Greco News

Monday Roundup: Final Week in Croatia; Hancock’s New Opponent; RUS Nat’l Results

By 5PM Staff

Posted on February 7, 2022

Roman Vlasov -- Photo: WrestRus

The US has begun the final week of training in Porec, Croatia with a scheduled departure set for February 13, after which they will head to Bulgaria in advance of the Nikola Petrov Memorial.

Originally, the United States program had designs on more than two European events in which to send athletes. Back in the fall, the plan had called for American participation in the Grand Prix Zagreb Open and the Matteo Pellicone “Ranking Series” tournament, with Petrov positioned as an option for those athletes who might have felt compelled to spend more time overseas. Then two major developments transpired. First, Pellicone was postponed until June; next, all Army athletes on the Euro roster were removed due to “elevated security concerns” stemming from the ongoing situation between Russia and Ukraine.

But when their stay in Bulgaria does come to a close, another opportunity may await. Hungary, for the second consecutive year, is hosting a prolonged training camp leading up to the European Championships in March. Reportedly, several Americans are interested in attending. The camp in Tata is especially attractive this year due in large part to March’s dearth of activity stateside. Currently, the purported next event on the American domestic calendar is the Bill Farrell Memorial (NYAC), which as of press time is still not officially listed.

Hancock Meets Egypt

One US athlete who might be in Hungary for camp is the recently oft-covered G’Angelo Hancock (97 kg, Sunkist, world #5) — who is returning to the states for a showdown this coming weekend. The 2021 World bronze will represent one half of the only Greco-Roman match at this Saturday’s Bout at the Ballpark card, and his opponent has been changed.

Hancock was set to square off against reigning World champ Mohammadhadi Saravi (IRI, world #1), but with Iran choosing to forgo sending a delegation, the next man up is Ahmed Hassan of Egypt. There is only a slight amount of history of which to speak. Hancock defeated Hassan 9-0 in the finals of the ’19 Bill Farrell Memorial.

Tickets are still available for purchase (ranging from $15 to $250) and the event will be streamed live on FLOWrestling.

Russian National Placewinners

Suzdal was the location for this past weekend’s Russian Championships, which saw multi-time World/Olympic Champion Roman Vlasov take the top spot at 82 kilograms. Vlasov, who claimed gold this past October in Oslo for his third title, was paired with chief rival Aleksander Chekhirkin in the final, but the match did not occur due to an injury default. “I really wanted to compete with Sasha (Chekhirkin),” Vlasov said. “I didn’t sleep for half the night. I was preparing for this match as though it were the Olympic final.” Vlasov was later named the tournament’s “Best Wrestler”.

At 77 kilograms, recent World champ and surging star Abuyazid Mantsigov went over Adlet Tyulyubaev in the battle for gold. The match was more contentious (2-0 decision) than Mantsigov had anticipated, and he partially blames Vlasov for the result. ” I waited for him to be in our weight, prepared for him,” said Mantsigov. “Perhaps this also affected my wrestling, because in the absence of Vlasov, I had to reconfigure. I made a lot of mistakes in the championship.”

Elsewhere, well-decorated Sergey Emelin (60 kg) picked up one more in a string of domestic accolades by hanging on for a 1-1 criteria win at the expense of Anvar Allahyarov. The biggest surprise of the final round actually occurred at heavyweight. With ’18 World/two-time Olympic bronze Sergey Semenov taking a pass, it was Vitali Schchur who most figured would come away victorious. But, no. Instead, Kurban Nazhmudinov got on a roll en-route to a 9-1 VSU to collect the biggest prize of his career thus far.