Two-time Olympian Ildar Hafizov‘s (Army/WCAP) latest bid for a World medal ended on Tuesday following a loss to former Russian competitor Abu Amaev of Bulgaria.
The second and final day of Greco-Roman at the 2024 Non-Olympic Weight World Championships began at 10:30am local time from Tirana, Albania and streamed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
On Monday, Hafizov fell in the 63 kg qualification round to Nihad Mammadli (AZE); but because Mammadli advanced to the tournament final, Hafizov received an opportunity to continue his quest for hardware in the repechage earlier this morning. Standing across was two-time European Championships bronze Amaev, who since defecting to Bulgaria two years ago has strung together one solid international performance after another.
The scoring opened for Amaev by way of a step-out point early in the first period. Hafizov was then cited for passivity but did a fine job of defending from par terre bottom. Later in the frame, the duo were amid a flurry towards the edge with Hafizov a hair from stepping off the line. Instead, he pivoted back inside the circle and — after a lengthy challenge process on the part of Bulgaria — was awarded a point to cut his deficit in half. Shortly before the break, Amaev was able to saunter into a body attack, and Hafizov countered to land on top as the motion took both athletes out of bounds. Hafizov thought that he had scored — but when the mat referee signaled that a step-out point belonged to Amaev, the American asked for a challenge review. The call on the mat was upheld and Amaev had for himself a 4-1 lead.
In the second period, Amaev benefited from a passivity call yet again before scoring two points from a lift attempt. Hafizov had his moments in spaces through the race to the finish, but he ultimately could not generate the type of offense necessary to make a dent on the scoreboard and Amaev had clinched the 7-1 decision.
Amaev would go on to defeat Hleb Makaranka (AIN) in the next repechage round and lost in the bronze-medal match to Armenia’s Karen Aslanyan. As for Mammadli, he captured the 63 kg World crown with a win over Yerzhet Zharlykassyn (KAZ).
2024 Non-Olympic World Championships
October 28-29 – Tirana, ALB
TEAM USA DAY 1 RESULTS
Brady Koontz (TMWC/Dubque RTC — 11th
LOSS Sanjeev Sanjeev (IND) 5-3
63 kg: Ildar Hafizov (Army/WCAP) — 17th
LOSS Nihad Mammadli (AZE) 10-0, TF
LOSS Abu Amaev (BUL) 7-1
72 kg: Benji Peak (Combat WC) — 13th
WON Mohammadreza Geraei (IRI) 11-3, TF
LOSS Dominik Etlinger (CRO) 9-0, TF
82 kg: Aliaksandr Kikiniou (NYAC) — 21st
LOSS Per Albin Olofsson (SWE) 5-1
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