Pictured: U23 World Championships bronze medalist Jay Aiello (97kg) with his coaches after winning 13-2 in the medal round in Belgrade, Serbia. Photo courtesy of USA Wrestling.
Session 12 is over at the U23 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. It was a great session for the USA.
During the round, Jay Aiello won his World bronze-medal match with Vasil Pauliuchenka of Belarus, convincingly, 13-2. Also, heavyweight Tony Cassioppi recorded a semifinal shutout against Russia's Saipudin Magomedov, a 2019 Juniors European Championships gold medalist, 5-0. As a result, Tony wrestles for a U23 World gold medal tomorrow.
Aiello was leading 1-0 with roughly 45 seconds left in the first period. Then, a wild scramble saw each wrestler awarded two points for exposure. But, Aiello finished the scramble by locking up a very tight lace and adding some turns before the end of the period. The American took a commanding 9-2 lead into period two. Aiello finished it off with a 13-2 tech at the buzzer.
https://twitter.com/theopenmat/status/1457060930165133315
In Tony's case, he took a narrow 1-0 into the break via a push-out point. Cassioppi pushed the Russian out again in the second period, was awarded a caution-and-one, and added a final go-behind takedown in the last seconds to secure the victory. The Russian had no answer for Cassioopi's defense.
https://twitter.com/codygoodwin/status/1457027613902479361
Tomorrow in the finals, the Hawkeye two-time All-American faces Azamat Khosonov (Greece). Khosonov took 17th at the 2021 Senior Worlds.
Elsewhere, Team USA men's freestyler Chris Cannon (61 kg) was brought back into the tournament via repechage because Artur Chebodaev (Russia) won, 5-3 in the semis to make the finals. Cannon can finish as high as third. He'll wrestle the winner of Avdyli (ALB) and Leutert (SUI) tomorrow.
Unfortunately, Peyton Robb, Myles Wilson, and Nino Bonaccorsi have all been eliminated.
OTHER 2021 U23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE
Session I Recap here
Session 2 Recap here
Session 3 Recap here
Session 4 Recap here
Session 5 Recap here
Session 6 Recap here
Session 7 Recap here
Session 8 Recap here
Session 9 Recap here
Session 10 Recap here
Session 11 Recap here
Back to articles