Justin Lester won four straight matches before falling in the semifinals at the World Championships on Monday. Tony Rotundo photo.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Justin Lester’s impressive run at the World Championships fell one win short of the finals.

Lester won four straight matches before running into a buzzsaw in 2009 World silver medalist Manuchar Tskhadaia of Georgia in the semifinals at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

Tskhadaia countered a Lester attack and nearly recorded a pin in the first minute en route to a 4-0, 4-0 victory on Monday night at the Sinan Erdem Dome.

Tskhadaia turned Lester twice in the final 30 seconds of the second period to earn the win.

Lester (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) will now wrestle for a bronze medal on Monday night against an opponent to be determined. Lester won World bronze medals in 2006 and 2007. He is back wrestling down at 66 kg at a World-level event for the first time since 2007.

Lester outlasted past Olympic and World silver medalist Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan 0-4, 2-0, 4-3 in a wild quarterfinal match.

Lester lost to Begaliev in the second round of the 2006 Worlds before coming back to win a bronze medal. Begaliev finished second that year.

Lester has qualified the U.S. for the 2012 Olympics in his weight class by virtue of finishing in the top six at the Worlds.

American Justin Ruiz suffered a second-round loss to past World silver and bronze medalist Jimmy Lidberg of Sweden at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. Lidberg won 2-0, 1-0.

Ruiz will wrestle back now in the repechage after Lidberg advanced to the finals. Ruiz would need three straight wins to win a bronze medal. Ruiz won a World bronze medal in 2005 and lost in the bronze-medal match to place fifth in the World in 2010.

Lidberg turned Ruiz with a gut wrench for two points in the first period. Ruiz was unable to gain a turn in par terre in the second period.

Ruiz (Orem, Utah/New York AC) lost to Lidberg in the bronze-medal match at the 2010 Worlds. Ruiz defeated Lidberg in the Curby Cup earlier this year.

American Spenser Mango was the aggressor on his feet, but was unable to score in a 1-0, 1-0 loss to Arsen Eraliev of Kyrgyzstan in a second-round match at 55 kg/121 lbs.

Mango was eliminated from the tournament when Eraliev fell one win short of reaching the finals.

Mango (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) was competing in his third straight World Championships after wrestling at the 2008 Olympics.

Day 2 of the seven-day event is set for Tuesday in Istanbul. Greco-Roman wrestlers Joe Betterman (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids), Cheney Haight (Boise, Idaho/New York AC) and Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) are scheduled to compete for the U.S.

Betterman competes at 60 kg/132 lbs., Haight is at 84 kg/185 lbs. and Byers is at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Byers placed fifth in this event last year. He was a World champion in 2002, a World silver medalist in 2009 and a World bronze medalist in 2007. Betterman is competing in his second Worlds and Haight his first.

Wrestling will start at 12:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, an hour earlier than Monday's start time.

U.S. GRECO-ROMAN RESULTS FROM MONDAY’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

55 kg/121 lbs. – Spenser Mango, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)
LOSS Arsen Eraliev (Kyrgyzstan), 0-1, 0-1

66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Justin Lester, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) 
WIN Aleksandar Maksimovic (Serbia), 1-0, 2-1
WIN Alberto Mota Brea (Dominican Republic), 4-0, 4-0
WIN Pan Zheng (China), 1-0, 6-2
WIN Kanatbek Begaliev (Kyrgyzstan), 0-4, 2-0, 4-3
LOSS Manuchar Tskhadaia (Georgia), 0-4, 0-4

96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Justin Ruiz, Orem, Utah (New York AC)
LOSS Jimmy Lidberg (Sweden), 0-2, 0-1