Back pins into U23 Greco quarters, four Americans need repechage
The only American through on day one of Greco in Las Vegas is the 72kg entry, and he gets Turkey next.
Brett Back is the lone American into the Greco quarterfinals on day one of U23 Worlds in Las Vegas, pinning Rintaro Sogabe of Japan in 1:46 at 72kg. Max Black (60), Otto Black (67), Adrian Artsisheuskiy (82) and Ryder Rogotzke (97) all went out in the round of 16 and now need the wrestlers who beat them to reach the final for a repechage shot. That is four of the five Americans entered in Greco sitting on someone else's result.
Back draws Ozdemir next
Back opened in the round of 16 off the Ivancic (CRO) / Sogabe (JPN) winner and needed under two minutes. He faces Ibrahim Ozdemir of Turkey in the quarterfinals, with semifinals set for 9 p.m. ET, per @justinjbasch.
Who the others need
Max Black got through his opener at 60kg with a 5-1 decision, with FloWrestling noting he defended a big throw attempt to get there. His repechage hopes now ride on Kubanych Arinov of Kyrgyzstan.
Otto Black beat Imed Khudzhadze of Ukraine 3-1 at 67kg, trailing 1-0 at the break on a passivity point before taking over. In the round of 16 he lost 6-3 to Yurik Hoveyan of Armenia, trailing 5-3 at the break per USA Wrestling's live updates. Hoveyan reaching the final is the only path back for him.
Artsisheuskiy needs Alexander Johansson of Sweden at 82kg. Rogotzke, who only joined the team as a replacement for Arian Khosravy at 97kg, needs Darius Kiefer of Germany, the wrestler he drew in his opening bout.
For a five man Greco squad, day one came down to one bracket. Back is the only US entry who controls his own medal path on Monday, and the other four are watching other people's semifinals.
What to watch: Back vs Ozdemir in the 72kg quarterfinals, and the Greco semifinals at 9 p.m. ET that decide whether Arinov, Hoveyan, Johansson and Kiefer pull four Americans into repechage.
Brett Back (72) is into the quarterfinals after pinning Rintaro Sogabe (JPN) in 1:46.
Max Black defended a BIG throw attempt in his opening bout to secure a 5-1 victory
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