HAVANA, Cuba – The U.S. won three medals on the first day of the Granma Cup of Greco-Roman on Sunday.
Capturing a silver medal at 84 kg/185 lbs was Jordan Holm (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm).
Holm, who was a 2011 U.S. Open champion, opened with wins over Ramsin Azizsir of Germany, 0-2, 2-0, 1-0 and U.S. teammate Betts, 1-0, 0-1, 3-0.
He was defeated in the gold-medal finals by Pablo Shorey of Cuba, 0-1, 0-3. Shorey was a 2010 World silver medalist and 2009 World bronze medalist.
Shorey had defeated 2008 Olympic champion Andrea Minguzzi of Italy in the opening round.
“We have to continue to improve our skills in all areas if we expect to qualify our weight classes for the Olympic Games in Orlando in March. The Cubans are very strong,” said Steve Fraser.
Winning bronze medals were C.P. Schlatter (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. and Chas Betts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Minnesota Storm) at 84 kg/185 lbs.
Schlatter, a 2012 U.S. Open champion, defeated Marius Thommesen of Norway in the finals, 1-0, 3-0. Thommesen was seventh in the 2010 European Championships.
He opened with a victory over Jhomayle Manon of the Dominican Republic, 6-0, 2-1. Schlatter was defeated in the semifinals by 2009 and 2011 World bronze medalist Pedro Isaac Mulen of Cuba, 0-1, 0-4.
After dropping his semifinal match to Holm, Betts rebounded to defeat Ramsin Azizsir of Germany, 1-0, 8-2 in the bronze-medal bout.
Betts, a 2012 U.S. Open champion and 2009 U.S. World Team member, opened with a win over Joan Antonio Gomez of Dominican Republic, 2-0, 7-0.
“Our team wrestled fairly well today. The tournament was not so big, but the athletes were very strong. Athletes from Germany, Italy and Norway, along with Cuba’s best guys, made it a quality tournament. As usual, par terre defense and offense is an area we need to improve upon. On our feet, we saw some good success,” said National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser.