Spenser Mango went 1-1 in the first session of the Olympic Games. John Sachs photo.

LONDON – Spenser Mango is still alive in the Olympic Games Greco-Roman wrestling tournament.

But he has a lot of work left to win a medal.

Mango fell in the second round, but was pulled back in for the repechage when the wrestler he lost to advanced to the finals on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 6,500 fans at the ExCel North Arena 2.

Mango will need to win three straight matches to capture a bronze medal at 55 kg/121 lbs. The repechage will start at 5:45 p.m. London time (12:45 p.m. Eastern).

Mango opened by sweeping Egypt’s Mohamed Abouhalima 6-1, 1-0 before running into 2011 World champion and 2008 Olympic silver medalist Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan in the second round.

Bayramov scored a 4-0, 4-0 win over Mango, who placed eighth in the 2008 Olympics. Mango was pulled back in to wrestle back when Bayramov advanced to the finals.

Mango will now face Russia’s Mingiyan Semenov in the first round of the repechage. He would need to beat Semenov and wrestlers from China and Korea in succession to gain a bronze medal.

American Ben Provisor went 1-1 and was eliminated in the Greco competition at 74 kg/163 lbs.

Provisor rallied for a three-period win over Cuba’s Alexei Bel in the first round before falling to 2011 Junior World silver medalist Zurabi Datunashvili of Georgia in the second round.

Provisor was unable to turn the Georgian in par terre in the first period before being caught with an arm throw early in the second period.

Provisor was eliminated when Datunashvili lost in the quarterfinals and fell short of reaching the finals. The 22-year-old Provisor is competing in his first Olympics.

“I’m going to learn from this experience and try to get better,” Provisor said. “It’s been an awesome experience here. There’s nothing like the Olympic Games. I’m going to take this as a learning experience for the next four years – hopefully the next three World Championships and the next Olympics.”

Day 2 of the Olympic wrestling tournament is scheduled for Monday at the ExCel Center. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (8 a.m. Eastern Time) in London.

Americans Ellis Coleman (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), Chas Betts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Minnesota Storm) and Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) are scheduled to compete for the U.S. Coleman competes at 60 kg/132 lbs., Betts wrestles at 84 kg/185 lbs. and Byers will take the mat at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

Coleman is a two-time Junior World bronze medalist. Betts made the 2009 U.S. World Team. Byers, a past World gold, silver and bronze medalist, is competing in his second Olympics. He placed seventh in the 2008 Olympics.

OLYMPIC GAMES
ExCel Center, London, England

Finals matchups

55 kg/121 lbs.
Hamid Soryan (Iran) vs. Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan)

74 kg/163 lbs.
Roman Vlasov (Russia) vs. Arsen Julfalkayan (Armenia)

U.S. results

55 kg/121 lbs. – Spenser Mango, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)
WIN Mohamed Abouhalima (Egypt), 6-1, 1-0
LOSS Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan), 0-4, 0-4
vs. Mingiyan Semenov (Russia) in repechage

74 kg/163 lbs. – Ben Provisor, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
WIN Alexei Bel (Cuba), 0-3, 1-0, 1-0
LOSS Zurabi Datunashvili (Georgia), 0-1, 0-6