Former UNI Panther Moza Fay took home silver at the CISM Military World Championship over the weekend. Fay was the only American to take home a free style medal at the event.
Fay lost to Galynmzhan Userbayev of Kazakhstan, 10-7, in the gold medal match after cruising through his semi-final match against Henri Selenius of Finland 10-0.
“I was one-dimensional in my offense. It gives me something to work on,” Fay said about the match. “He was a smart wrestler. He was a little more technical.”
Fay was on the losing side of a challenge in the second period. After Userbayev scored a takedown early, there was a scramble, with Userbayev scoring a four point takedown, Fay a two point reversal, and Userbayev a one point reversal. Fay’s corner threw the challenge brick out but the calls were upheld, causing Fay to give up another point and he was down 8-4.
“I definitely thought it was exposure, I should have gotten more than the one point, I wasn’t happy,” Fay said about the review. “But when it comes down to it you can’t leave it up to throwing the block in, if you’re going to be the best you have to win definitively.”
Fay went out fighting though, scoring one more takedown, scoring three more points, but he also gave up another takedown and in the end he could not overcome the deficit.
Overall Fay went 3-1 on the day, with two tech fall wins, in his first CISM World Championship outing. He also beat the 2010 CISM champion, Krystian Brzozowski of Poland, 7-6.
The gold medal match can be found below, as well as USA Wrestling’s interview with Fay after his gold medal match.
Gold Medal Match:
Interview: