CORALVILLE, IA – The Senior Pan-American (Pan-Am) Championships wrapped up on May 10^th from the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, with the final seven Men’s Freestyle weight classes. Canadians had already won eight medals after two days of Women’s Wrestling and Men’s Freestyle and they were looking for more during the final day.

Canada had a pair of opportunities at gold medals with the first coming from Anmore, British Columbia’s Peiman Biabani. Biabani won his quarterfinal over Puerto Rico (5-2) and then defeated Ecuador in the in the semifinal (10-0). That set him up for a match with American Real Woods, a rematch of last year’s World Championships Bronze medal match. Unfortunately for Biabani, history repeated itself and he took the loss 3-2 and had to settle for silver.

The second opportunity came from Abbotsford, British Columbia’s Jorawar Dhinsa. Dhinsa opened his event with a 9-0 win over Venezuela in the quarterfinal. Then, he defeated Puerto Rico (4-0) in the semifinal. That set him up for a gold medal match against American Wyatt Hendrickson. Henrickson got the better of Dhinsa but he still came away with a silver.

Earning a bronze medal was Thunder Bay, Ontario’s Mike Zale. Zale was in a round robin at 70kg. He was defeated in his opening match by USA but rebounded to beat Mexico in his second. He crossed over to face Puerto Rico in the semifinal but came up just short. He earned the bronze after an injury forced his bronze medal opponent from Argentina to withdraw.

Also earning a bronze was Mississauga’s Patrik Leder. Leder was in a round robin at 79kg and went 2-2 with wins over Colombia (10-0) and Mexico (5-0) while taking defeats to USA and Puerto Rico.

Finally, the last medal for the Canadians went to Saskatoon’s Andrew Johnson. Johnson was also in a round robin at 92kg and went 2-2 with wins over Peru (injury withdrawal) and Brazil (10-0) and losses to Puerto Rico and USA.

Other results included Abbotsford’s Nishan Randhawa, seventh at 97kg and Longueuil, Quebec’s Chris Merlot 10^th at 57kg.

The men’s freestyle team finished third overall in the team competition.

This was also the first opportunity to qualify weight classes for the 2027 Pan-American Games in Peru. With medals in Women’s Wrestling 50kg and 53kg, and a fifth in 62kg, along with Freestyle 65kg, 74kg and 125kg Canada has already qualified six spots. There will also be opportunity to qualify additional weight classes at the 2027 Pan-American Championships.

That puts a wrap on the Senior Pan-Am Championships. Canada finishes with 13 total medals, and a second overall in the women’s team competition.

For complete tournament information visit the tournament site. Matches from the event can be streamed on UWW+.