Stephen Abas

Stephen Anthony Abas (born January 12, 1978 in Santa Ana , California ) is a retired American wrestler . He was the winner of the silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in free style bantamweight .

Career

Stephen Abas grew up in Hayward and began wrestling at James Logan High School there . He then attended California State University in Fresno from 1998 to 2002 . He was trained there by Dennis Delido and developed into an excellent freestyle wrestler. During his studies, Abas won the NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships three times, which corresponds to the US student champion.

Abas also started for the Wan Zu Wazuri Wrestling Club in Moreno Valley during those years . For this club, he was American junior flyweight champion in 1996 and American senior bantamweight champion in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2004. He later started for the Sunkist Kids in Phoenix , Arizona .

Stephen Abas' international wrestling career began in 1994 with a third place at the Junior World Championships (Cadets = up to the age of 16) in Frankfort , Kentucky , in the weight class up to 51 kg. In 1996 and 1997 he reached sixth and fifth place at the Junior World Championships (Juniors = up to the age of 18) and in 1998 he achieved a very good result at the Junior World Championships (Espoirs = up to the age of 20) in Las Vegas great success, because he was the bantamweight champion before the Uzbek Mais Ibadow and the Iranian Mehdi Nikmanesh Junior World Champion .

Stephen Abas then needed some time with the seniors before he was able to build on these great successes in the junior sector. After all, he reached a good fourth place in the bantamweight division in 2000 at the World Student Championship in Tokyo , which was very well attended. At the 2001 World Cup in Sofia he only reached 16th place, because he lost in the first round against the eventual world champion Herman Kantojeu from Belarus .

Stephen Abas did not give up and won a strong World Cup tournament in 2002 and 2003, and in 2003 he won the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo . In the US trials (Trials) for the Olympic Games in Athens , he then defeated his great competitor Samuel Henson and was allowed to represent the USA in these games in the bantamweight division. He fought his way through to the final with victories against Ghenadie Tulbea from Moldova , René Montero from Cuba , Li Zhengyu from China and Chikara Tanabe from Japan . In this, however, he ultimately had no chance against Mawlet Batirow from Russia and was clearly defeated with 1: 9 points. But he could be happy about the silver medal.

After 2004 Stephen Abas only competed in one World Cup tournament in Tashkent , which he also won. Abas tried to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 at the Olympic Trials . But he failed in the decisive fight against Henry Cejudo , who later also became Olympic champion in Beijing . For several years he has been working as an assistant coach at California State University in Fresno.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1994	3.	Junior World Championships (Cadets) in Frankfort / USA	up to 51 kg	behind Cemil Kaskaya, Turkey u. Sanjay Kumar , India a . before Dumitru Socaliuc, Romania a . Masaru Noguchi, Japan
1996	6th	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Moscow	To fly	behind maize Ibadow , Uzbekistan , Akbar Behtari, Iran , Otar Tuschischwili, Georgia , Aslanbek Estebesons, Kyrgyzstan u. Agars Akopjan, Armenia
1997	5.	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Helsinki	up to 56 kg	behind Alireza Dabir , Iran, Bator Jargalow, Russia , Octavian Cuciuc, Moldova u. Viktor Bilokupniy, Ukraine a. before Mais Ibadow
1998	1.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Las Vegas	To fly	before Mais Ibadow, Mehdi Nikmanesh, Iran, Sanjay Kumar u. Vasily Fedoryzhin, Ukraine
2000	1.	Dave Schultz Memorial in Colorado Springs	To fly	before Wilfredo Garcia Quintana and René Montero , both Cuba
2000	4th	Student World Cup in Tokyo	To fly	behind Oleksandr Karnyzkyj , Ukraine, Kiril Pawlow, Bulgaria a. Luwsangiin Enchbajar , Mongolia a . before Shingo Harai, Japan a . Saeed Azarbayjani, Canada
2001	4th	World Cup in Baltimore	To fly	behind Gholamreza Mohammadi , Iran, Atscham Achilow , Uzbekistan, Aljaksandr Kantojeu , Russia u. in front of Treague Moore, USA a. Vedat Özdemir, Turkey
2001	16.	World Cup in Sofia	To fly	Winner: Herman Kantojeu , Belarus ahead of Babah Noursad , Iran a. Aljaksandr Kantojeu
2002	1.	World Cup in Spokane / USA	Bantam	before Kim Jong-dae , South Korea , Bajaraagiin Naranbaatar , Mongolia, Michail Japaridze , Canada u. Nassie Abdulayev, Russia
2003	1.	World Cup in Boise / USA	Bantam	in front of Teague Moore, Vasili Zeiher , Germany , Aljaksandr Kantojeu u. Gevor Markarjan, Ukraine
2003	1.	Pan American Games in Santo Domingo	Bantam	before René Montero, Cuba, Michail Japaridze a. Antonio Gonzalez, Panama
2003	5.	World Cup in New York	Bantam	behind Dilshod Mansurov , Uzbekistan, Ghenadie Tulbea , Moldova , Alexander Sacharjuk, Ukraine u. Mohamed Aslani, Iran a. in front of Amiran Kartanow , Greece
2004	silver	OS in Athens	Bantam	behind Mawlet Batirow , Russia a. before Chikara Tanabe , Japen, Amiran Kartanow u. Li Zhengyu , China
2005	1.	World Cup in Tashkent	Bantam	in front of Magomed Kjukajew, Russia, Adchan Achilow, Juri Golub, Ukraine a. Alexander Ibanez Rojas, Cuba
2008	3.	Dave Schultz Memorial in Colorado Springs	Bantam	behind Bajaraagiin Naranbaatar , Mongolia and Rishwan Gadschijew , Belarus

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Fly weight, until 1956 up to 52 kg, until 2001 up to 54 kg, bantam weight, since 2002 up to 55 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer , numbers: 12/2001, pages 4 to 10, 10/2003, pages 10 to 16 and 9/2003, pages 6 to 10
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web links

• Profile of Stephen Abas at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science
• Stephen Abas in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )