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Synder Will Wrestle for Gold

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Andy Vance's picture
by Andy Vance
August 26, 2017 at 6:59am
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Updated 9:20 a.m. EDT with semifinal results

Reigning Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder will wrestle for his second World Championship title Saturday afternoon in Paris, France, after defeating Aslanbek Alborov of Azerbaijan by a 9-2 decision in the semifinals.

The two-time NCAA champion wasted no time in dispatching his first two opponents at the Senior World Championships. True to form, he took shots early and often, and earned the 10-0 tech fall just 118 seconds into the opening round match, with a 10-0 quarterfinal tech fall coming in the waning seconds of the first period.

The 2015 World Champion at 97kg enjoyed a bye in the first round of the tournament before meeting Mamed Ibragimov of Kazakhstan in the Round of 16. Snyder took his first shot just seconds into the opening period, earned a quick point from a pushout, and then put on a takedown clinic.

Snyder showed his strength with a solid throw to open a 3-0 lead, then followed with a series of single-leg takedowns at 50 seconds, 1:25, another pushout midway through the second minute, and a final single-leg secured the tech fall at 1:58.

It was quite the contrast to his hypothetical competition in the medal round, Russian juggernaut Abdulrashid Sadulaev. The Russian Tank opened his tournament against defensive specialist Reineris Salas Perez of Cuba, and took the full six minutes to grind out a 3-0 decision via two shot clock violations.

In the quarterfinals, Snyder faced Naoya Akaguma of Japan. Akaguma, like Snyder, earned a bye in the opening round of the tournament, and earned an 8-3 decision over Nicolai Ceban of Moldova in the Round of 16.

The Japanese wrestler seemed like he might slow Snyder's lethal efficiency somewhat, with the Buckeye's first two points coming from step-outs. His first takedown, in fact, didn't come until nearly the 2-minute mark of the first period, but from there he followed up quickly with a low single-leg takedown to make it 6-0 at 2:18 in the opening stanza.

Back-to-back step out points gave Snyder an 8-0 lead with 11 seconds left in the period, and a final takedown gave him the tech fall to seal his bid for the semifinals. There he faced Aslanbek Alborov of Azerbaijan, who opened very slowly with 5-3 and 3-3 decisions before rolling to an 11-0 tech fall over Korea's Jaegang Kim in the quarterfinals.

Snyder and the Azerbaijani have history, setting up an interesting revenge match. As TrackWrestling notes:

Alborov beat Snyder 5-4 in a strange bout at the World Cup in February. Snyder controlled most of the bout, but Alborov scored four on a single-leg with 23 seconds remaining to knock off the World and Olympic champ. 

The Buckeye grappler earned his revenge, though it took the full 6 minutes, unlike the two previous first-period tech falls. Attacking relentlessly from the opening whistle, Snyder put his first points on the board via a single-leg takedown around the 20-second mark, and followed up with a double-leg roughly 80 seconds later.

Three step-out points in a row gave the champ a 7-0 lead with less than 30 seconds remaining in the opening frame, but Alborov was taking his shots, too, and picked up a takedown of his own in the waning seconds of the period.

The two wrestlers grappled much of the second period, taking shots but without finishing. Another Snyder takedown at 4:48 made the tally 9-2, and that's where it stood at the end of the match.

On the other side of the bracket, Sadulaev continued to look impressive, with a 13-0 tech fall in the Round of 16 over a game Polish opponent and a 10-0 tech fall over Elizbar Odikadze of Georgia. The foretold collision course between Snyder and The Russian Tank came to fruition as Sadulaev outlasted Georgii Ketoev of Armenia in a 2-0 semifinal decision.

Team USA will feature three contenders for gold, as 70kg entry James Green will face former world champ Frank Chamizo of Italy, and three-time world champ and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs will square off against Khetik Tsabolov of Russia at 74kg.

Burroughs and Snyder will almost certainly decide the team race, as the U.S. leads Russia by a score of 52-47. It may all come down to the highly-anticipated match between the top two 97kg wrestlers in recent memory.

You can tune in for the medal round livestream via TrackWrestling.com ($9), but it will also show later in the day on NBC Sports Network:

Saturday, Aug. 26 | 1-3:30 p.m. | Olympic Channel Live Stream
Saturday, Aug. 26 | 3-5 p.m. | NBC Sports recap (tape delay) 

Stay tuned for updates from Paris.

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