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Sadness in Sofia

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Everyone knew this last chance Olympic Qualifier was not where you wanted to be. With contraction to just 16 spots per weight class for the 2020 Olympics, there were going to be a lot of credentialed wrestlers left to qualify with just two spots and a blind draw to accomplish their dream.

USA came in just seeking 3 of the total 18 spots getting the previous done at the 2019 World Championships and the Pan Am Qualifier. The other two spots are in Greco on Saturday. Zain Retherford was upset when he was caught and pinned during a leg lace attempt at Pan Am’s forcing whomever won the Olympic Trials the tumultuous task of making the finals in this tough tournament in the traditionally toughest international weight.

Jordan Oliver won the trials and headed to Bulgaria this week, but fell in the semi-finals to veteran Russian (wrestling for Poland) Gadzhiev 3-2 in a heartbreaker. JO gave up a step out and a shot clock in the first to trail 2-0 at the break. He pressed the issue in the second, but it was him who was again put on the shot clock. Oliver scored on a beautiful double approximately 31 seconds later to make the score 3-2 where it would finish.

Oddly enough, it was an impressive day for Oliver and the Americans who wrestle for different flags. JO gutted out three wins over accomplished veterans. Also, David Habat (Slovenia) and Mitch Finesilver (Israel) also fell in close matches in the semi-finals, one win away from the Olympics. Dom Abounader (Lebanon) also notched a tough win early on the day, and Malik Amine (San Marino) dropped a close 3-2 match to reigning 3-time Africa Champion Barraj (Tunisia).

For positivity sakes, it’s worth remembering Frank Molinaro took 3rd in his last qualifier, but gained his Olympic license when there was a positive drug test. Perhaps some magic can happen in the next couple weeks with the three fellas that are one win away.

Men’s freestyle finals
(both nations in each final have now qualified for Tokyo Olympics)
57 kg - Yuki Takahashi (Japan) vs. Bekhbayar Erdenebat (Mongolia)
65 kg - Georgios Pilidis (Greece)vs. Magomedurad Gadzhiev (Poland)
74 kg - Vasyl Mikhailov (Ukraine) vs. Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (Belarus)
86 kg - Sohsuke Takatani (Japan) vs. Boris Makoev (Slovakia)
97 kg - Abraham Conyedo Ruano (Italy) vs. Albert Saritov (Romania)
125 kg - Sergei Kozyrev (Russia) vs. Sumit Sumit (India)