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Bassett will wrestle for gold in AstanaBassett will wrestle for gold in Astana
Wrestling

Bassett will wrestle for gold in Astana

Hokie freshman phenom goes 4-0 to make World Championship finals for the first time in as many appearances

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ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN – The incredible run by Virginia Tech wrestling’s Bo Bassett continues with statement performances on the opening day of men’s freestyle competition, winning four matches to punch his ticket to the World Championship finals. Bassett defeated three world champions en route to an upcoming 65-kilogram finale against Armenia’s world champion Vazgen Tevanyan on Friday at 9AM ET live on Flowrestling.

Firing on All Cylinders

Bassett opened his Senior World Championships debut with two bonus point victories – a pin in 1:12 over Canada’s U23 World Champion Peiman Bianbi in the opening round then followed up with a 12-0 tech fall against Quentin Sticker of France. Those two wins would set up a quarterfinal match against fifth-ranked Abasgadzi Magomedov of Russia.

Deep Waters

No stranger to the world stage with two world titles and two world silver finishes, Magomedov proved to be Bassett’s most challenging opponent yet. The Hokie jumped out to a 2-0 lead early before finding himself in a seven-point deficit after Magomedov scored ten unanswered points to lead 10-3 at the break. Another score by the Russian at the start of the second to lead 12-3 put Bassett in danger of a tech fall loss, but the Johnstown, PA native never blinked. Bassett would put on an offensive clinic and score seven unanswered points before the Russian added a point to his tally. With under a minute remaining, Bassett scored another takedown and a turn to go up 14-13 and ultimately snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and advance to the semifinals.

Awaiting Bassett in the semifinals was yet another world medalist in Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev. Bassett found himself trailing early 0-2 after a counter by Kudiev but that would be the only score the Hokie would allow. On the restart, Bassett scored a takedown and added a four point move to take the lead and push it to 6-2 before adding another takedown. Not done yet, Bassett was back on the legs and scored while adding a turn to record the 12-2 tech fall and advance to the finals in his first Senior World Championship.

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