United States’ David Taylor won three times on Wednesday in the men’s freestyle 86kg class and will face Iran’s Hassan Yazdani for the gold medal on Thursday.
Aaron Favila | AP photo
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
CHIBA, Japan — David Taylor of the United States advanced to the final in the men’s freestyle 86kg class on Wednesday in Olympic wrestling. The Penn State grad won all three of his matches by technical superiority: 11-0 over Ali Shabanau of Belarus, 12-2 over American-born Myles Amine of San Marino and 10-0 over Deepak Punia of India.
Taylor will face Hassan Yazdani of Iran in the gold-medal match. Yazdani, the No. 1 seed, took Olympic gold at 74kg in 2016. Taylor beat Yazdani en route to winning the world title at 86kg in 2018.
One of Taylor’s training teammates with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, Thomas Gilman, will have a chance to compete for bronze in the freestyle men’s 57kg class.
Gilman faced Russian opponent Zavur Uguev, the No. 2 seed, in his opener. It was 1-all at the break. Gilman took a 4-3 lead in the final minute, but Uguev scored two in the final 10 seconds for the win. Uguev reached the final, meaning Gilman will be in repechage on Thursday. Gilman needs two wins to claim bronze.
Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, which is led by Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, had multiple members reach the Olympics, including 2016 women’s gold medalist Helen Maroulis, who lost lost to Risako Kawai of Japan 2-1 in the 57-kilogram semifinals on Wednesday.
Maroulis said she realized too late that she overestimated Kawai’s attacking skills.
“I felt like I needed to be stronger in the position so that I could kind of impose my will, and I felt a little bit more like I was reacting to her,” Maroulis said.
All three points in the match were scored for passivity — the first two against Maroulis and the last against Kawai.
More action was expected, given the resumes. Kawai was the 2016 Olympic gold medalist at 63kg and a three-time world champion. Maroulis won Olympic gold at 53kg in 2016 when she stunned Saori Yoshida of Japan, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, in the final.
“I maybe had some other options that I could have gone for, but I think I was thinking like, ‘Oh, she’s waiting for me to clear out so she can shoot,’” Maroulis said. “And I thought, ‘Let me just really defend this.’ And then I was thinking, like, ‘I’ll create my own opportunities.’ But I didn’t do it and it didn’t happen.”
Maroulis was glad to be involved in action at all. Since winning the gold, she has fought through concussions and injuries that threatened her career. She said the extra year before the delayed Olympics helped her heal.
“If you told me a year ago that I was going to feel this healthy today, I just — I would have probably not have believed you,” she said. “So to be here like this is like — I’m so grateful.”
BASEBALL
Triston Casas hit his third home run of the Olympics, and the U.S. stayed in gold medal contention with a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic. Former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders regular Tyler Austin, playing in his home ballpark of the Central League’s Yokohama Bay Stars, added a solo home run in the fifth, his second long ball of the tournament.
The U.S. plays on Thursday night against South Korea, which lost to Japan 5-2, for a berth in this weekend’s gold medal game.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
The U.S. advanced to the semifinals for the sixth time in the past eight Olympics by beating the Dominican Republic in straight sets.
The Americans advanced to a matchup against Serbia in the semifinals. The U.S. is seeking its first gold medal in the sport after winning bronze in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and silver in 2008 and 2012.