91°µÍø

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Bruno Pallone bonused his way to the semifinals of the 2026 U17 World Championships during the opening session on Monday at the National Gymnastics Arena to lead the U.S. Greco-Roman squad on day one of the championships.

At 110 kg, Pallone opened the day with a 52-second pin of Japan’s Mitsuyoshi Urushima after converting a four-point move to a fall. In the round of 16, Pallone found himself in a high-scoring affair against 2026 U17 European bronze medalist Yahor Savich of Belarus that saw 25 points scored in the first period. After Savich grabbed a 9-8 lead, Pallone took over and scored the final 10 points to secure the technical fall.

In the quarterfinals, Pallone controlled center from start to finish against Khachik Khachatryan of Armenia. Pallone scored three of his eight points off step outs and had a feet-to-back throw to highlight the 8-0 win.

Pallone now faces Andrej Simic of Serbia in the semifinals today at 6 p.m. local time/10 a.m. ET.

Arav Pandey and Corey Brown posted opening round wins for the U.S. but dropped their second matches of the day.

Pandey pinned Mustafa Karakose of Türkiye with six seconds left in the bout to start his day strong at 48 kg. However, in the quarterfinals, Pandey dropped a 9-3 decision to Soltan Iusupov of Russia.

Brown used a late comeback against 2026 U17 African champion Abdullah Ahmed of Egypt to come away with a 7-5 victory. Trailing 5-3 with 11 seconds to go, Brown scored one point off a step out, then had a two-point throw as time expired to grab a 6-5 lead. The match ended 7-5 in favor of Brown after a lost challenge. Brown’s run for gold was halted after a 5-1 setback against three-time age-group European medalist Keve Kovacs of Hungary.

Pandey and Brown are still alive for the repechage at their weight classes, with Iusupov and Kovacs both competing in tonight’s semifinals.

Ivan Ivanov is also alive for the repechage after dropping an 8-0 match to Alireza Rezaei of Iran, who is competing in the semifinals at 80 kg.

Returning Greco-Roman U17 World bronze medalist Arseni Kikiniou saw his bid for another World medal come to an end on Monday after a 5-1 loss to India’s Kunal Dagar at 65 kg. Kikiniou will also represent the U.S. in men’s freestyle later this week.

For a complete match-by-match breakdown from the morning session for Team USA, visit our day one match notes.

Semifinal pairings for Greco-Roman group one (48-55-65-80-110 kg) and complete U.S. results are available below.

Action from Baku continues tonight at 6 p.m. local time/10 a.m. ET with the 10 semifinal bouts. Before the semifinals, the opening ceremony will take place at 5:15 p.m. local time/9:15 a.m. ET

Live streams and archived matches will be available on in the U.S. market. Brackets and results will be hosted on .

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