Sadulaev drawn into Snyder's quarter at 97kg in Astana
A seventh meeting between Kyle Snyder and Abdulrashid Sadulaev is two wins away at the World Championships.
Abdulrashid Sadulaev landed in Kyle Snyder's quad at 97kg at the World Championships, per Justin Basch. Snyder is the No. 1 seed, Sadulaev is the No. 8 seed, and if both hold serve the seventh match of the series happens in the quarterfinals.
The math is short. Snyder opens in the round of 16 against the winner of Tokgoz of Turkey and Tumurbaatar of Mongolia. Sadulaev opens in qualification against Kazakhstan's Aitmukhan, which means he needs two wins to Snyder's one before they meet.
Basch has the series at 3-3, counting the medical forfeit in the 2023 Worlds bronze-medal match. The last time they actually wrestled was at RAF Georgia in July, and Snyder pinned him.
The rest of the US draws
The full men's freestyle brackets are out, and Thursday runs 65kg and 97kg. Bo Bassett gets Biabani of Canada, the No. 3 seed, in the round of 32 at 65kg, with Sticker of France or Akintewe of Nigeria waiting for the winner.
Friday brings 61kg, 70kg, 86kg and 125kg. Marcus Blaze draws Ormanoglu of Turkey in qualification at 61kg, then No. 7 seed Colesnic of Moldova or Alili of North Macedonia. Zain Retherford has Abdurachmanov of Belgium in qualification at 70kg, with No. 3 seed Muszukajev of Hungary next. Kyle Dake opens against Naadambat of Mongolia and then Lescauskas of Lithuania at 86kg, with No. 2 seed Ghasempour of Iran sitting in his quarter. Wyatt Hendrickson starts against No. 3 seed Sharipov of Bahrain in qualification at 125kg.
Saturday is 57kg, 74kg, 79kg and 92kg. Spencer Lee is the No. 2 seed at 57kg and meets Segura of Guatemala in the round of 32. James Green has the hardest opener of the group, No. 5 seed Toktomambetov of Kyrgyzstan in the round of 32 at 74kg. Levi Haines is the No. 3 seed at 79kg and starts with Bouazzouni of Morocco in qualification. Trent Hidlay is the No. 1 seed at 92kg and begins in the round of 16 against Uera of Nauru.
The first session starts overnight at 1:30 AM ET, which lines up with the earlier Team USA schedule.
What to watch. Whether Sadulaev gets through Aitmukhan, the Kazakh wrestling in front of a home crowd, to set the quarterfinal up at all.
Snyder needs one win and Sadulaev needs two, and then it's meeting No. 7.
And Snyder pinned Sadulaev the last time they actually wrestled, at RAF Georgia in July.
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