Zagreb, Croatia — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Alec Pantaleo captured the 70kg gold medal — his second gold in less than two weeks — at the Zagreb Open on Wednesday (Feb. 1) at the Dom Sportova arena. It was the first UWW Ranking Series event of the 2023 season.
Pantaleo, who also claimed gold at the Henri Deglane on Jan. 21, posted a 4-0 record and earned a 5-2 win over Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev in the championship final. He built up a three-point lead in the first on a single-leg takedown and shot clock point and, after giving up a late takedown to narrow the score to 3-2, iced the bout with a go behind in the final 10 seconds of the bout. It was Pantaleo’s second career win over Aliyez, a three-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist.
He rolled to back-to-back 10-0 wins by technical superiority — both in the first period — in the opening two rounds against India’s Vishal Kaliramana and China’s Agudamu Agudamu before defeating Azerbaijan’s Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev, 5-3, in the semifinals. He scored two takedowns in the first period, including a double leg while on the clock and, up by just one in the second, added a big stepout point while again on the clock late. Gadzhiyev, a European medalist, captured U23 world silver at 74kg in 2022.
Myles Amine posted a 2-2 record to take fifth place at 86kg in his first action since the world championships. He split it opening two bouts, cruising to a 7-0 win over Israel’s Uri Kalashnikov before falling to Japan’s Hayato Ishiguro in the quarterfinals. He was pulled into repechage when Ishiguro reached the final and rallied to earn a 5-3 decision over Akhmed Aibuev on two second-period takedowns, including a late single leg to ice it in the final 30 seconds. Amine fell to Zahid Valenia, 6-0, in the bronze-medal match.
