Yianni Diakomihalis reacts with poise after loss to high schooler PJ Duke draws harsh troll targeting his team and heritage

American wrestler Yianni Diakomihalis recently reacted to a troll's comment on his old post after facing a defeat to high school wrestler PJ Duke at the Final X. Diakomihalis bagged this title in 2023 and was his second 149lb national title during his collegiate stint.

Competing for Cornell, Diakomihalis won the finals of the bracket after defeating Ohio State's Sammy Sosso in the finals. This performance also helped his side to a top-3 finish in the competition.

Following the competition, Diakomihalis had expressed his pride after the victory. One of the netizens took to the comment section recently to criticize and heckle the former Cornell wrestler and his collegiate team after he lost to high school wrestler Duke by a 2-1 margin in the best-of-three format of the Final X Championships. Reacting to the comment, Diakomihalis wrote a crisp yet intriguing reply.

"You seem like a cool guy to hangout with," replied Diakomihalis.

This comes just a couple of months after Diakomihalis won the 70kg bracket at the US Open Nationals. This was the former Cornell wrestler's second title in the competition after the 65kg title he won back in 2019.

Notably, during his collegiate years at Cornell, Diakomihalis had also clinched four titles at the EIWA Championships along with the four NCAA titles.

Yianni Diakomihalis sheds light on the disadvantages of reducing the weight bracket in wrestling

Yianni Diakomihalis (Image via: Getty)

American wrestler Yianni Diakomihalis made his feelings known on the disadvantages associated with cutting weight in wrestling. Diakomihalis has competed primarily in the 65kg and 70kg weight categories.

In an interview, Diakomihalis shared that one of the major benefits of cutting weight is to get an advantage while competing against lighter categories. Additionally, he also mentioned that wrestlers tend to lose their competitive advantage as soon as they stop improving.

"The kind of way I see it is like cutting weight is meant to be a competitive advantage, right? The reason we cut weight in the sport is because I am 160 pounds and I can wrestle guys who weigh 165 or I can wrestle guys who weigh 154, I will wrestle the guys who weigh 154. But as soon as I'm not getting better at wrestling, I am actually taking away my competitive advantage," he said (via FloWrestling, 23:10 onwards): "As soon as it becomes, I need to sacrifice my technique, conditioning to make weight, you're zapping out other qualities out of training."

Yianni Diakomihalis has been fairly successful in the international wrestling events, too, which features a 65kg silver medal at the 2022 World Championships in the freestyle category.

Edited by Rupesh