NUR SULTAN, Kazakhstan — Graduate student Stevan Micic and fifth-year senior Myles Amine of the University of Michigan wrestling team placed fifth at 57kg/125 pounds and 86kg/189 pounds, respectively, at the 2019 UWW Senior World Championships, which ended today (Sunday, Sept. 22) at Barys Arena. By virtue of their top-six world finishes, both Wolverines qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games.
It was the senior world debut for both Micic and Amine, who represent Serbia and San Marino, respectively, in international competition. The World Championships represented the wrestling’s first Olympic qualifier; the top-six finishers — those competing for a medal — at the six Olympic weights qualified their countries for the Tokyo Games. Micic and Amine will be the first ever freestyle wrestlers from their respective countries to compete in an Olympic Games.
Micic posted a 3-2 record and bounced back from a one-point quarterfinal loss to Turkey’s No. 1-ranked Suleyman Atli to win decisively in the repechage and lock up his Olympic qualification. He defeated Italy’s Givi Davidovi, 8-0, in that make-or-break match behind four takedowns — two apiece in the first and second period. Micic also earned wins over Morocco’s Chakir Ansari, 14-3, and Canada’s Darthe Capellan, 10-2, in his opening two matches.
Micic was winning his quarterfinal bout with Atli, who he defeated at the European Games in June, at the break after a pair of first-period stepouts. Atli earned criteria with a stepout and a takedown, and after Micic could not finish on a deep leg attack that visibly took a toll on both wrestlers, the Turk added another takedown. The Wolverine captain got in again late but had to settle for a stepout and fell 5-4.
His bronze-medal loss — a 4-3 decision by Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev — came with controversy that, with Micic trailing early, saw 40 seconds shaved off the clock in the first period. In pursuit through the second period, Micic nearly had an exposure off a leg turk in the second, but the position was stopped prematurely. He earned a caution-and-one point for fleeing in the closing moments but could not score again.
Amine ran through a gauntlet of high-caliber opponents to reach the semifinals, defeating a pair of world medalist and the 2019 Pan Am Games champion in his first three bouts, before earning a 4-2 quarterfinal win over Germany’s Ahmed Dudarov, a European Games medalist, locked up his Olympic qualification.
Amine jumped out to an early four-point lead against Dudarov with a pair of low single-leg takedowns in the opening minute of the bout. Dudarov threatened with a takedown in the second period and again in a crotch-lift position in the final 20 seconds, but Amine avoided exposure to hang for the win.
His most lopsided win came against his most heralded opponent, four-time world bronze medalist and current world No. 9 Ali Shabanau of Belarus, who Amine defeated 5-1 in the first round behind a pair of second-period takedowns. He then defeated Cuba’s Yurieski Torreblana, 3-2, with a single-leg takedown in the second period before using a takedown at the buzzer to edge Japanese world silver medalist Sohsuke Takatani, 5-2. Amine was losing on last-score criteria before coming out on top of an extended scramble over the last 20 seconds of the bout.
Amine’s losses came to Iranian Olympic champion and four-time world medalist Hassan Yazdani, 11-0, in the semifinals and European champion Artur Naifonov of Russia, 6-0, in his bronze-medal match.
Amine’s older brother and recent Michigan graduate, Malik Amine, also represented San Marino at 65kg/143 pounds, going 2-1 in the competition and becoming the first ever Sammarinese wrestler to win at the World Championships. He beat Guinea Biseau’s Mbunde Cumba Mbal, 14-11, and Mexico’s Brandon Diaz Ramirez, 13-6, before losing to eventual bronze medalist Iszmail Muszukajev of Hungary.
Dave Habat posted a 1-1 record and, like Malik Amine, just missed on getting pulled back in to repechage when world No. 1 Bajrang Bajrang of India lost a controversial semifinal match. Bajrang, who went on to win bronze, just edged Habat, 3-0, in the quarterfinals on a takedown and passivity point though Habat was in on a couple solid leg attack. Habat cruised past North Macedonia’s Fati Vejseli, 9-1, in his first bout.
Fellow Wolverine alumni Adam Coon, the 2018 world silver medalist, dropped his first match for the United States in the 130kg/286-pound Greco-Roman competition, sacrificing an early lead and falling to China’s Lingzhe Meng, 3-1, on a reversal and gut wrench. Coon pursued Meng throughout the match and earned a passivity call in the first period but not in the second. He was eliminated when Meng lost his next match.
