Porter and Coon will not be pulled into repechage at the World Olympic Qualifier
by Mike Willis, USA Wrestling
Feature photo of Jesse Porter courtesy of Justin Hoch.
Jesse Porter (77 kg) and Adam Coon (130 kg) were both eliminated from competition this afternoon at the World Olympic Qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria when the opponents they lost to fell in the semifinals.
At 77 kg, Turkey’s Faith Cengiz, who defeated Porter 7-0 in the second round, was downed by Bulgaria’s Aik Mnatsakanian, 3-2. Mnatsakanian is two-time World bronze medalist (2018, 2019) at 72 kg.
Ukraine’s Mykola Kuchmii, who bested Coon in the quarterfinals, 6-3, was taken out by Elias Kuosmanen of Finland, 1-1, on criteria. Kuosmanen is a 2019 Military Games and 2017 U23 World silver medalist.
The Greco-Roman program qualified the other four weight classes, 60 kg, 67 kg, 87 kg and 97 kg at the 2020 Pan American Olympic Qualifier, matching their total number of qualifiers from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
WORLD OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFIER
at Sofia, Bulgaria
Greco-Roman finalists (Olympic qualifiers)
60 kg – Armen Melikyan (Armenia) vs. Victor Ciobanu (Moldova)
67 kg – - Karen Aslanyan (Armenia) vs. Parviz Nasibov (Ukraine)
77 kg – Rafig Huseynov (Azerbaijan) vs. Aik Mnatsakanian (Bulgaria)
87 kg – Zurabi Datunashvili (Serbia) vs. Ivan Huklek (Croatia)
97 kg – Alex Gergo Szoke (Hungary) vs. Artur Omarov (Czechia)
130 kg – Alin Alexuc Ciurariu (Romania) vs. Elias Kuosmanen (Finland)
U.S. Results
77 kg – Jesse Porter (Ballston Lake, N.Y./New York AC/Northern Michigan OTS)
WIN Marciano George Ali, 9-0
LOSS Faith Cengiz, 7-0
130 kg – Adam Coon (Ann Arbor, Mich./New York AC/Cliff Keen WC)
WIN Murat Ramonov (KGZ), FALL :57
LOSS Mykola Kuchmii (UKR), 6-3