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Yesterday, Tony Ramos took the mat at 57 KG for Team USA and had a disappointing tournament as he went 0-1, his day ending before it ever really got going.
Today, it was Brent Metcalf’s turn to try and redeem the Hawkeye Wrestling Club at 65 KG for USA. Metcalf’s situation was almost the exact opposite of Tony’s. Metcalf is competing in his third World Championships and was considered to be one of the favorites to win the whole thing. If some didn’t view him as the favorite, they certainly viewed him as a strong medal contender. His day started strong as he had an opening round technical fall over Korea’s Yunseok Lee.
From there he ran into his first ranked opponent, Mustafa Kaya of Turkey. We knew getting by Kaya wouldn’t be a walk in the park, but as we mentioned yesterday, Metcalf making the quarterfinals seemed like a strong probability. Metcalf wrestled a tight match, but in the end he wasn’t able to overcome Kaya and fell. From there Americans were left rooting for Kaya to make the finals to pull Metcalf back in to the tournament to maybe make the bronze medal match. Kaya made the semifinals, and was out to what looked like a commanding 6-2 lead after the first period over his opponent from Iran. Sadly Kaya left his dominance in the first period, as he wound up losing, giving up 10 unanswered points to start the second period, which eliminated Metcalf from medal contention.
An overall rough freestyle tournament for the Americans, Tervel is USA’s only sure medalist as he already has a bronze medal at 125 KG, and former World champion Jordan Burroughs will look to win bronze at 74 KG on an injured knee (rumored – we don’t yet know the extent of the injury). Even with just two medals in freestyle, some fans may be left with a bad taste in their mouth.
Metcalf’s win
Metcalf’s loss
Post match interview
65 kg/143 lbs. – Brent Metcalf, Iowa City, Iowa (New York AC/Hawkeye WC)
WIN Yun-Seok Lee (Korea), 11-0
LOSS Mustafa Kaya (Turkey), 4-6
This is also now on the Ramos post from yesterday, but below is the Ramos first round match, in which he lost yesterday. You can also see him post tournament interview. Look for the World Championships to be a big topic in this weeks upcoming Cross Face episode.