Marable Goes 2-1 at World Championships
September 08, 2014 12:19 PM | General
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| Marable |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After winning his first two bouts, West Virginia University assistant wrestling coach Nick Marable suffered a 5-2 setback to Ali Shabanau in the quarterfinals of the 2014 United World Wrestling Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Monday.
Marable earned a 2-1 victory over Kazakhstan’s Akzhurek Tanatarov in the qualification round to start the competition. He took a 1-0 lead courtesy of the shot clock over the 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist before picking up another score on a push out for the 2-1 win.
In the next round, Marable defeated Grigor Grigoryan of Armenia by a score of 4-2. He again took a 1-0 lead in the shot clock before Grigoryan scored two on a takedown. Marable countered with a takedown of his own with 30 seconds remaining that was upheld following a review. He carried the 4-2 lead to the end to advance into the quarterfinals.
Marable then faced Shabanau of Belarus in the quarterfinals. Shabanau took a 4-0 lead after the first, increasing his advantage to 5-0 following a push out with 2:30 to go. Marable got on the board with a push out of his own, but trailed 5-1 with 1:45 remaining. Shabanau eventually took the 5-1 victory to advance to the semifinals. Shabanau then lost by tech fall in the semifinal round, eliminating Marable from medal contention.
Head coach Sammie Henson accompanied Marable to Uzbekistan. Henson is also the head coach of the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club.
“Nick was battle-ready and impressive in his World Championship debut. He beat an Olympic medalist, then battled one of the top-ranked wrestlers in the world at 70 kg,” said Henson.“In his last match of the day, we got caught off guard for a split second, which at this competition is hard to overcome against a World bronze medalist. This game is a game of inches, and we lost a tough battle. I’m proud to have been part of this journey with such a fine young man. It has been a great experience, and we are looking forward to improving on this performance in 2015.”
Main Photo Courtesy of Tony C. Rotundo/Wrestlers Are Warriors
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