InterMat: Inside info from the N.W.C.A
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International wrestling excitement displayed in Illinois and ColoradoBy Gary Abbott The Chicago Cup was hosted in Evanston, Ill. on Feb. 6 and the Dave Schultz Memorial International Championships was held in Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 9-10. Both of these events were major successes for a variety of reasons. The Chicago Cup as the first major international World Dual meet held in our nation in the last few years. It featured the United States against World champion Russia in a men’s freestyle dual match. In addition, there were four additional international bouts held, two in men’s Greco-Roman and two in women’s freestyle. The event was promoted by World Sport Chicago, the organization seeking to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to Chicago. Bill Scherr, a 1985 World champion and 1988 Olympic medalist in freestyle wrestling, heads up World Sport Chicago. He and his army of volunteers did a tremendous job pulling this event together and promoting it to their region. A decision reached by the organizers was to provide tickets free of charge. There was some risk with this strategy, especially when the weather turned bad on the day of the dual meet, with cold and snow in the region. However, an estimated 7,000 fans packed Welsh-Ryan Arena at Northwestern Univ. to cheer on Team USA, and to witness Olympic wrestling at the highest level. One very positive aspect of the dual meet was the inclusion of two local stars, Illinois natives Lindsey Durlacher in Greco-Roman and Mary Kelly in women’s wrestling. Both compete for the New York AC. Durlacher, who hailed from Buffalo Grove, Ill., won an exciting bout against an opponent from China, firing up the large crowd. Kelly dropped a close match to multiple World medalist Carol Huyhn of Canada. Both received considerable media attention in the massive Chicago market. In one of the other featured bouts, 2006 World bronze medalist Harry Lester of the Gator WC/USOEC defeated 2006 World champion Li Yanyan of China in Greco-Roman. The freestyle dual meet did not turn out as hoped for Team USA, which fell to the strong Russian team, 6-1. Many of the top American freestylers had challenging matches, the kind of experience which will help the team later in the season at the Pan American Games and World Championships. Mo Lawal of the Gator WC, the flamboyant star at 96 kg, won his match for Team USA, and fired up the crowd with his performance. Lawal has charmed large crowds on many other occasions, including his gold-medal victory at the Takhti Cup in Iran in January. Lawal’s personality on and off the mat is making him a favorite of wrestling fans around the world. Adding to the great spectator turnout at the event was the fact that the Chicago Cup was broadcast live on the internet by LiveSportsVideo.com, and was also televised in a 10-state region on WYCC, Channel 20. Many thousands of other sports fans were able to enjoy this exciting event on their TV sets or home computers. When the Chicago Cup was finished, the focus of USA Wrestling turned to the ninth annual Dave Schultz Memorial International, held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Going into the event, this was billed as the largest and most competitive Schultz ever. The tournament met those expectations and more. A total of 24 nations were represented in the event, and the number of athletes grew to almost 400 competitors. The quality of the field was very strong in every weight class. Coming into the tournament, more than a dozen past World and Olympic champions were in the field, with stars in all three international styles. Of the past World or Olympic Champions in the tournament, only Nikolay Gergov of Bulgaria (Greco-Roman 66 kg) and Dremiel Byers of the United States (Greco-Roman 120 kg) were able to win gold medals at the 2007 Dave Schultz Memorial. During both days, past gold medalists were beaten time and time again. The United States had a strong performance, with 13 individual champions. U.S. champions in Greco-Roman were Byers, plus Lindsey Durlacher of the New York AC (55 kg), Brad Vering of the New York AC (84 kg) and Justin Ruiz of the New York AC (96 kg). Americans who won in men’s freestyle included Travis Lee of the New York AC (60 kg), Jared Lawrence of the Minnesota Storm (66 kg), Clint Wattenberg of the New York AC (84 kg) and Daniel Cormier of the Gator WC (120 kg). The women champions from the USA were Stephanie Murata of the Sunkist Kids (48 kg), Patricia Miranda of the Sunkist Kids (51 kg), Marcie Van Dusen of the Sunkist Kids (55 kg), Randi Miller of the Gator WC (63 kg) and Katie Downing of the Sunkist Kids (67 kg). Fans who attended the event saw some great wrestling. The return of 1996 Olympic champion Kendall Cross to competition added some tremendous drama, as the 38-year-old battled through a very competitive 60-kg freestyle weight class. Cross was suddenly pinned in a match against young Angel Cejudo, but battled back in the wrestlebacks to take the bronze medal, beating Cejudo in a rematch. The finals saw some top American stars drop matches in a dramatic fashion. Randi Miller continued her torrid streak of recent success in the women’s 63 kg division, when she stopped 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann of the Sunkist Kids in the gold-medal finals. At 60 kg in Greco-Roman, Nurbakyt Tengibayev of Kazakhstan edged 2006 World champion Joe Warren of the New York AC in the finals. Next year’s Dave Schultz Memorial is already building excitement, as those involved are getting prepared to celebrate the 10 th year anniversary of this large and growing international spectacular. The spirit of the late Dave Schultz, known as an ambassador of goodwill around the world, has also continued to develop over the years through this competition. The Dave Schultz Memorial International is scheduled to be broadcast on the Altitude Sports and Entertainment network, with an initial airing set for Saturday, Feb. 24 at 5:00 p.m. Mountain time. Altitude reaches 10 states located in the Rocky Mountain region, and can also be accessed through Dish Network or DirecTV. The 2008 Olympic Games will be here before you know it. All wrestling fans are encouraged to follow the international styles in the next two years, by attending events, watching television shows, viewing webcasts and following the sport on TheMat.com, InterMat and other wrestling websites. Gary Abbott is the Director of Communications and Special Projects for USA Wrestling and is a founder of the National Wrestling Media Association and is a 2005 recipient of the NWCA Meritorious Service Award. |
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