BEIJING, CHINA -- Spenser Mango (St. Louis, Mo./Gator WC) went 1-1 in the morning session at the 55 kg/121 lbs. field in Greco-Roman wrestling and was eliminated from medal contention at the China Agriculture University Gymnasium on Tuesday.
Spenser MangoIn the semifinals, Park faced Nazyr Mankiev of Russia, who had defeated three-time World champion Hamid Sourian of Iran in the quarterfinals. When Park was defeated in the semifinals by Mankiev, 1-1, 0-6, 1-2, Mango was eliminated from the competition.
Only athletes who lose to a gold-medal finalist are able to enter the repechage matches and are eligible to wrestle back.
In the first match, Mango defeated Virgil Munteanu of Romania in his first match, 1-1, 5-2. Neither wrestler scored in the first period, and Mango defended from the bottom last, winning the tiebreaker on last point scored. In the second period, during the first reverse lift position, Munteanu was penalized for jumping the whistle, giving the first point to Mango. When they were on their feet, Mango tossed Munteanu for three points, the key move to the win.
Mango and Munteanu split a pair of matches in November when Romania came to the United States for competition. Munteanu won in a dual meet in New Jersey, while Mango won their showdown at the New York AC International.
There were two weight classes contested on Tuesday, with 60 kg/132 lbs. also being contested. The U.S. does not have an entry at 60 kg/132 lbs.
At 60 kg, two-time Olympic champion Armen Nazarian of Bulgaria won his opening bout against 2007 World champion David Bedinadze of Georgia. However, when Nazarian was beaten in the quarterfinals by Vitali Rahimov of Azerbaijan, Bedinadze was eliminated from medal contention. Rahimov qualified for the finals, so Nazarian is still eligible for the bronze medal.
The final matches will feature two athletes from Russia and two athletes from Azerbaijan.
The second session begins at 4:00 p.m., with repechage rounds, following immediately by the gold and bronze medal matches.
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