FILA announces Freestyle World Cup medalists, with Abas winning gold medal
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
03/31/2005
FILA, the international wrestling federation, announced the individual medalists from the Freestyle World Cup, which was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 5-6. That information was not available at the competition, but was recently posted in the FILA Database, which contains official results from international competitions. 2004 Olympic silver medalist Stephen Abas (Fresno, Calif./Sunkist Kids) won a gold-medal at 55 kg/121 lbs., the only U.S. champion in the competition. Abas won all five of his matches in the tournament in a dominant fashion. "Stephen Abas was outstanding," said National Freestyle Coach Kevin Jackson. "It may have been his last matches down at 55 kg. He is the only man alive capable of beating (Cuban Olympic champion) Yandro Quintana at 60 kg on a regular basis. Abas went out at this weight class like a champion, winning five in a row. He was uncontested." Winning a silver medal for the USA was 2004 Olympian Daniel Cormier (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) at 96 kg/211.5 pounds. Cormier won four of his five matches during the tournament. Winning bronze medals for the United States were Jared Lawrence (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs., Joe Williams (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) at 74 kg/163 lbs. and Tolly Thompson (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Williams won his first four matches in the World Cup, but was unable to wrestle in his final match against Russia, losing by injury default. Because of that default, Williams placed third in the medal standings, even though he had a 4-0 record in the bouts that he participated in. Cuba had four individual champions: Yandro Quintana at 60 kg/132 lbs., Ivan Fundora at 74 kg/163 lbs., Yoel Romero at 84 kg/185 lbs. and Alexis Rodriguez at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. The other two individual champions were from Ukraine: Andriy Stadnik at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. and Vasil Tismenetckiy at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. In the team standings, based upon the dual meet results, Cuba placed first, Ukraine was second, Russia was third, the United States was fourth, Uzbekistan was fifth and Iran was sixth. The U.S. had a 2-3 record in the competition.