The first day of compeition didn’t go as fans would like at the Yarygin Grand Prix as Matt McDonough lost a tough 15-14 against Nodar Arabidze and Tony Ramos lost 10-0 TF to Ismail Musukayev both of Russia at 57 KG.
Ramos recieved a second chance however when Musukayev made the finals by defeating Erdenbat 11-1 TF in the semifinals. Erdenbat may be another familiar name to Ramos fans as he was the first round matchup for the former Hawkeye at the 2014 World Tournamnet.
Ramos lost his second bout of the day 8-4:
@RossIAWrestle Lost 8-4 at the very last moment.
— Tim Foley (@trfoley) January 23, 2015
Brent Metcalf’s 65 KG draw announced on Twitter:
#yarygin2015 65kg: 1st round 8. @BHMetcalf vs Ashirov Kaz; 19 @JimmyKennedy60 vs Sereda Blr; 28 @AaronPicoUSA vs Chakaev Rus.
— Ivan_FSwrestling (@sikom_d) January 23, 2015
Last year Metcalf was 1-1, losing to an opponent he had beaten in the prior year’s quarterfinal. In that tournament two years ago, Metcalf took silver which at the time made him the first American to reach the Yarygin finals since Steve Mocco did it in 2009.
Also this tidbit from T.R. Foley of Intermat:
McD, bleeding from his face after an awesome match, stopped to yell at me that he’s having fun even if he’s not smiling.
I deserved that.
— Tim Foley (@trfoley) January 23, 2015
This was in response to this Friday mailbag, where Foley answered a question about Iowa wrestlers not having fun, even when they win.
[…] results weekend for the Hawkeye Wrestling Club athletes, as yesterday Matt McDonough and Tony Ramos combined to go 0-3 at 57 KG at what is considered the toughest tournament outside of the world […]