The Brock Badgers men's wrestling team generated a lot of momentum after a strong showing in London.
In their last tournament before the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships, the Badgers placed first ahead of the host Western Mustangs at the Western Open on Sunday, Jan. 26.
To capture first, the Badgers as a team scored 32 points while the Mustangs had 26.
Leading the Badgers' medal results was Roger Li, a third-year athlete, who won gold in the 125-kilogram division. To earn his second first-place finish of the year, Li bested both Aatesh Kamalakkannan (Western Mustangs) and Peter Cseh (OXEL) by technical fall (11-0, 12-0).
In the final, he showed more command of the mats, as he defeated Mark Summers of the Western Mustangs by fall at one minute and 22 seconds.
Two Brock wrestlers placed second at the tournament in Johannes Budgey and Yazdan Farokhizad.
Budgey won his first two matches in the 82kg event by technical fall 10-0 and 15-2 over Jeong Shin and Keegan McMartin of the Toronto Varsity Blues to get to the final. He would take an injury default and not compete in the gold medal match against Samey Al Beajan of NCWC.
In the 100kg division, Farokhizad earned his fifth top 3 finish of the season. He won three consecutive matches by technical fall without giving up a single point to get to the first-place contest. He took a forfeit and did not face Omogbai Asekohme of the Hamilton Wrestling Club in the gold medal match.
Knox also competed in the 100kg event and placed third after defeating Kyle Price of the Algoma Wrestling Club by technical fall 12-0. He recovered from a 10-0 technical loss to Asekohme in the quarterfinals by winning four straight matches en route to his fourth podium finish of the year.
For the second time this season, Zakir Ibrahimkheil won a bronze medal in the 57kg division. After dropping his opening match to Tin Dao of the McMaster Marauders, Ibrahimkheil won six straight contests. Five of those wins were by technical fall where he did not give up a point, while he also added a fall at just 1:08 in his victory over Western's Leo Kitambala.
Up next, the Badgers are seeking their ninth consecutive OUA title and 26th overall when they compete in Sault Ste. Marie, ON at the George Leach Centre at Algoma University on Saturday, Feb. 8.
BROCK MEN'S WRESTLING TOP SIX RESULTS AT THE 2025 WESTERN OPEN
57kg (3rd) - Zakir Ibrahimkheil (Brock) 12-0 technical fall win over Chase Prince (TMU)
72kg (4th) - Adam La Froy (Lakehead) fall win at 2:17 over Hamzah Al-Qayse (Brock)
82kg (2nd) - Samey Al Beajan (NCWC) injury default win over
Johannes Budgey (Brock)
100kg (2nd) - Omogbai Asekohme (Hamilton WC) forfeit win over
Yazdan Farokhizad (Brock)
100kg (3rd) - Callum Knox (Brock) 12-0 technical fall win over Kyle Price (Algoma WC)
125 kg (1st) - Roger Li (Brock) fall win at 1:22 over Mark Summers (Western)
MEN'S STANDINGS AT THE 2025 WESTERN OPEN
1 Brock University, 32
2 Western University, 26
3 Montreal WC, 24
4 Toronto Metro, 18
5 McMaster University, 15
6 Algoma WC, 13
7 Matmen WC, 12
8 WAMMA, 12
9 Brock WC, 10
10 Hamilton, 10
11 NCWC, 10
12 River WC, 10
13 Tritton PWC, 10
14 Carleton University, 9
15 Concordia, 5
16 Lakehead University, 5
17 OXEL WC, 5
18 Team Xtreme, 5
19 University of Toronto, 5
20 University of New Brunswick, 4
21 Algoma University, 3
22 University of Guelph, 3
23 CLIC, 2
24 London-Western WC, 2
25 Queen`s University, 2
26 York University, 2
27 Independent WC, 1
28 Olympus, 1
29 Bigman WC, 0
30 Black Bear WC, 0
31 CTWC, 0
32 GTA Wrestling, 0
33 Norfolk WC, 0
34 Team Impact WC, 0
35 York WC, 0
