SARAJEVO, Bosnia – James Kasser of Lewis Center, Ohio claimed a gold medal at 63 kg in Div. D, the top U.S. performance in men’s freestyle on the second day of the Veterans World Championships on Wednesday.

Kasser won his third career Veterans World title, to go along with gold medals in both 2010 and 2011.

Kasser won a five-athlete roundrobin in his weight class, including a victory over runner-up Mykhaylo Nylpyuk of Ukraine.

He becomes the fourth U.S. gold medalist at the Veterans Worlds this year so far, joining three other champions from Tuesday:  Michael Schyck (Div. B, 85 kg), Steven Turgeon (Div. D, 58 kg) and Shirzad Ahmadi (Div. E, 63 kg). All four are multiple Veterans World champions.

The USA finished the day with four medalists. Capturing a silver medal at 85 kg in Div. C was Kevin Pine of Las Vegas, Nev., who lost in the finals to Gyozo Lakatos of Hungary. Pine won his first three matches, beating two athletes from Russia and another from Germany.

The two U.S. bronze medalists were both in Div. C, Victor Aybar at 58 kg and Steve Horton at 76 kg.

The freestyle competition at the Veterans Worlds ends Thursday with Div. A and Div. G. Greco-Roman action begins on Friday.

VETERANS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Sarajevo, Bosnia

Men’s freestyle results

Div.C
58 kg – Magomed Magomedov (Russia)
63 kg – Boris Savva (Moldova)
69 kg – Nekulaj Rascanu (Germany)
76 kg – I Athanassiadis (Greece)
85 kg – Gyozo Lakatos (Hungary)
97 kg – Christopher Sutton (South Africa)
130 kg – Farkhod Reza Zade (Russia)

Div. D
58 kg – Zhora Hovhannisyan (Armenia)
63 kg – James Kasser (USA)
69 kg – Zakiy Bikbulatov (Russia)
76 kg – Soslan Adyrkhaiev (Ukraine)
85 kg – Willem Putter (South Africa)
97 kg – Guroi Kaplan (Turkey)
130 kg – Abdulla Zabakov (Kazakhstan)

U.S. men's freestyle performances

Div. C

58 kg - Victor Aybar, Manchester, Md., bronze medal
WIN Dmitri Goncharov (Russia), 6-2
LOSS Anatoli Olesov (Russia), 0-7
LOSS Magomed Magomedov (Russia), 1-7

76 kg - Steve Horton, Ramstein AFB, Germany, bronze medal
LOSS Igor Ilin (Russia)
WIN Osman Onder (Turkey), 8-6

85 kg - Kevin Pine, Las Vegas, Nev., silver medal
WIN Khamzat Israilov (Russia), 6-4
WIN Hajk Berhard (Germany), 7-0
WIN Ibragim Nagaev (Russia), 10-2
LOSS Gyozo Lakatos (Hungary)

97 kg - Jeffery Anderson, Zeeland, Mich., 5th place
LOSS Igor Zadnepryannyy (Kazakhstan), pin
WIN Anuar Uxumbayev (Kazakhstan), pin
LOSS Radislav Navazhap (Russia), 0-7

130 kg – P. Constandache, 6th place
LOSS Erol Yilidrim (Turkey)

Div. D

63 kg - George Fiscella, Newport News, Va., 4th place
LOSS James Kasser (USA)
WIN Ruslan Popov (Russia), 8-0
WIN Viktor Cherkashin (Russia), 6-4
LOSS Mykhaylo Nylpyuk (Ukraine)

63 kg - James Kasser, Lewis Center, Ohio, gold medal
WIN George Fischella (USA)
WIN Mykhaylo Nylpyuk (Ukraine), 8-0
LOSS Ruslan Popov (Russia)
WIN Viktor Cherkashin (Russia)