Former University of Iowa standout and current Hawkeye Wrestling Club team member Bobby Telford capped off a fifth place finish at 125kg in his first appearance at the prestigious Ivan Yarygin tournament. Telford is one of four HWC wrestlers that represented the United States at the tournament, with Tony Ramos and Dan Dennis each competing on day one of the tournament yesterday.
To start his tournament off at the Yarygin Telford took on a relatively unknown Russian Asadula Iibragimov, winning 5-4 to reach the weight’s quarterfinal round. There he defeated Shamil Khakiev, who recently took third at the Korkin International tournament.
Telford dropped his first match of the day in the semifinals to Vladislav Baytsaev by fall, but by reaching the weight’s semifinals had guaranteed Telford a top five finish at the tournament. Baldan Tsyzhipov came through the repechage to meet Telford in the bronze medal match, and was able to defeat the American 5-3.
Bobby Telford
Qualification: Robert TELFORD (USA) df. Asadula IBRAGIMOV (RUS), 5-4
Quarterfinal: Robert TELFORD (USA) df. Shamil KHAKIEV (RUS), 3-1
Semifinal: Vladislav BAYTSAEV (RUS) df. Robert TELFORD (USA) by FALL, 2-0
BRONZE: Baldan TSYZHIPOV (RUS) df. Robert TELFORD (USA), 5-3
METCALF NEWS
Anaylsis from Takedown Wrestling: (Ohio State’s Logan) Stieber and (Brent) Metcalf cannot meet until the finals. As expected, 2014 world champ Soslan Ramonov is not competing. Stieber draws the Korkin champ in round one, and should he win would likely have two-time world bronze medalist Ganzorig of Mongolia. Of note, Ganzorig did not win Mongolian Nationals in December. If Stieber wins both of those, he will probably have 2013 world bronze medalist Kurbanaliev in the semis. Metcalf was the runner-up in last year’s Yarygin, and could have his finals opponent Bekbulatov in the quarters. Neither of Brent’s potential first two matchups have any credentials of note.
