PATTAYA, Thailand - In three previous trips to the FILA Junior World Championships, Jesse Thielke had never won a match. 

That changed on Tuesday at the Eastern Sports Training Center in Pattaya, Thailand as Thielke (Germantown, Wis./Sunkist Kids) won four matches en route to a bronze medal finish at the 2012 Junior World Championships at 60 kg/132 lbs. 

The only other American to place in the top ten was Geordan Speiller (Ovideo, Fla./Florida Jets), who finished in seventh at 74 kg/163 lbs.

Thielke scored a 1-0, 1-0 victory over Ramunas Dagys of Lithuania, scoring a first-period takedown and scoring a point by defending in par terre. 

After a disappointing and controversial loss to Ramin Taheri of Iran in the semifinals, Thielke regained his composure. He wrestled smart and will return to the United States with a bronze medal draped around his neck. 

“It felt good to win my first match,” said a relieved Thielke. “There’s nothing I can do about the judge’s call in the Iran match, I mean, I made it to the world semis, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Thielke wrestled sharp all morning before his controversial loss.

“I pretty much dominated with the exception of that match,” he said.

Against Taheri, Thielke fell behind early, but rallied with a takedown and a late exposure to bring the score within 3-2 in the final seconds of the first. Coach Ike Anderson threw the challenge brick at the close of the period, asking for two points on the exposure. After two views from the jury of the video, the jury appeared to award Thielke two points, which would have won him the period.

But officials not part of the jury reviewed the video once again and held with the initial call despite the jury awarding two points, and the period, to Thielke. 

Taheri would win 3-2, 1-0 to advance to the finals, where he later lost to Russia’s Zaur Kabaloev.

Thielke stormed off the mat in disbelief. The same feeling most, if not all, of the American delegation held. 

After cooling down, Thielke took to the mat and brought home the bronze. 

He opened the day with a 1-0, 1-0 victory over China’s Lixim Tai and followed with a 1-0, 1-0 victory over Croatia’s Kristijan Simatic. In the semifinals, Thielke twice battled back to win periods he was previously trailing.

Against Moldova’s Maxim Mamulat, Thielke fell behind early in both periods but came away with a 3-3, 1-1 victory.  Thielke trailed 3-0 after getting hit with a wicked arm throw on the edge as Thielke was trying to force a pushout. Thielke rebounded by scoring a three-pointer off a bodylock to win the first 3-3. He struck again late in the second period with a pushout. The call initially went Mamalut’s way, but after a U.S. challenge, Thielke was awarded the point. 

Speiller opened up the day with one of the toughest draws in the tournament – Russian Islam Charaev, the 2012 European Junior Champion. Speiller prevailed 3-1, 0-1, 1-1. Speiller rallied in the first period from a 1-0 deficit to win the first with a three-point arm throw late in the period. After dropping the second period on an early pushout, Speiller again rallied to score late with a takedown on a go-behind in the final 30 seconds to score the decisive final point of the period.

Speiller would then top Turkmenistan’s Doyran Yaylymov in a bizarre disqualification. Speiller lost the first, then won the second. In the third, Speiller drove Yaylymov out of bounds twice by driving an underhook hard. After the second pushout, Yaylymov backed straight out of the same underhook position three times and was hit for three consecutive cautions, which by rule, is a disqualification.

In the quarterfinals, Speiller was defeated 1-0, 1-0 by Belarus’ Kazbek Kilov. When Kilov reached the finals, Speiller was pulled back into bronze-medal contention.

Kilov eventually won the championship, defeating Georgia’s Tornike Dzamashvili in the finals at 74 kg.

He was knocked out of the tournament after a 6-0, 1-0 repechage loss to Iran’s Payani Bouyeri. He finished the tournament in seventh place. 

Isaiah Varona (Miami, Fla./Varona Trained) and Marcus Finau (Ewa Beach, Hawaii/USOEC) both went 0-1 in competition and were not pulled back into repechage competition as their first-round opponents were defeated in later rounds.

Varona fell to Korea’s Hyeok-Jin Jeon 2-0, 3-2 at 50 kg/110 lbs., while Finau lost to eventual semifinalist Samir Voloshanin of Ukraine 1-0, 1-0. He would finish in 11th place, while Finau ended up in 19th. 

Four U.S. wrestlers weighed in on Tuesday afternoon for competition in Wednesday’s final day of Greco-Roman competition.

Augsburg College’s Mike Fuenffinger (Hibbing, Minn./Minnesota Storm) will face South Africa’s Marco Coetzee at 55 kg/121 lbs. Coetzee was fourth in the African Junior Championships. The winner will face either Serif Kilic of Turkey or Ismail Muhummad of Indonesia.

Northern Michigan’s Nick Alvarez (Miami, Fla./USOEC) will take on Matous Morbitzer of the Czech Republic at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. Morbitzer is wrestling in his second Junior Worlds and finished 30th last year. He was 16th at the European Juniors. The winner will face either Bhagwan Shri of India or Obloberdiev Khsurav of Tajikistan. 

Indiana University’s Lucas Sheridan (Concord, Calif./CYC/Hoosier WC) will face Faud Aliyev of Azerbaijan in his opening match. Alievy was 18th at the Junior Worlds last year. The winner will face either Baris Gungor of Turkey or Ylyas Esenov of Turkmenistan.

Columbia University heavyweight Wyatt Baker (Anaheim Hills, Calif./NYAC) will wrestle Mykola Kuchmii of Ukraine in the opening round. The winner will face either Manjeet of India, Yannan Zhang of China or Rodsmail Phatthanan of Thailand. 

Wrestling begins at 1 p.m. local time in Pattaya. 

FILA JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Pattaya, Thailand, September 4

Greco-Roman results

50 kg/110 lbs.
Gold – Murad Bazarov (Azerbaijan)
Silver – Artur Labazanov (Russia)
Bronze – Ali Macias Soto (Mexico)
Bronze – Tolgahan Karatas (Turkey)	
5th – Vasyl Symonenko (Ukraine)
5th – Andriy Tsaryuk (Israel)
7th – Haibin Fang (China)
8th – Ashkan Gholikiani (Iran)
9th – Bence Juhasz (Hungary)
10th – Hyeok-Jin Jeon (Korea)
11th – Isaiah Varona (United States)

60 kg/132 lbs.
Gold – Zaur Kabaloev (Russia)
Silver – Ramin Taheri (Iran)
Bronze – Jesse Thielke (United States)
Bronze – Enes Basar (Turkey)
5th – Ramunas Dagys (Lithuania)
5th – Jakub Serkowski (Poland)
7th – Maxim Mamulat (Moldova)
8th – Cheol Jeong (Korea)
9th – Urmatbek Amatov (Kyrgyzstan)
10th – Meiirbek Donenbekov (Kazakhstan)

74 kg/163 lbs.
Gold – Kazbek Kilov (Belarus)
Silver – Tornike Dzamashvili (Georgia)
Bronze – Payani Bouyeri (Iran)
Bronze – Karapet Chalyan (Armenia)
5th – Azamat Kustubayev (Kazakhstan)
5th – Ismail Kocaslan (Turkey)
7th – Geordan Speiller (United States)
8th – Samat Shirdakov (Kyrgyzstan)
9th – Shamil Ertuganov (Azerbaijan)
10th – Oleksandr Kukhta (Ukraine)

96 kg/211 lbs.
Gold – Vilius Laurinaitis (Lithuania)
Silver – Peter Oehler (Germany)
Bronze – Marthin Nielsen (Denmark)
Bronze – Iakobi Kajaia (Georgia)
5th – Mikael Nyberg (Sweden)
5th – Samir Voloshanin (Ukraine)
7th – Saman Noorozi (Iran)
8th – Kevin Mejia Castillo (Honduras)
9th – Tuomas Lahti (Finland)
10th – Vahe Simonyan (Armenia)
19th – Marcus Finau (United States)

U.S. Greco-Roman performances

50 kg/110 lbs. – Isaiah Varona, Miami, Fla., DNP/11th
LOSS Hyeok-Jin Jeon (Korea) 2-0, 3-2

60 kg/132 lbs. – Jesse Thielke (Germantown, Wis.) – Bronze Medal
WIN Lixin Tai (China) 1-0, 1-0
WIN Kristijan Simatic (Croatia) 1-0, 1-0
WIN Maxim Mamulat (Moldova) 3-3, 1-1
LOSS Ramin Taheri (Iran) 3-2, 1-0
WIN Ramunas Dagys (Lithuania) 1-0, 1-0

74 kg/163 lbs. – Geordan Speiller (Oviedo, Fla.), 7th
WIN Islam Charaev (Russia) 3-1, 0-1, 1-1
WIN Doyran Yaylymov (Turkmenistan) 0-1, 1-1, DQ
LOSS Kazbek Kilov (Belarus) 1-0, 1-0
LOSS Payani Bouyeri (Iran) 6-0, 1-0

96 kg/211 lbs. – Marcus Finau (Ewa Beach, Hawaii), DNP/19th
LOSS Samir Voloshanin (Ukraine) 1-0, 1-0

U.S. Greco-Roman draws for Wednesday

55 kg/121 lbs. – Mike Fuenffinger (Hibbing, Minn./Minnesota Storm)
vs. Marco Coetzee (South Africa)

66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Nick Alvarez (Miami, Fla./USOEC)
vs. Matous Morbitzer (Czech Republic)

84 kg/185 lbs. – Lucas Sheridan (Concord, Calif./CYC/Hoosier WC)
vs. Faud Aliyev (Azerbaijan)

120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Wyatt Baker (Anaheim Hills, Calif./NYAC)
vs. Mykola Kuchmii (Ukraine)