Coleman to wrestle in 67 kg repechage on Saturday

BUDAPEST, Hungary – U.S. Greco-Roman representative at 67 kg Ellis Coleman will wrestle in the repechage tomorrow at the 2018 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Earlier in the day, Coleman went 1-1, losing to two-time World bronze medalist Artem Surkov of Russia in the second round.

Surkov went on to win his semifinal tonight in Budapest, pulling Coleman back into repechage and giving him the opportunity to wrestle back for bronze at 67 kg.

“He dropped a match to Surkov, who is in the finals, and that pulls him back in,” U.S. Greco-Roman National Team Head Coach Matt Lindland said. “He is looking good. He is healthy. When Ellis is healthy, he can do amazing things. That is a great thing. We went over to Tata (Hungary) and we had a great camp. It was good training for Ellis. He is feeling good, feeling sharp. I look forward to seeing him compete tomorrow.”

Tomorrow morning, the U.S. Army WCAP athlete will take on Mamdassa Sylla of France. Sylla took fifth at the 2016 World Championships and recently finished with bronze at the 2018 World Military Championships.

In order to advance to the bronze-medal match, Coleman will have to win two repechage matches. Should he beat Sylla, Coleman will then face Kamran Mammadov of Azerbaijan, who is a multiple-time European Championships medalist and 2010 Junior World champion.

The winner of that bout will face 2018 Grand Prix of Hungary champion Meiirzhan Shermakhanbet from Kazakhstan for bronze on Saturday night.

In addition to Coleman being pulled back into repechage, the finals for 60 kg, 67 kg and 87 kg were determined tonight.

At 60 kg, Victor Ciobanu of Moldova and Sergey Emelin of Russia will go head-to-head.

Ciobanu is a 2012 Junior World silver medalist and 2016 University World bronze winner, while Emelin took second at the 2017 U23 World Championships and also owns a 2014 Junior World bronze.

At 67 kg, it’ll be Surkov and 2016 Olympic champion and 2014 World champion Davor Stefanek of Serbia.

We’ll see a battle of World champions at 87 kg as 2015 World champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine will challenge reigning World champion Metehan Basar of Turkey.

The repechage round begins Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET) with the medal matches scheduled for 6 p.m. (12 p.m. ET).

2018 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

at Budapest, Hungary

U.S. Greco-Roman results
60 kg/132 lbs. - Dalton Roberts, Fowlerville, Mich. (New York AC/USOEC) 
LOSS Etienne Kinsinger (Germany), 11-0
67 kg/147.5 lbs. - Ellis Coleman, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) 
WIN Edgardas Venckaitis (Lithuania), fall
LOSS Artem Surkov (Russia), 3-1
repechage match vs. Mamadassa Sylla (France)

87 kg/191.5 lbs. - Patrick Martinez, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC/OTC) 
LOSS Viktor Lorincz (Hungary), 5-1

Semifinal results

60 kg
Victor Ciobanu (Moldova) dec. Kristian Fris (Serbia), 6-3
Sergey Emelin (Russia) tech. fall Aidos Sultangali (Kazakhstan), 9-0

67 kg
Artem Surkov (Russia) dec. Meiirzhan Shermakhanbet (Kazakhstan), 3-1
Davor Stefanek (Serbia) tech. fall Gevorg Sahakyan (Poland), 8-0

87 kg
Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine) dec. Islam Abbasov (Azerbaijan), 5-1
Metehan Basar (Turkey) dec. Bekkhan Ozdoev (Russia), 2-1

Finals pairings

60 kg: Victor Ciobanu (Moldova) vs. Sergey Emelin (Russia)
67 kg: Artem Surkov (Russia) vs. Davor Stefanek (Serbia)
87 kg: Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine) vs. Metehan Basar (Turkey)