Photo of Ellis Coleman by Mark Lundy/Lutte Lens

While the U.S. started out strong on the second day of competition, the session ended in disappointment. Ellis Coleman (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Joe Rau (Chicago, lll./Titan Mercury WC/Chicago RTC) and G’Angelo Hancock (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) all won their opening matches, before falling in the next round. None were pulled into repechage.

At 77 kg, Coleman opened the day with a victory over 2018 World bronze medalist Meirzhan Shermakhanbet of Kazakhstan. Coleman started the match off with a bang, countering a body lock attempt with a headlock for four points. He hit another headlock for two points, which Shermakhanbet managed to roll through for two of his own. Coleman came out on top of the exchange, picking up another two points and nearly pinning the Kazakhstani. Coleman finished the match off by countering a headlock attempt for two points to pick up the 10-2 technical fall.

In his second match, Coleman fell to Devyid Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Dimitrov scored a four-point throw in the opening 30-seconds, and Coleman was unable to dig himself out of that hole. The Bulgarian tacked on a step-out, and the match ended 5-0.

He was eliminated from the competition when Dimitrov lost his next match, 6-0, to Fredrik Bjerrehuus of Denmark.

Joe Rau controlled the pace in his first match against 2019 Asian Championships runner-up Kumar Sunil of India. He earned his first two points off step-outs. At the very end of the period, Rau hit a duck under straight into a gut wrench for two sets of two points. He held the lead the entire second period and won 6-0.

In his second match against Nikolai Stadub of Belarus, a European Championships fifth place finisher, Rau brought a 1-0 lead into the break on a passivity point. In the second period Rau was hit with passivity and put down. Stadub rattled off four-straight turns to win, 9-1.

Stadub fell to 2015 World champion Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine in the quarterfinals, ended Rau’s tournament.

G’Angelo Hancock won his opening match, 6-0 over Nikolai Krysov of Ukraine. Hancock earned a passivity and turned Krysov with a gut wrench to take a 3-0 lead. In the second period, he added a step-out to push his lead to 4-0. In the closing seconds he scpred a caution-and-two against Krysov to win 6-0. Krysov was yellow carded at the conclusion of the match.

In his second match, Hancock was winning 2-1 in the second period against 2014 World Champion Melonin Noumonvi of France. The crafty and skilled veteran locked up a throw and tossed Hancock for five. The match would end, 6-2 Noumonvi.

Noumonvi dropped his next match, 5-1, to Giorgi Melia of Georgia, which ended Hancock’s chances for repechage.                                                                                                                    

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

Greco-Roman Day 2 Results

67 kg/147.5 lbs. - Ellis Coleman, (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP)
WIN Meirzhan Shermakhanbet (Kazakhstan), 10-2
LOSS Devyid Dimitrov (Bulgaria), 5-0

87 kg/191.5 lbs. – Joe Rau, (Chicago, lll./Titan Mercury WC/Chicago RTC)
WIN Kumar Sunil (India), 6-0
LOSS Nikolai Stadub (Belarus), 9-1

97 kg/213.75 lbs. - G’Angelo Hancock, (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
WIN Nikolai Krysov (Ukraine), 6-0
LOSS Melonin Noumonvi (France), 6-2