Azerbaijan defeats USA 5-2 in freestyle dual meet held in Baku on Sunday
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By Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
07/18/2010
BAKU, Azerbaijan - Host Azerbaijan won five of seven matches in a men’s freestyle dual meet against the United States on Sunday.
The dual meet was held between sessions of the Greco-Roman event at the Heydar Aliyev Golden Grand Prix finals. It was the second year that these two top world poweres have met in this kind of exhibition dual meet.
Winning matches for the United States were Shawn Bunch (Columbus, Ohio/Gator WC) at 60 kg/132 lbs. and 2009 World silver medalist Jake Herbert (Evanston, Ill./New York AC) at 84 kg/185 lbs.
Bunch defeated 2009 World silver medalist Zelimkhan Huseynov, 3-0, 0-8, 4-1. Herbert stopped 2009 World bronze medalist Sharif Sharipov, 1-1, 1-0.
The U.S. team featured five members for the 2010 U.S. World Team. The Azerbaijan team consisted of their top athletes in each weight. There was considerable prize money at stake in the dual meet.
Quotes from National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones
"We competed well as a team today The world is starting to fear the American wrestling team again."
“Don't let the score fool you we closed the gap on them today. Angel and Bergman lost on the score board but won the match. If Angel doesn't give up a west point with 10 seconds left and JD runs behind his guy with 15 seconds to go we're celebrating a USA win. I can't see Bergman ever losing to the Azerbaijanian again. Metcalf got beat but he learned a heck of a lot this week. He reminds me of where Herbert was at this point last year. Jake came out of college and lost here last year, went home, made a couple of corrections, and then came to the worlds and stood on the podium. Brent will do the same. “
“Unfortunately beating a top team in the world is a game of inches and we lost the close moments when we needed it. We have to be stingy at the right time not just the tough time. There were times when they had doubt in their face as we turned up the heat but breaking them and beating them are two different things.”
Quotes from Assistant National Freestyle Coach Brandon Slay
"Team USA is definitely improving. We are making huge strides in many technical areas, and our results in the Golden Grand Prix and dual against AZB exhibited our progress."
"In the 2009 Golden Grand Prix, we won 2 medals. This year we won 3X as many with 6 medals. And, we beat World Champs and World Medalists along the way."
"We battled very hard against Azerbaijan in the dual and were extremely close to getting wins from Angel against Magomedov, who was the recent European Champ, and from JD against Gazyumov, who was second in World in 2009. They fought hard and had break through performances."
"Our wins came from Bunch who beat Haseynov (2nd in 2009 worlds), and Jake who beat Sharifov (3rd 2009 Worlds) to put us in a position to win the dual. But, unfortunately, we didn't finish strong, which is they to key to winning a match and winning a dual. Our performance proved that we have the potential to become the best team in the world down the road. Now, we must continue to make the necessary corrections over the next 7 weeks and put those lessons into action when we stop on the mat in Moscow for the World Championships."
AZERBAIJAN 5, USA 2
55 kg – Magomed Magomedov (Azerbaijan) dec. Angel Escobedo (USA), 4-0, 0-6, 4-2
60 kg – Shawn Bunch (USA) dec. Zelimkhan Huseynov (Azerbaijan), 3-0, 0-8, 4-1
66 kg – Jabrayil Hasanov (Azerbaijan) dec. Brent Metcalf (USA), 7-1, 3-2
74 kg – Chamsulvara Chamsulvarayev (Azerbaijan) dec. Travis Paulson (USA), first period inj. dft.
84 kg – Jake Herbert (USA) dec. Sharif Sharipov (Azerbaijan), 1-1, 1-0
96 kg – Khetag Gazyumov (Azerbaijan) dec. J.D. Bergman (USA), 1-0, 1-3, 1-0
120 kg – Tokhtar Temrezov (Azerbaijan) dec. Les Sigman (USA), 1-0, 1-0
