World University Men's Freestyle Update

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06/24/2002


EDMONTON -- Iranians showed their superiority Saturday with a six-medal performance in seven men's freestyle divisions at the world university wrestling championships.     Hamid Saifi and Ali Reza Dabir of Iran outscored their opponents by a cumulative 70-5 in four wins each as they won gold medals in the 96- and 66-kilogram division, respectively.     Iran's Babak Nourzad (55 kg), Mehdi Baraati (74 kg) and Abdol Reza Kargar (120 kg) added silver medals. Teammate Majid Khodaei earned a bronze medal at 84 kg.     Turkey was second in the medal standings with two golds and one silver.     Fahrettin Ozata and Fatih Cakiroglu of Turkey were gold medallists at 74 and 120 kg, respectively. Teammate Osman Ozgun had a silver at 96 kg.     China had one gold, one silver and one bronze for third place in the medal standings. Fang Xiaosheng won the gold at 84 kg.     The U.S. was fourth in the medal standings with three bronze. Japan had one gold and one bronze, Moldova claimed a silver and bronze, Korea collected one gold and Israel had one silver.     The fans were especially noisy during three finals between Iranians and Turks. The Iranian supporters cheered loudly, began rhythmic clapping and chanting.     Two Turkish flags were waved in the area where their fans were seated at the University of Alberta.        Tomohiro Matsunaga was the Japanese gold medallist, at 55 kg. Young-Ho Jung won Korea's gold at 60 kg.     Saifi defeated Ozgun 8-1 in the most one-sided final. That gave Saifi a 37-2 advantage over his opponents.     Dabir beat Ruslan Bodisteanu of Moldova 6-0 in the final. Dabir outscored his opponents 33-3 and didn't allow a point in three of the wins.     Dabir, 24, is considered by many to be the finest wrestler in the world. He was the 2000 Olympic gold medallist at 58 kg, is a three-time World Cup gold medallist at 58 kg and also won the World Cup at 63 kg.     He won a world championship at 58 kg, is a two-time world championship silver medallist, at 58 and 63 kg, was the world university championships gold medallist at 58 kg in 1996 and the world university championships silver medallist at 57 kg in 1996.     Ozata defeated Baraati 4-3 in the final. Cakiroglu beat Kargar 3-2.     Matsunaga defeated Nourzad 6-1 in the final. Jung beat Fu Fangming of China 3-0 and Xiaosheng defeated Sergei Kolesnikov of Israel 5-1.     The competition continues Sunday with the first women's freestyle matches in the world university championships.     The men's Greco Roman competition will be Monday and Tuesday to close out the championships.                  5TH WORLD UNIVERSITY WRESTLING CHAMPIOHSHIPS  MENS FREESTYLE TEAM STANDINGS      COUNTRY        POINTS    1. ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN    61  2. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    48  3. TURKEY       47  4. JAPAN       46  5. CHINA       34  6.  CANADA       33  7.  KOREA       27  8.  MOLDOVA       17  9. ISRAEL       14  10. MEXICO       8                      Following are Saturday's men's freestyle results from the fifth world university wrestling championships in Edmonton:      55 kg  Gold-medal match  Tomohiro Matsunaga, Japan def. Babak Nourzad, Iran 6-1    Bonze-medal match  Ghenadie Tulbea, Moldova def. Ramazan Demir, Turkey by superiority, 11-0    Semi-finals  Matsunaga defeated Tulbea 8-2  Nourzad def. Demir by superiority, 11-1    Remaining final placements  5th -- Hyo-Sub Kim, Korea; 6th -- Jose Manuel Viramontes, Mexico; 7th -- Mike Silengo, U.S. ; 8th -- Michael Stitt, Canada (Sherwood Park, Alta.); 9th -- Khom Ratanak Mony, Cambodia    60 kg  Gold-medal match  Young-Ho Jung, Korea def. Fu Fangming, China 3-0    Bronze-medal match  Chris Fleeger, U.S. def. Jesse Saunders, Canada (Abbotsford, B.C.) 6-1    Remaining final placements  5th -- Mehdi Nikmanesh, Iran; 6th -- Daishi Matsuo, Japan; 7th -- Mustafa Biger, Turkey; 8th -- Roshan Dissanayake, Sri Lanka    66 kg  Gold-medal match  Ali Reza Dabir, Iran def. Ruslan Bodisteanu, Moldova 6-0    Bronze-medal match  Masahiko Nagashima, Japan def. Ahto Raska, Estonia 4-3    Semi-finals  Dabir def. Nagashima 6-0  Bodisteanu def. Rashka 7-1     Remaining final placements  5th -- Jeremy Spates, U.S.; 6th -- Yong-Pil Cho, Korea; 7th -- Rob Lang, Canada (Regina); 8th -- Jouni Rosenlof, Finland; 9th -- Ilhami Orhan, Turkey; 10th -- Radoslaw Wierzbicki, Poland; 11th -- Marc Viardot, Germany; 12th -- Luis Delgado, Mexico     74 kg  Gold-medal match  Fahrettin Ozata, Turkey def. Mehdi Baraati, Iran 4-3    Bronze-medal match  Xu Xuanchong, China def. Andrew Hrovat, U.S., 4-2    Semi-finals  Baraati def. Hrovat 6-5  Ozata def. Xuanchong 4-3    Remaining final placements  5th -- Youn-Ho Kim, Korea; 6th -- Kazuyuki Nagashima, Japan; 7th --  Sebastien Bourdin, France; 8th -- David Kooperberg, Canada (Calgary); 9th -- Daniel Dancak, Slovakia     84 kg  Gold-medal match  Fang Xiaosheng, China def. Sergei Kolesnikov, Israel 5-1    Bronze-medal match  Majid Khodaei, Iran def. Damion Hahn, U.S., 13-5    Remaining final placements  5th -- Katsutoshi Semba, Japan; 6th -- Gokhan Yavaser, Turkey; 7th --Dante Berlingeri, Canada (Oshawa, Ont.); 8th -- Nandana Jayabahu, Sir Lanka     96 kg  Gold-medal match  Hamid Saifi, Iran def. Osman Ozgun, Turkey 8-1    Bronze-medal match  Jon Trenge, U.S., def. Steve Snyders, Canada (Calgary) by superiority, 10-0    Remaining final placements  5th -- Akihito Tanaka, Japan; 6th -- Yan Virin, Israel; 7th -- Mark Cocker, Great Britain; 8th -- Juan Carlos Delgado, Mexico    120 kg  Gold-medal match  Fatih Cakiroglu, Turkey def. Abdol Reza Kargar, Iran 3-2    Bronze-medal match  Andrew Bowlby, U.S. def. Li Jinlong, China 10-1    Remaining final placements  5th -- Naoki Swada, Japan; 6th -- Carlo Panaro, Canada (Edmonton)