THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080530
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 59 lines
Fasting and wrestling often go hand-in-hand. But in the case of Cox's Mohammed Youssofi the intention is not to lose weight.
Youssofi, top-ranked at 171, is a Muslim and according to Islamic Law must fast from sunup to sundown throughout Ramazan.
Ramazan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and begins Friday. The Virginia Duals also begin today so Youssofi plans to delay his fast until Sunday and make up the two days he'll miss at the end.
``I've done it the last couple years,'' Youssofi said of his fast. ``During practice I'm kind of weak. But as far as matches go, most of them start at 7:30 and it's 8:30 or 9 before I wrestle. I'll have eaten by then.''
Youssofi makes it sound simple, but former Cox coach Jud Stokes remembers otherwise. Last year's fast coincided with the Beach District tournament and Youssofi lost 11 pounds in the first three or four days of his fast, Stokes said.
``The way the tournament was set up Mohammed didn't get to eat until before the finals,'' Stokes.
That might have played a role in the broken sternum Youssofi suffered against Tallwood's Josh Brashers, Stokes said.
``It takes an incredible amount of self-discipline to (fast) and win,'' Stokes said. The key, he added, is for Youssofi to eat an extra meal in the middle of the night.
``Last year his dad would get him up sometimes and make him eat,'' Stokes said. ``When he did that he was all right.''
TIGER TOWN: Almost everything had to go right for Oscar Smith to upset Great Bridge last Saturday and that's exactly what happened.
The Tigers' Malcolm Cherry (130) and Mike Phelps (160) each knocked off ranked opponents. Tim Gatson (189) was losing 6-2 when he braced out of a tilt, caught the Wildcats' Eric Leonard on his back and pinned him.
David Singleton won a major decision at 215 that trimmed the deficit to five and gave heavyweight Raphael Butts the chance to be a hero. Butts, who has played that role with aplomb before, came through with a second-period fall.
Final score: Oscar Smith 32, Great Bridge 31.
The victory was the Tigers' first over the Wildcats' since the Martin regime began in 1983 and made Tigers coach Sid Savoy a celebrity.
``I've been hearing from all kind of folks,'' he said.
Don't expect him to get big-headed.
``I'm still just old Sidney,'' he said.
Savoy was one of the few people in the gym who smelled an upset before it happened.
``We thought we had a chance coming in,'' he said. ``We looked at the matchups and said, `Gosh, this is kinda falling into place.'''
Great Bridge was without two starters and used a third-stringer, freshman Michael Champagne at 112. He was pinned by the Tigers' Nathan Chandler.
MATCHUP OF THE WEEK: Western Branch's Marvin Urquhart makes his debut as the top-ranked heavyweight tonight against former No. 1 Raphael Butts of Oscar Smith. Butts, the 1996 state runnerup, beat Urquhart twice last year but is coming off a loss to Lakeland's Nathan Carr. Urquhart is 17-0.