TOM Article

Team USA Greco rep at 87 kg at the Tokyo Olympic Games fell 5-3 in his opening bout in Tokyo to Ivan Huklek of Croatia. Image courtesy of Adidas Wrestling Twitter Page (@AdidasWrestling).  As day three of Olympic wrestling action begins at the fan-less Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, Japan, three of the 18 total weight classes competing in Tokyo (Greco: 60 kg, 130 kg, and Women's freestyle: 76 kg) finished their brackets and awarded medals. That said, as session five gets underway late tonight (if you're watching stateside), we have three new weights ready to start their completion. Tonight, saw Men's Greco-Roman 67 kg (Alejandro Sancho) and 87 kg (John Stefanowicz), plus 62 kg (Kayla Miracle) in women's freestyle getting to take to the mat. Each American stumbled out of the gate and took an opening-round loss, putting their Tokyo 2020 futures in jeopardy. Only Stefanowicz still has hope via repechage. First, Miracle fell to China's Jia Long, 3-2 at 62 kg. A takedown late in the first gave Miracle a 2-1 lead at the break. However, Long scored an exposure in the second to clinch the win. Long lost in the quarterfinals to 2019 World silver medalist Iryna Koliadenko of Ukraine. As a result, Miracle's tournament is done. Mere moments later, Sancho dropped a 10-4 decision to Russia's Artem Surkov at 67 kg in Greco-Roman. Surkov led 5-0, then Sancho hit a big four-pointer to narrow the gap. Down 6-4 (as close as the bout ever got), Surkov added a pair of gut wrenches to win 10-4. Sancho's tournament has ended as well after World champion Surkov lost a 1-1 criteria decision by Nasibov (UKR) in the quarterfinals. Stefanowicz, too, fell into a 5-0 deficit (thanks to two gut wrenches and a passivity point) after the first period against Ivan Huklek of Croatia at 87 kg. Stefanowicz was able to add a passivity point and a gut wrench of his own in period two, but it wasn't enough. He lost 5-3. However, Stefanowicz is still alive in repechage because Huklek won his quarterfinal bout against Assalakov of Uzbekistan. Should Huklek make the gold-medal match, Stefanowicz will have the opportunity to wrestle for a bronze medal. Here is the USA Wrestling release from session five. Miracle eliminated article - USA Wrestling Sancho eliminated article - USA Wrestling. Stefanowicz eliminated - USA Wrestling.

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