Marcus Finau (Ewa Beach,Hawaii/USOEC) won a bronze medal at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. on the final day of competition at the Petko Sirakov-Ivan Ilieve Junior Open in Bulgaria. 

Finau finished 3-1 on the day, defeating Bulgaria’s Viktor Tzanov 3-0, 1-0 in the bronze medal match. He started the day with a win over Kazakhstan’s Izotov Mikhail, then defeated Ashimbayev Aidyn also of Kazakhstan. Finau’s only defeat came against Bulgaria’s Ilian Gazepov.

This is Finau’s second medal in two weeks, after taking silver at last weekend’s Austrian Junior Greco-Roman Open.

Isaiah Verona (Miami, Fla.) wrestled in the third place match at 55 kg/121 lbs., losing to Bulgaria’s Stefan Grigorov to take fifth place.

The U.S. had three medals for the week, with Jesse Thielke (Germantown, Wis./New York AC) winning bronze at 60 kg/132 lbs. and Parker Betts also taking a bronze at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

PETKO SIRAKOV – IVAN ILIEV JUNIOR OPEN
At Vama, Bulgaria, March 18, 2012

U.S. Greco-Roman performances

55 kg/121 lbs.
Isaiah Verona (Miami, Fla.) – 5th 
WIN Stefan Grigorov (Bulgaria) 1-0, 2-1 
LOSS Nikolay Vichev (Bulgaria) 0-7, 0-7
LOSS Stefan Grigorov (Bulgaria) 0-1, 0-1

84 kg/185 lbs.
Devin Peterson (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.), dnp
LOSS Iantoc Alexandru (Romania) 1-7, 0-2
LOSS Ding Samba (France) 4-1 0-3, fall

96 kg/211.5 lbs.
Marcus Finau (Ewa Beach, Hawii/USOEC) – 3rd
WIN Izotov Mikhail (Kazakhstan) 0-1, 4-2, 3-1 
WIN Ashimbayev Aidyn (Kazakhstan) 1-3, 2-0, 2-0
LOSS Ilian Gazepov (Bulgaria) 1-0, 3-0