1ST REPORT OF THE DAY - Sept. 23HALL, ZUNIGA, CLARK, BYERS WEIGH IN AT 1999 WORLD GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ATHENS, GREECE
The second set of four U.S. wrestlers weighed in on Thursday, Sept. 23 and received their draws for Friday, Sept. 24 at the 45th Greco-Roman World Championships in Athens, Greece.
Pairings are done by random draw, with no seeding. Athletes are separated into pools of three or four wrestlers. A round-robin is held in each of the pools. The results of the pool competition will determine which 16 athletes in each weight will be able to advance to the championship bracket.
Dennis Hall (Plover, Wis./Sunkist Kids) drew into a pool of four athletes at 127.75 pounds. He will face 1996 Olympic Champion Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria, Igor Piatrenka of Belarus and U. Asilabek of Kyrgyzstan in his pool competition. Nazarian boasts five career World-level medals.
Hall was a 1995 World Champion, 1996 Olympic silver medalist and 1995 World bronze medalist. He is also a two-time Pan American Games champion. Hall is an eight-time U.S. Nationals champion and is competing on his sixth U.S. World team.
Dave Zuniga (New Brighton, Minn./Minnesota Storm) is scheduled to face Thomas Amundson of Norway and Mowses Karapetyan of Armenia in his pool at 152 pounds.
Zuniga was a member of the 1996 Olympic team where he finished tenth. This is Zuniga's fourth World team berth. He placed fourth at the 1994 World Championships.
Quincey Clark (New Brighton, Minn./Minnesota Storm) has a challenging draw at 187.25 pounds. He opens against 1996 Olympic champion and two-time World champion Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey. His second match will be M. Vakhtangadze of Georgia.
Clark placed ninth in the 1998 World Championships and won his first U.S. Nationals title in 1999.
Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) will face 1997 World silver medalist Mihaly Deak-Bardos of Hungary and Ion Ticala of Romania at 286 pounds.
Byers, the 1999 U.S. Nationals and Armed Forces champion, will compete on his first World team at 286 pounds. Byers defeated 1996 Olympic silver-medalist Matt Ghaffari to qualify for the U.S. team.
The first set of four U.S. athletes began their competition on Thursday, Sept. 23. They are Steven Mays (Pensacola, Fla./U.S. Navy) at 119 pounds, Shon Lewis (Colorado Springs, Colo./No Limit Soldier) at 138.75 pounds, Matt Lindland (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids), at 167.5 pounds and Jason Klohs (Maple Grove, Minn./Minnesota Storm) at 213.75 pounds. Complete results of their matches will be provided at the end of the competition day by press release, and on the USA Wrestling web page.
The 1999 World Championships serves as the first and largest qualifying event for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The top eight place winners at the 1999 World Championships in Greco-Roman qualify their nation to participate in the 2000 Olympic Games in their weight division. In total, 64 Olympic berths will be determined at the 1999 World Greco-Roman Championships.
The team is led by head coach Dan Chandler of Minneapolis, Minn., assistant coach Rob Hermann of Pensacola, Fla. and USA Wrestling Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Visit the USA Wrestling web page at http://www.usawrestling.org or the World Championships web page at http://www.wrestling.org.gr/wrestling/world99/main_en.html
1999 GRECO-ROMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS at Athens, Greece, Sept. 23 Second set of U.S. athletes pool pairings
58 kg/127.75 lbs. - Dennis Hall, Plover, Wis. (Sunkist Kids) - vs. Igor Piatrenka (Belarus); vs. Armen Nazarian (Bulgaria); vs. U. Asilabek (Kyrgyzstan)
69 kg/152 lbs. - Dave Zuniga, New Brighton, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) - vs. Thomas Amundson (Norway); vs. Mowses Karapetyan (Armenia)
85 kg/187.25 lbs. - Quincey Clark, New Brighton, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) - vs. Hamza Yerlikaya (Turkey); vs. M. Vakhtangadze (Georgia)
130 kg/286 lbs.- Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) - vs. Mihaly Deak-Bardos (Hungary); vs. Ion Ticala (Romania)
Pool Pairings for the second four weight classes
58 kg/127.75 lbs.
Pool 1 - B. Petrov (Austria); Ashkani (Iran); B. Kim-Young (N. Korea)
Pool 2 - S. Zetian (China); K. Nishimi (Japan); D. Ainaoui (France)
Pool 3 - T. Kathan (Austria); J. Carlsson (Sweden); M. Isokoski (Finland)
Pool 4 - I. Ceban (Moldova); T. Melchior (Philippines); Y. Melnichenko (Kazakhstan)
Pool 5 - P. Kasumov (Ukraine); J. Szeibinger (Poland); E. Dundar (Turkey)
Pool 6 - T. Po-Lang (Taipei); D. Aripov (Azerbaijan); A. Jansons (Latvia)
Pool 7 - K. In-Sub (Korea); J. Alvarado (Venezuela); V. Nikonorov (Russia)
Pool 8 - K. Mnatskanyan (Armenia); D. Maia (Portugal); A. Fernandez (Mexico)
Pool 9 - R. Monzon (Cuba); R. Yildiz (Germany); K. Guliashvili (Goergia)
Pool 10 - I. Majorios (Hungary); C. Borascu (Romania); A. Rayhaniasl (Netherlands)
Pool 11 - A. Churdish (Israel); R. Sukevicius (Lithuania); N. Theodossiadis (Greece); A. Vileyat (Azerbaijan)
Pool 12 - I. Piatrenka (Belarus); D. Hall (USA); U. Asilbek (Krygyzstan); A. Nazarian (Bulgaria)
69 kg/152 lbs.
Pool 1 - Jintchvelashvili (Georgia); N. Guler (Turkey); A. Harkanen (Finland)
Pool 2 - V. Kapytav (Belarus); S. Sang-Pil (Korea); K. Nagata (Japan)
Pool 3 - L. Colas (Cuba); D. Schnyder (Switzerland); J. Schou (Denmark)
Pool 4 - S. Hausle (Austria); B. Guerguiev (Bulgaria); A. Juretzko (Germany)
Pool 5 - J. Nel (South Africa); D. Miolski (Yugoslavia); G. Yalouz (France)
Pool 6 - R. Adji (Ukraine); A. Ordosaev (Kyrgyzstan); E. Memet (Romania)
Pool 7 - R. Wolny (Poland); M. Schoberg (Sweden); A. Tretiakov (Russia)
Pool 8 - D. Markovic (Bosnia-Herzogovina); V. Aslanov (Azerbaijan); P. Bielecz (Czech Rep.)
Pool 9 - J. Gon-I (N. Korea); P. Zaidvand (Iran); G. Pulyaev (Uzbekistan)
Pool 10 - T. Amundsen (Norway); M. Karapetyan (Armenia); D. Zuniga (USA)
Pool 11 - C. Hirbik (Hungary); L. Chen-Hua (Taipei); M. Manibusan (Guam)
Pool 12 - M. Koizhaignaov (Kazakhstan); Z. Xilin (China); A. Kolitsopoulous (Greece)
85 kg/187.25 lbs.
Pool 1 - H. Yerlikaya (Turkey); M. Vakhtangadze (Georgia); Q. Clark (USA)
Pool 2 - B. Jamshidi (Iran); T. Proovel (Estonia); J. Van de Pol (Netherlands)
Pool 3 - V. Tsvelents (Belarus); A. Jovancevic (Yugoslavia); T. Yeghishyan (Armenia)
Pool 4 - J. Matyser (Czech Rep.); B. Haziyev (Azerbaijan); Stoyanov (Bulgaria)
Pool 5 - T. Anagnostou (Greece); M. Asell (Finland); H. Yokoyama (Japan)
Pool 6 - M. Lidberg (Sweden); G. Tsitsiashvili (Israel); D. Millien (France)
Pool 7 - L. Daxin (China); L. Mendez (Cuba); M. Charyev (Turkmenistan)
Pool 8 - J. Ramos (Spain); E. Bartolozzi (Venezuela); A. Menchtchikov (Russia)
Pool 9 - F. Aanes (Norway); I. Tae-Jung (Korea); T. Zander (Germany)
Pool 10 - M. Letki (Poland); Z. Achilov (Uzbekistan); J. Kismoni (Hungary)
Pool 11 - A. Sardaryan (Ukraine); R. Sanatbaev (Kyrgyzstan); D. Martinetti (Switzerland)
130 kg/286 lbs.
Pool 1 - Chesmatiazar (Iran); D. Vala (Czech Rep.); A. Sofianidis (Greece)
Pool 2 - M. Deak Bardos (Hungary); I. Ticala (Romania); D. Byers (USA)
Pool 3 - R. Edfelder (Germany); Y. Young-Jin (Korea); D. Endelandze (Georgia)
Pool 4 - S. Moureyko (Bulgaria); A. Ciumac (Moldova); Y. Yavseitchik (Israel)
Pool 5 - K. Suzuki (Japan); G. Saldadze (Ukraine); D. Dziabelka (Belarus)
Pool 6 - F. Bakir (Turkey); H. Hallik (Estonia); J. Fafinski (Poland)
Pool 7 - N. Mizgaitis (Lithuania); G. Giunta (Italy); A. Karelin (Russia)
Pool 8 - G. Galstyan (Armenia); L. Kovacs (Austria); E. Bengtsson (Sweden)
Pool 9 - H. Milian (Cuba); Z. Hailin (China); A. Aliyev (Azerbaijan)