Kamal Bey (Photo/Max Rose-Fyne, United World Wrestling)TRNAVA, Slovakia -- U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers Kamal Bey and Cohlton Schultz -- both group world champions in 2017 -- fell one match short of reaching gold-medal matches on Monday at the Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia.
Bey and Schultz will wrestle for bronze medals on Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET).
Bey, a returning Junior world champion, fell 7-1 to Russia's Islam Opiev in the semifinals at 77 kilograms.
The two wrestlers traded passivity points in the first period, with Bey scoring first followed by Opiev. The Russian broke the match open in the second period, scoring first off a gut wrench to go up 3-1 with 1:30 remaining. In the final 30 seconds, Opiev capitalized on Bey's aggression, scoring a takedown and a gut wrench to win by six.
Opiev was a 2015 Cadet European champion and placed 26th at last year's Junior World Championships.
Bey opened his competition with a 9-1 victory and followed it up with two falls to reach the semifinals.
Cohlton Schultz (Photo/Max Rose-Fyne, United World Wrestling)Schultz, who claimed a Cadet world title last summer in Greco-Roman, dropped a 2-1 decision to Junior European bronze medalist David Ovasapyan of Armenia in the semifinals at 130 kilograms.
Ovasapyan scored first off a passivity in the opening period and extended his lead to 2-0 after getting a step-out point early in the second period. Schultz would cut the deficit to 2-1 after a passivity point midway through the second period, but the Armenian held on for the narrow victory.
Schultz, the nation's No. 2 senior recruit by InterMat, had falls in his first two matches before losing in the semifinals.
Americans Brady Koontz (55 kilograms), Alston Nutter (63 kilograms) and Barret Hughes (87 kilograms) all dropped their opening matches at the Junior World Championships.
Nutter was pulled back into repechage and will face Hrachya Poghosyan of Armenia, a 2016 Cadet world bronze medalist, tomorrow morning.
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