Heaton returns to finals, Martinez and Boyd seek bronze at Cadet Worlds
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
| Alleida Martinez (USA) in the first round of the 2016 Cadet World Championships. Photo: Gerhard Remus, RingerSpiegel.ch |
TBILISI, Georgia – For the second-straight day the U.S. women’s freestyle squad have pushed three wrestlers into the medal rounds at the 2016 Cadet World Championships.
Reigning Cadet World champion Ronna Heaton punished the top-side bracket at 52 kg/114.5 lbs. to give herself a shot at back-to-back gold. Heaton pinned all three of her opponents at New Sports Palace in Tbilisi, Georgia on Friday morning, wrestling a grand total of four minutes and five seconds throughout.
2015 Cadet World bronze medalist Haruna Okuno of Japan is the lone obstacle standing in front of Heaton’s repeat bid.
“[Heaton] has some incredible hips. She’s got sneaky little legs. She can score in a lot of ways. I think she was really level headed. I think, probably, wrestling Junior’s last week helped that too, kept things in perspective for her. She came in and knew that she had a job to do, that nothing was going to be given to her,” said U.S. coach Kevin Black.
Wrestling for the bronze medal this evening are 2015 Cadet World silver medalist Alleida Martinez and first-time Cadet World Team member Alara Boyd.
Martinez faced a stiff test in the opening round at 46 kg/101.25 lbs. from 2015 Cadet Asian champion Suzuna Yoshimura of Japan. The talented American took a 2-0 lead on Yoshimura early on, but was done in by three consecutive Japanese takedowns, and ultimately fell by a 6-4 tally.
Yoshimura found a place in the finals, pulling Martinez into the repechage where she edged Natallia Varakina of Belarus, 6-5. Martinez will battle Cadet European champion Emma Malmgren of Sweden for bronze.
Boyd picked up sounds victories over Cadet European bronze medalist Iryna Zhurauliova of Belarus and Gamze Adakan of Turkey in her first two bouts on Friday. Japan’s Atena Kodama stopped Boyd in the 60 kg/132.25 lbs. semifinals, 8-0.
Standing in the way of Boyd’s first World medal is Kirti Saxena of Canada who was a fifth place finisher at the Cadet Pan Am’s this year.
International newcomers Erin Mance and Emily Cue both dropped tough first round matches and were not pulled into a repechage match. Mance lost to Cadet European champion Maria-Alexandra Cioclea of Romania, 10-0, at 40 kg/88 lbs., and Cue fell to Nordic silver medalist Kamile Gaucaite of Lithuania, 5-1, at 70 kg/154.25 lbs.
“Tonight I think is another great opportunity to get a couple medals. Yesterday we had a chance to get three and only got two, so if we could finish with three medals today I think that would be a really nice finish to a weekend that there’s just been a lot of up’s and down’s,” said Black.
The women’s freestyle medal matches at 40 kg, 46 kg, 52 kg, 60 kg and 70 kg will be wrestled at at 10 a.m. (ET) today.
Flowrestling will provide a live stream and archived matches of the 2016 Cadet World Championships to U.S. spectators at Flowrestling.org. A Flo Pro membership is required to view the competition.
Complete brackets and match-by-match results can be viewed at unitedworldwrestling.org.
2016 CADET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sept. 13-18 at Tbilisi, Georgia
Finals Matchups
40 kg/88 lbs.
Gold – Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) vs. Mansi Mansi (India)
Bronze – Maria Leorda (Moldova) vs. Maria-Alexandra Cioclea (Romania)
Bronze – Yu-Syuan Chang (Chinese Taipei) vs. Anna Argunova (Russia)
46 kg/101.25 lbs.
Gold – Andreea Ana (Romania) vs. Suzuna Yoshimura (Japan)
Bronze – Alleida Martinez (United States) vs. Emma Malmgren (Sweden)
Bronze – Anju Anju (India) vs. Valentyna Karamavrova (Ukraine)
52 kg/114.5 lbs.
Gold – Ronna Heaton (United States) vs. Haruna Okuno (Japan)
Bronze – Nazira Marsbek Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Andribeth Rivera Belliard (Puerto Rico)
Bronze – Erika Bognar (Hungary) vs. Ida Joensson (Sweden)
60 kg/132.25 lbs.
Gold – Mariia Lachugina (Russia) vs. Atena Kodama (Japan)
Bronze – Kirti Saxena (Canada) vs. Alara Boyd (United States)
Bronze – Anshu Anshu (India) vs. Aina Temirtassova (Kazakhstan)
70 kg/154.25 lbs.
Gold – Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Yasuha Matsuyuki (Japan)
Bronze – Raquel Rama Escribano (Spain) vs. Bernadett Nagy (Hungary)
Bronze – Kamile Gaucaite (Lithuania) vs. Denise Makota Stroem (Sweden)
U.S. women’s freestyle results
40 kg/88 lbs. - Erin Mance, Weatherford, Texas
LOSS Maria-Alexandra Cioclea (Romania), 10-0
46 kg/101.25 lbs. - Alleida Martinez, Selma, Calif.
LOSS Suzuna Yoshimura (Japan), 6-4
WIN Natallia Varakina (Belarus), 5-4
52 kg/114.5 lbs. - Ronna Heaton, Brookings, S.D.
WIN Eden Mishiev (Israel), Fall 0:08
WIN Erika Bognar (Hungary), Fall 3:14
WIN Ida Joensson (Sweden), Fall 0:43
60 kg/132.25 lbs. - Alara Boyd, Muncie, Ind.
WIN Iryna Zhurauliova (Belarus), 8-2
WIN Gamze Adakan (Turkey), 6-2
LOSS Atena Kodama (Japan), 8-0
70 kg/154.25 lbs. - Emily Cue, Parker, Colo.
LOSS Kamile Gaucaite (Lithuania), 5-1
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