to the #WrestleRome 2020 Matteo Pellicone 74kg gold medal.
Dake won two world titles at 79kg before moving down to 74kg for a run at a Tokyo Olympic medal, making his debut in Rome at the Pellicone. His opening outing was successful in terms of medal color, but as expected, there were a few wrinkles that the eventual Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist needed to iron out.
Dake said, “I’m a little disappointed in the earlier rounds, but I went out with a bang.”
In his first three matches, Dake scored 18 points, yet he only scored two takedowns. “I was just slapping at the legs and I needed to recognize that sooner,” said Dake. “The first couple of matches I was just trying new stuff and it wasn’t working so I went back to my old stuff.”
Dake’s plan for the Pellicone finals was to get back to his "old stuff," which meant he needed to, “Get through a guy. Go through him, go take him down, turn him, turn him, turn him and get off the mat.”
That’s exactly what Dake did in the gold-medal match, as he demolished world and Olympic bronze medalist Soner Demirtas in 35 seconds.
Dake led 7-0, 16 seconds into the first period, and after his Turkish opponent was hit with a fleeing-the-hold call, the American went back on top in par terre. A pair of gut wrenches less than 20 seconds later gave Dake the 11-0 technical superiority victory and the Ranking Series gold.
This year's Matteo Pellcione Ranking Series event kicks off next Wednesday (June 22-25) at Italy’s Pala Pellicone Olympic Training Center. Catch all the action live on www.uww.org.
