Bydgoszcz, Poland – Darthe Capellan was bested by China’s Wanhao Zou in their repechage matchup at the U23 World Championships in Poland.

Capellan, of Burnaby, B.C. was defeated 2-8 in his first match of the day against Bulgaria’s Mikyay Naim. Because Naim advanced to the finals, Capellan was placed in a repechage matchup against Zou.

Capellan, 21, led the match at the halfway mark after he was awarded a point due to Zou failing to score on a shot clock warning for passivity.

Zou performed an emphatic throw in the final seconds that awarded him five points and all but ended the bout.

“It was certainly disappointing not to get the win in his two matches. He represented himself quite well against two decent wrestlers,” said Dave McKay, Team Canada Coach and Capellan’s coach at Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club.

“Darthe has a fair amount of experience and we had high expectations going it. He came out a bit slow in his first match and that caught him. He came back in the second round a lot better and had quite a few chances to score but was unable to complete.”

“Overall, I thought his performance was decent, but his results were disappointing. He has to work a little more on his hand fighting. The top opponents don’t lose their position and that’s key here.”

McKay thought the U23 World Championships, which are a first for United World Wrestling provided a worthy opportunity for Canadian athletes to gain experience.

“It’s a great tournament for our team. It’s a good level of competition and I think we need to make this a priority in our programming in transitioning our athletes from the junior to the senior level.”

There is one day of competition left at the U23 World Championships. Dillon Williams, Caleb Rutner, Jevon Balfour and Nishan Randhawa compete for Canada on Sunday.

Live streaming and results are available on United World Wrestling’s website: https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/senior-u23-world-championships

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