Men’s Greco Team Results from the World Championships

Alright guys, hopefully you have stayed up on the freestyle results because here at Fanatic Wrestling, we are ready to hit you with the Greco portion next.  It has long been known that freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling are nowhere near as popular in the US as they are in the rest of the world. The US is the only country that even places any emphasis on Folkstyle wrestling in the entire world!  With that being said, Greco, as far as the US is concerned, is even less popular, and worldwide still falls second to freestyle. Nonetheless, these men went out and did their thing so let’s hop right in to it.  

55KG: Max Nowry represented the red white and blue in Nur-Sultan at the 55 kilogram division.  Nowry, one of the smallest, scrappiest guys around in Greco wrestling, claimed fifth place for Team USA.  He picked up two impressive wins, outscoring his opponents 21-4 before dropping his third match in a real nail biter to the future bronze medalist from the AZE.  Now keep in mind 55KG is not an Olympic sanctioned weight, so if Nowry qualifies, he’ll have to bump up. The rest of the results are as follows:

Gold: N. Tsurtsuma (GEO) TF K. Zhakansha (KAZ) 9-0

Bronze: E. Azizli (AZE) TF M. Nowry (USA) 8-0

Bronze: S. Ogawa (JPN) TF L. Cao (CHN) 11-2

60KG*: Ildar Hafizov was the US representative at this year’s world tournament in the 60KG division.  Hafizov opened up good getting a 7-5 decision victory over E. Kinsinger (GER) before falling in the next round to the future bronze medalist Temirov.  60 KG is an Olympic weight so as of right now it doesn’t seem likely the US will have a representative in Tokyo. The rest of the results are as follows:

Gold: K. Fumita (JPN) defeats S. Emelin (RUS) 10-5

Bronze: M. Ainagulav (KAZ) pins L. Temirov (UKR) 3:17

Bronze: A. Nejooti (IRI) defeats E. Tasmurodov (UZB) 7-5

63KG: Ryan Mango was the US representative at the 63 kilogram class.  Mango opened up very strong in his opening bout cruising to an 11-0 victory over J. Corriea Diu (POR) only to drop his next round match to R. Bilichi (TUR) 7-4. Ryan, along with his brother Spenser have both been undeniable forces on the US Greco team so it was a bit disheartening to watch Ryan earn a DNP for the day.  The rest of the results are as follows:  

Gold: S. Ota (JPN) defeats S. Moryanyan (RUS) 10-4

Bronze: M Dalkhani (IRI) defeats S. Galstyan (ARM) 7-5

Bronze: A. Kebispayev (KAZ) defeats K. Sharshanbeko 9-0

67KG*: Ellis Coleman, AKA Mr. Flying Squirrel was the Team USA rep at 67 kilograms.  Coleman proved incapable of breaking the podium against the stiff competition in his class finishing the day 1-1.  He did however open up very strong against S. Shermakhanbet (KAZ) 10-2 before losing to D. Dimitrov (BUL) 5-0. 67 kilos is another Olympic class that as of now is up in the air for the USA.  The rest of the results are as follows:

Gold: I. Borrero Molina (CUB) defeats A. Surkov (RUS) 3-0

Bronze: M. Nemes (SRB) TF F. Bjerrhhuus (DEN) 10-0

Bronze: F. Staebler (GER) defeats M. Elsayed (EGY) 6-5

72KG: Raymond Bunker was the US spot holder in the 72 kilogram class.  Bunker had been on a hot streak lately leading up to the world tournament going from relatively unknown to being the man to beat.  Bunker however couldn’t muster enough to crack the podium going 1-1 on the day with a 6-5 win over W. Yogesh (IND) and dropping his next one to the eventual bronze medalist Mnatsakanian 6-2.  Bunker was however in the mix, and losing to the bronze medalist doesn’t make him any less fearsome. The rest of the results are as follows:

Gold: A. Mantsigov (RUS) defeats A. Vardanyan (UZB) 9-0

Bronze: A. Mnatsakanian (BUL) defeats M. Widmeyer (GER) 3-3 criteria

Bronze: B. Korpasi (HUN) defeats J. Lee (KOR) 9-0

77KG*: Pat Smith was the Team USA rep in the 77 kilogram division.  Smith was one of the oldest members on the team, seemingly coming out of retirement to prove he could still bang with the young guns.  However, his dream of making the podium was cut short after he dropped his first match to R. Schwarz (GER) 5-3. 77 kilos is another Olympic class that the USA has now left vacant.  The rest of the results are as follows:

Gold: T. Lorincz (HUN) TF A. Kessidis (SWE) 8-0

Bronze: M. Geraiei (IRI) defeats A. Chalayan (ARM) 9-6

Bronze: J Burdimuratov (UZB) defeats A. Dilimukhamedov (KAZ) 3-1

82KG: John Stefanowicz was the Team USA rep at 82 kilograms.  This is the story of another hot streak that seemed to cool off at the wrong time.  Stefanowicz looked great in prior tournaments and in practice, but ultimately flopped, going 0-2 with losses to the world gold medalist and the world bronze medalist.  Maybe chalk it up to a bad draw, but still ultimately less than he had hoped for. The rest of the results are as follows:

Gold: L. Gobadze (GEO) defeats R. Huseynov (AZE) 7-5

Bronze: H. Qian (CHN) defeats N. Khashimbekov (UZB) Fall 

Bronze: S. Abdvalli (IRI) defeats I. Shkriuba (UKR) 7-0

87KG*: Joe Rau was the US rep at 87 kilos for this year’s world championships.  Rau was probably the most unlikely, never placing at state in high school, and then wrestling division III and winning a national title for Elmhurst College in Illinois.  This year’s Final X winner ultimately fell short of making the podium with a win over K. Sunil (IND) 6-0, and then dropping his next one to the eventual bronze medalist Stadub 9-1.  The rest of the results are as follows:  

Gold: Z. Beleniuk (UKR) defeats V. Lorincz (HUN) 2-1

Bronze: D. Kudla (GER) defeats N. Stadub (BLR) 2-1

Bronze: R. Assakolov (UZB) defeats A. Asibekov (KGZ) 6-2

97KG*: The young superstar, G’Angelo Hancock represented Team USA at 97 kilos in Nur-Sultan.  Hancock is the youngest member on the Greco World Team and still has tons of time to develop and utilize his potential.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for the baby face of the team to crack the podium. Hancock ended up going 1-1 on the day with a win over N. Krysov (UKR) 6-0 before losing his second bout to M. Noumonvi (FRA) 6-2 ending his hopes of medaling.  As mentioned earlier, Hancock is the youngest member of the team so time is definitely on his side. It’ll be interesting to see how he builds from this performance heading into next year. The rest of the results are as follows:

Gold: M. Evloev (RUS) defeats A. Aleksanyan (ARM) FF 

Bronze: M. Kajaia (SRB) defeats T. Michalik (POL) 9-1 TF

Bronze: C. Idlem (TUR) defeats G. Melia (GEO) 4-0

130KG*: Former University of Michigan standout Adam Coon was the US representative at the 130 kilogram class.  Coon has always been known for his dangerous throwing ability and impeccable footwork especially for his size, which is why his performance comes as an overall shock.  Despite being one of the favorites in the field, Coon dropped his first match 3-1 to L. Meng (CHN) ultimately cutting short what was hyped up to be an extremely hot performance.  Like teammate G’Angelo Hancock, Coon is still young and has plenty of time to fix his mistakes, and has a solid foundation to build on.  

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The Wrap Up

Overall, the Men’s Greco Team did not place at the world tournament, leaving all of them with their fair share of emotions.  It is easy to place blame or discount the athletes but we have to keep one thing in mind, this is the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. The BEST WRESTLERS IN THE WORLD come here to get their feet wet before the Olympics.  To compete at this level is no easy task and although these men came up short, it should never discount them in the spectator’s eyes. Greco has never been one of the USA’s strong points but hopefully with a few young guys and a solid performance to build on we’ll see that change in the future.  

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