BUDAPEST, Hungary - Ellis Coleman (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) won a bronze medal at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. at the Junior World Championships at the Syma Arena.on Wednesday.

He defeated Renat Nigmatulin of Kazakhstan in his bronze-medal bout, 6-2, 1-0.

Coleman came out strong with a three-point body lock and an additional point for holding Nigmatulin on his back for a 4-0 lead. The first period ended 6-2 when both scored during a scramble. In the second period, no points were scored on the feet, and Coleman defended from the bottom in the par terre position to score the winning point.

“That’s my best move, the arm drag to the body lock,” said Coleman. “That guy beat me in Bulgaria. I knew I had to be better on my feet this time. I went to my go-to move. I didn’t pull the trigger right away, but I got it when I needed it.”

Coleman dropped his opening match to Chingiz Labrazanov of Russia, but was pulled into the repechage when Labrazanov made the finals. He defeated Sachino Davitaia of Georgia and Mohsen Jahangir Ghasemi of Iran in the repechage rounds to qualify for the bronze medal match.

“It was hard. The first two matches after the match I lost, I almost lost both of them. I was gassed. As I wrestled each match, I was more tired. I decided to gut it out,” said Coleman.

Coleman won the first medal for Team USA at the Junior World Championships. Yesterday, on the first day of Greco-Roman, Max Nowry (Wheeling, Ill./New York AC/USOEC) placed fifth at 50 kg/110 lbs.

The other three U.S. wrestlers who competed on Wednesday lost in preliminary rounds and were not eligible for the repechage: Jesse Thielke (Germantown, Wis./Ringers) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Ben Provisor (Stevens Point, Wis./Sunkist Kids/USOEC) at 84 kg/185 lbs. and Steve Andrus (Manhattan, Kansas/Michigan WC) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

The U.S. finished with 14 points, tied for ninth in the standings with Georgia. Russia won the team title with 64 points, followed by Azerbaijan with 37 points and Iran with 33 points.

“These kids worked hard,” said U.S. National Greco-Roman Developmental Coach Ike Anderson. “This morning, Ellis drew Russia. It was an awesome match, as everyone saw. And he had to fight back in three hard matches. If anybody deserved it, it was that kid and this team. This Greco-Roman team has been fighting for respect. I think we earned it. We didn’t get as many medals as we wanted. But we got one medal, and a fifth. We wrestled strong.”

JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Budapest, Hungary, July 21

55 kg/121 lbs.
1 Stepan Maryanyan (Russia)
2 Gasim Mahammadov (Azerbaijan)
3 Oliver Runge (Germany)
3 Saman Abdouli (Iran)
5 Dmytro Tsymbaliuk (Ukraine)
5 Ramunas Dagys (Lithuania)
7 Shengwei Zhou (China)
8 Carl Anders Poul  Ekstron (Denmark)
9 Narek Khachatryan (Armenia)
10 Haitham Mahmoud Fahmy (Egypt)

66 kg/145.5 lbs.
1 Chingiz Labazanov (Russia)
2 Dominik Etlinger (Croatia) 
3 Rasul Chunayev (Azerbaijan) 
3 Ellis Coleman (USA)
5 Ibrahim Nasser (Egypt)
5 Renat Nigmatulin (Kazakhstan)
7 Timo Badusch (Germany)
8 Sosorko Gadziev (Sweden)
9 Gevorg Sahakyan (Armenia)
10 Mohsen Jahangir Ghasemi (Iran) 

84 kg/185 lbs.
1 Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia)
2 Se-Yeol Lee (Korea)
3 Arsen Kakhabrishvili (Georgia)
3 Zhan Belenyuk (Ukraine)
5 Georgios Dalaras (Greece)
5 Makhmud Bashiev (Russia)
7 Johan Tobias Kvarnmark (Sweden)
8 Aslan Atem (Georgia)
9 Mostafa M. Khaghani Asletoulon (Iran)
10 Pavel Paminchuk (Belarus)

120 kg/264.5 lbs.
1 Ihor	 Didyk (Ukraine)
2 David Oganesyan (Russia)
3 Bayram Nigar (Turkey)
3 Eduard Popp (Germany)
5 Kiryl Hryshchanka (Belarus)
5 Parsa Hamdallah Nazari (Iran)
7 LÁM Bálint Lam (Hungary)
8 Murat Ramonov (Kyrgyzstan)
9 Sergo Gogisvanidze (Georgia)
10 Shori Maekawa (Japan) 

U.S. performances on Wednesday

55 kg/121 lbs. - Jesse Thielke, Germantown, Wis. (Ringers), dnp
LOSS Haitham Mahmoud Fahmy (Egypt), 1-0, 0-6, 0-2

66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Ellis Coleman, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), 3rd
LOSS Chingiz Labazanov (Russia), 1-0, 1-2, 0-8
WIN Sachino Davitaia (Georgia), 1-0, 2-2, 2-0
WIN Mohsen Jahangir Ghasemi (Iran), 1-2, 1-0, 5-0
WIN Renat Nigmatulin (Kazakhstan), 6-2, 1-0

84 kg/185 lbs. - Ben Provisor, Stevens Point, Wis. (Sunkist Kids/USOEC), dnp
WIN Azizbek Muradov (Uzbekistan), 0-1, 1-0, 1-0
LOSS Arsen Kakhabrisvili (Georgia), 1-2, 0-2

120 kg/264.5 lbs. - Steve Andrus, Manhattan, Kansas (Michigan WC), dnp
LOSS Kiril Hryshchanka (Belarus), 0-1, 0-6

Team Standings
1 RUSSIA (RUS)  64 
2 AZERBAIDJAN (AZE) 37 
3 IRAN R.I. (IRI) 33 
4 UKRAINE (UKR) 32 
4 ARMENIA (ARM) 32 
6 GERMANY (GER) 30 
7 TURKEY (TUR) 25 
8 KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ) 19 
9 UNITED STATES (USA) 14 
9 GEORGIA (GEO) 14 
9  SWEDEN (SWE) 14 
12 BELARUS (BLR)  11 
13 JAPAN (JPN) 10 
13 UZBEKISTAN (UZB) 10 
13 GREECE (GRE) 10 
13 HUNGARY (HUN) 10 
17 CROATIA (CRO) 9 
17 KOREA (KOR) 9 
17 ROMANIA (ROU) 9 
17  DENMARK (DEN)  9 
17 CHINA (CHN) 9 
22 FINLAND (FIN) 8 
22 BULGARIA (BUL) 8 
24 EGYPT (EGY) 7 
25  LITHUANIA (LTU) 6 
25 SWITZERLAND (SUI) 6 
25 MOLDOVA (MDA) 6 
28 KYRGYZSTAN (KGZ) 3 
29 MEXICO (MEX) 2