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Steveson first beat former Asian champion Aiaal Lazarev of
Kyrgyzstan with a 10-0 victory by technical superiority after
five takedowns before he stunned Rio Games gold medallist Taha
Akgul of Turkey 8-0 in the quarter-finals.
The semi-final against Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur proved to be a
tougher encounter, but 21-year-old Steveson managed to get a
single leg takedown early and finished with another takedown in
the final 10 seconds to win 5-0.
"With little to no international senior experience, it's crazy
that a young cat like me can come in here and shock the world so
quick, have everybody notice that a 21-year-old kid in college
is going to maybe take gold tomorrow," Gable said.
"It's outstanding to me, my family back home... I'm going to do
my job and try to come out victorious."
Steveson will face Georgia's three-times world champion Geno
Petriashvili, whose experience shone through when he came back
from 3-0 down against Iranian 20-year-old Amir Hossein Zare to
win 6-3 and guarantee an improvement on his 2016 bronze medal.
Belarusian Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau moved into the gold
medal freestyle welterweight bout after a see-saw match with
Italy's two-time world champion and Rio bronze medallist Frank
Chamizo, winning 9-7.
Kadzimahamedau, who had beaten American Kyle Dake 11-0 in the
quarter-finals, led 2-1 at the break before making a flurry of
point-scoring moves to win even as Chamizo looked to counter and
attack.
"My mind is in shock, it's stuck. I really can't believe what's
going on in this moment," Chamizo said.
"I lost my opportunity but I'll keep going. I will not give up
and I'm focused now on my bronze medal match."
The Belarusian will take on Russian Zaurbek Sidakov who
comfortably beat Kazakhstan's Daniyar Kaisanov and nearly scored
five points with a "grand amplitude throw", winning 11-0 by
technical superiority.
PANG POUNCES
China's Pang Qianyu progressed to the women's freestyle
bantamweight final with a takedown against Belarusian Vanesa
Kaladzinskaya right at the death in a 2-2 tie, advancing having
scored with a single higher point-scoring move.
Kaladzinskaya had shocked medal favourite and top seed Vinesh
Phogat of India in the quarter-final and nearly held on for a
2-0 win until Pang pounced with seconds left.
She will face two-times world champion Mayu Mukaida of Japan who
beat Mongolia's Bat-Ochiryn Bolortuyaa 6-3.
Mukaida had sailed through her earlier bouts, beating Cameroon's
Essombe Tiako 10-0 before dispatching former European champion
Roksana Zasina of Poland 12-2 in the first period.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay in Chiba, Writing by Rohith Nair in
Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Hugh Lawson)
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