Saturday morning begins action at the 2022 Grand Prix Zagreb Open in Zagreb, Croatia. As previously reported, the United States roster for the tournament originally featured 17 athletes. But following the Army’s decision to remove all of their wrestlers from the European winter tour, along with several other late changes on the part of the American delegation, that number has been trimmed all the way down to just seven.
Team USA Roster for 2022 Zagreb GP
60 kg: Randon Miranda (Rise RTC, 5PM #4)
60 kg: Diego Romero (NMU/NTS)
67 kg: Robert Perez III (Sunkist)
77 kg: Burke Paddock (NYAC)
77 kg: RaVaughn Perkins (NYAC, 5PM #4)
130 kg: Tanner Farmer (NYAC/IRTC, 5PM #3)
130 kg: Cohlton Schultz (Sunkist, 5PM #1)
’21 World Team member Alan Vera (87 kg, NYAC, 5PM #2) and ’21 World bronze G’Angelo Hancock (97 kg, Sunkist, world #5, 5PM #1) were also expected to compete in Zagreb but have since been scratched. Vera — in the midst of a multi-month stay in Ukraine — came up with a medical issue. Hancock arrived in Croatia on Thursday and, in a situation not unlike his start to the season last year, experienced a problem getting into the country and was in fact briefly detained at the airport due to a passport issue. In the end, the US Embassy got involved and Hancock was released. However, these circumstances, in conjunction with Hancock enduring a minor injury this past week, were enough to keep him out of Saturday’s lineup.
The Opening Draws
Making their first-time appearances in a Senior international tournament are Romero, Perez, Paddock, and Farmer. The US roster does have one athlete who has competed — and medaled — at Zagreb before in Perkins (’17, bronze).
60 kg
Miranda has a bye to the quarterfinal, where he will face either Viktor Petryk (UKR) or Sebastian Kolompar (SRB). Kolompar was third at the ’20 Zagreb GP and is also a Serbian national titlist.
Romero will face a tough opponent in Dimitar Sandov (SUI) — who downed Miranda in the Thor Masters final back in September. Sandov is originally from Bulgaria and has begun to establish himself on Europe’s Senior circuit.
67 kg
Perez is in the round-of-16 opposed by ’20 European Championships gold Morten Thoresen (NOR).
77 kg
USA vs. USA — Perkins and Paddock square off against each other in the qualification round.
130 kg
Both Farmer and Schultz are in the qualification round, which for heavyweight is a round-of-16. Farmer has Fatih Bozkurt of Turkey, who was a U23 World semifinalist and U23 Euro bronze. Schultz will be getting his second look at one of Europe’s better heavies, Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu (ROU). Cuirariu decisioned Schultz at Thor Masters ’20 in what was a tightly-contested bout. It was also the native Coloradan’s first overseas Senior tournament.
The Schedule
All times +6 hours ET.
Saturday (1/29)
10:30am-7:00pm — Qualification round through semifinals
Sunday (1/30)
10:30am-2:00pm — Repechage
6:00pm-8:00pm — Finals and bronze matches
How to Stream
The Grand Prix Zagreb Open will stream directly on YouTube but is also being hosted by the event’s proprietary domain. United World Wrestling is picking up the broadcast, as well. Links for each option can be found below.
— Zagreb YouTube
— Grand Prix Zagreb Open event website
— United World Wrestling (may also include brackets and results)
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