Burroughs Takes Home Bronze Medal in Budapest

Budapest, Hungary – Former Husker Jordan Burroughs has completed competition at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and he will be bringing more hardware back to Lincoln. Burroughs (74 kg), a two-time national champion at NU and a five-time World and Olympic champion, took home the bronze medal after finishing with a 4-1 record.

His first preliminary round match was supposed to be at 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 20 against Venicious Juah (Liberia), but Burroughs won by forfeit after Juah failed to show up for weigh-ins. In his next match, which came in the Round of 16, he took on Mostafa Hosseinkhani (Iran). Burroughs went up 3-1 after a big takedown but Hosseinkhani responded with a takedown of his own to even things up 3-3. Burroughs eventually grinded out a step-out point to win 4-3 and advance to the quarterfinals.

His quarterfinal match saw him face Zaurbek Sidakov (Russia). The former Husker started off strong with a leg attack for a takedown to go up 2-0, but Sidakov answered with a takedown of his own to knot the score heading into the break. Burroughs earned a step-out to go up 3-2 but Sidakov took him down with 21 seconds left to take a 4-3 lead. Burroughs had a takedown with eight seconds left to re-take the lead 5-4, but Sidakov got a step-out right before the buzzer to tie up the score at five. However, Sidakov had criteria, so Burroughs challenged the call on the step-out, but the replay showed it happened just before the buzzer, so Burroughs lost a point on the failed challenge to lose the bout 6-5.

After his loss to Sidakov, the four-time World Champion Burroughs could only sit and watch to see if he would get to compete again. His quarterfinal opponent, Sidakov, defeated Frank Chamizo (Italy), which meant that Burroughs got pulled back into repechage. This meant he still had a chance to compete for third place.

Burroughs did not waste this opportunity. He dominated his next opponent, Miroslav Kirov (Bulgaria), 9-0 to advance to the 74 kg bronze-medal bout. His competitor was Frank Chamizo, who his quarterfinal opponent, Zaurbek Sidakov, defeated in the semifinals. At the break, Burroughs led Chamizo 1-0. He went up 3-0 after a takedown, but Chamizo battled back to even the score and eventually take a 4-3 lead. Burroughs knotted the score at 4-4 and went on to win the match by criteria.

With his bronze medal at the 2018 Budapest World Championships, the former Husker has now won seven World and Olympic medals. He’s won one Olympic gold medal, four World gold medals and two World bronze medals.

James Green (70 kg) begins competition in the early morning on Monday, Oct. 22. Green, who posted 129 wins at NU from 2011-15, will be vying for his first career world title.

The four-time All-American is a two-time world medalist, winning silver last year and bronze in 2015. He takes on Khadzimurad Gadzhiyev (Azerbaijan) at 3:30 a.m. If he wins, he could have up to three more bouts on Monday morning, which would be the Round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals. The finals for 70 kg are set for Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 11 a.m.

All the results for the 2018 World Wrestling Championships matches can be found on trackwrestling.com. Make sure to follow along on Twitter @HuskerWrestling for live tweets of each match for Burroughs and Green.

James Green Schedule:

Monday, Oct. 22

3:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. - Preliminary rounds for 70 kg in Men’s Freestyle (Three matches)

9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. - Semifinals for 70 kg in Men's Freestyle

 

Tuesday, Oct. 22

11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. - Finals for 70 kg in Men's Freestyle

(All Times CST)