Bishop McCort’s Keegan Bassett becomes a World Champion with a pin against Iran’s Parsa Tahmasbi
The U17 Wrestling World Championships took place in Athens, Greece, from July 28 to Aug. 3. Bishop McCort’s Keegan Bassett held the 45-kilogram spot on the U.S. U17 team.
Bassett traveled with his dad and coach, Bill, to compete in the 45-kilogram freestyle bracket against the best U17 wrestlers in the world.
Bassett started his tournament off with a 8-5 win over India’s Shivam Shivam in the Round of 16. Only one point was scored in the first period by Shivam when Bassett was put on the activity clock and failed to score in 30 seconds.
It was all Bassett in the rest of the match, scoring eight unanswered in the first minute of the second period. Shivam put up four points later on, but it wasn’t enough to beat Bassett and he moved on to the quarterfinals.
Bassett’s quarterfinal match was against Kazakhstan’s Bakdaulet Agabek, who won his first match 10-0 in just 48 seconds. Agabek started quick against Bassett with two takedowns early in the match, holding a 4-1 lead.
Bassett scored four of his own in the last 20 seconds of the first period to take his first of the match going into the break. Just like his first match, the second period was owned by Bassett.
Bassett locked up a leg lace late in the period and scored 10 straight points to claim Victory by Technical Superiority with 29 seconds left in the match.
He continued his dominance in his semifinal match against Ibragim Veliullov with a 6-2 victory. Bassett was strong on offense and defense throughout the match with three takedowns and only giving up two step-outs with five seconds left.
Bassett moved to the finals at 45-kilograms to face off against his toughest opponent from the United States’s biggest opponent in the team standings: Iran.
With a win over Iran’s Parsa Tahmasbi, Bassett joins his brother, Bo Bassett, as a U17 45-kilograms World Champion. Bo Bassett won back in 2021 in Budapest.
It didn’t take long for the first points of the final to go on the board with Bassett putting up four with a takedown and an exposure with 48 seconds before the break.
However, there was no need for a break in this match as Bassett brought Tahmasbi to his back with 30 seconds to go and got the fall in one minute and 42 seconds to secure the championship.
Bassett showed incredible emotion and was able to share the biggest moment of his wrestling career with his dad before getting his arm raised in the middle of the mat.
Earlier this year, Bassett stated in an interview with After the Whistle that his main goal after the high school season was to become a World Champion and after a lot of hard work and dedication, Bassett was able to get it done on the biggest stage and achieve his long awaited goal.
Bishop McCort won’t have to wait long to watch another one of their wrestlers compete for gold as Grand Valley State commit Jordyn Fouse will wrestle in the 68-kilograms bracket at the U20 World Championships in Bulgaria in two weeks.
Massimo Buonagurio is a second-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact him, email mkb6750@psu.edu.