Former Penn State wrestler David Taylor comes up short in bid for world championship title
A busy few months of wrestling culminated in another medal for former Nittany Lion David Taylor — this time, silver.
The State College resident faced off against Iran’s Hassan Yazdani in the 86 kilogram final on Sunday at the United World Wrestling World Freestyle Championships in Oslo, Norway. Taylor beat Yazdani in August for his first Olympic gold medal.
Taylor, however, was not able to repeat this time around. Yazdani got his revenge with a 6-2 win, his first over Taylor. This was the fourth time the pair had wrestled in their freestyle careers.
Yazdani came out and was relentless on his attack, forcing Taylor to step out for a point, 47 seconds into the bout. With just under a minute left in the first period, Yazdani picked up another step out point for a 2-0 lead at the break.
The Iranian wrestler kept the pressure on Taylor scoring a takedown 30 seconds into the second period. However, Taylor responded with a takedown of his own with 1:10 left in the match, to make it 4-2.
Yazdani stayed in a good defensive stance the final 1:10 of the match, secured a counter takedown, and secured the 6-2 win. It was Yazdani’s third World Championship.
Taylor’s loss became his first runner-up finish of his international freestyle career. The loss also was the first time that Taylor had not won a gold medal of an event he was in, since 2013, when he finished third in the World University Games.
Taylor began his quest on Saturday, and cruised to the finals with a technical superiority victory and two falls. He received a bye into the quarterfinals, where he racked up an 11-0 win over Slovakia’s Boris Makoev.
Taylor reached the semifinals by pinning France’s Akhmed Aibuev in 29 seconds. In the semifinals, Taylor trailed Azerbaijan’s Abubakr Abakarov, 2-0, with just under two minutes left in the first period.
Taylor tied the bout up with about 40 seconds left in the period, and locked up a bar and half nelson. He turned Abakarov to his back for exposure with the bar-and-half combination. With the combination still locked up, Taylor rolled Abakarov for exposure points a second time, but this time stacked Abakarov up for a pin with 26 seconds remaining in the first period.
The World Championships started Saturday with men’s freestyle and end Oct. 10, with women’s freestyle and Greco Roman still underway. Also competing in Norway with Taylor are fellow Nittany Lion Wrestling Club members Kyle Snyder and Thomas Gilman.
Gilman, who just claimed an Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo, will look to claim his first World Championship title on Monday.
He got his championships underway on Sunday as the No. 1 seed at 57 kg. He opened with a pin in 1:23 over Russia’s Abubakar Mutalieva in the quarterfinals.
Gilman used a pair of technical superiority wins to reach the finals. He outscored his opponents 26-6. The former Iowa Hawkeyes wrestlers takes on Iran’s Alireza Sarlak on Monday afternoon.
Snyder won’t get underway until 4:30 a.m. Monday morning.
The United States as a team had Daton Fix and Kyle Dake also going for World Championships on Sunday. Fix suffered a 4-1 loss to Russia’s Abasgadzhi Magomedov in the 61 kg weight class. Dake turned a 1-1 match after one period, into a 7-3 win over Slovakia’s Tajmuraz Salkazanov at 74 kg. It was Dake’s third World Championship, but his first at 74 kg.
