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	*NEWS*

World champions enjoy safe passage

By Barnaby Chesterman SYDNEY, (Reuters) - Several world champions made steady progress into the knockout stages of the Olympic freestyle wrestling on Saturday, the penultimate day of the competition. However, Daniel Igali of Canada, the under 69 kg world champion, came close to elimination in a tough battle against Amir Tavakolian of Iran. Igali twice trailed by a single point, but after nine minutes of hard-fought wrestling, the Canadian was awarded the bout on a decision. Igali will now face Yosmany Sanchez of Cuba in the quarter-finals. Sanchez's team mate, Yoel Romero, moved straight into the semifinals of the under 85 kg after topping a group of four fighters. Romero is yet to drop a point in this tournament and won his group at a canter with an 8-0 victory against Justin Abdou of Canada. But Romero will face a stern challenge in his semifinal on Sunday against the 1991 world champion Amirreza Khadem Azghadi of Iran. One world champion did bite the dust, though, in the under 58 kg. Harun Dogan of Turkey had an uphill battle after losing badly to Damir Zakhartdinov of Uzbekistan on Friday. He received a walk-over in his last pool contest but it was not enough as Zakhartdinov beat Octavian Cuciuc of Moldova by a fall to move directly into the semis. Ex-double world champion, Terry Brands of the U.S. eased into the quarter-finals with a convincing victory against Chvitsa Polychronidis of Greece. The silver medallist from last year's world championship in Ankara, Alireza Dabir of Iran, also made it through to the last eight and a potential crunch semifinal showdown with Brands.