BUCHAREST, Romania — University of Michigan senior Myles Amine posted a 2-2 record, falling two wins shy of a medal, in his international debut at 86kg/189 pounds at the 2019 European Championships on Wednesday (April 10) at Polyvalent Hall. Amine’s performance highlighted that of the three-man Cliff Keen Wrestling Club contingent.
Amine became the first representative of San Marino to win freestyle matches at Europeans. Amine has dual citizenship with the country on his mother’s side.
“Although Myles fell short of a medal, he competed extremely well in every match — up at 86kg and just a few weeks out from the NCAA Championships,” said Sean Bormet. “He wrestled four quality international matches and faced three European and World medalists over the last two days. There is incredible value in wrestling world-class matches against world-class opposition. Myles definitely gained some important experience and is hungry for more. It was a great start to his freestyle season. He will only get bigger, stronger and improve his freestyle, and I’m excited to see his continued progress.”
Both of Amine’s losses came against world bronze medalists, who also captured gold and bronze in this tournament. He fell to Russia’s Vladislav Valiev, 5-0, in the quarterfinals on two counter attacks and a stepout. He was pulled back in when Valiev made the final — the Russian earned a 4-0 win in the gold-medal match — and faced four-time world bronze medalist Ali Shabanau of Bulgaria in repechage, where he fell, 6-2, on a pair of takedowns and a pair of stepouts.
Amine won both of his first bouts, earning a 4-0 decision against Latvia’s Ivars Samusonoks before rallying to beat Georgia’s Sandro Aminashvli, a 2018 European bronze medalist, 3-2 with an ankle-pick takedown and a stepout.
Malik Amine and Dave Habat wrestled in the 65kg/143-pound division on the first day of competition. Malik Amine dropped his international debut, 11-8, to Italy, while Habat went 1-1, cruising to a 10-0 tech against the Netherlands before falling, 1-1 on criteria, to France.
