Pins for Molinari and Francis punctuate dominant USA win over Russia, 8-2, at Women’s World Cup
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by Ryan Johnson, USA Wrestling
2019 World champion Jacarra Winchester of the USA battles Olga Khoroshavtseva of Russia at the Women’s World Cup in Japan. Photo by Ikuo Higuchi.
Team USA’s Women’s Freestyle team put their physicality on display in a lopsided 8-2 victory over Russia in Round 1 of the group matches at the Women’s World Cup at the Nakadai Sports Park Gymnasium, Narity City, Japan.
USA found ways to win all of the close matches, including a couple of pins from Forrest Molinari at 65 kg and Victoria Francis at 72 kg and a scrappy win from 2019 World Champion Jacarra Winchester at 55kg.
Molinari was tested early in her match with Natalia Fedoseeva, whom Molinari beat in the Yasar Dogu finals in July by a score of 5-2. Plenty of tough hand fighting but a low scoring match when Molinari, who trailed 2-1 at the time, hit Fedoseeva with a perfectly timed snap that sent Fedoseeva to her knees. Molinari was quickly in on her and caught Fedoseeva on her heels and Molinari patiently took Fedoseeva to her back to secure the fall for Team USA.
“Last time we wrestled I snapped her a lot but I didn’t cover well,” says Molinari. “Early in the match my elbows were too deep on my front head position so I wasn’t able to get a good snap on her. So when I finally hit her with it and I saw her react I was ready for it.”
Molinari was excited about what she saw out of her teammates as well. “USA is just gritty and fighting for every point,” says Molinari. “That’s something Terry always drives home to us. The last 20 seconds of Sarah’s match was amazing and Jacarra was fighting for positions the whole match. V-Fran and Adeline too had to scrap out there too and they both got it done in a big way.”
Russia was second at the 2019 Senior World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and the United States was third. The pool pairings were determined based upon team placement at the World Championships
Up next for Team USA in the group stage will be Mongolia. Mongolia defeated Russia by a score of 6-4 earlier in the day. In the other group, both Japan and China decimated Ukraine, both by a final score of 9-1.
Wrestling fans in the USA can see the World Cup live on Trackwrestling.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
At Narita, Japan
USA 8, Russia 2
50 kg – Whitney Conder (USA) def. Daria Leksina (RUS) | 7-0
53 kg – Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) def. Milana Dadasheva (RUS) | 10-7
55kg – Jacarra Winchester (USA) def. Olga Khoroshavtseva (RUS) | 5-4
57 kg – Marina Simonyan (RUS) def. Kelsey Campbell (USA) | 10-0
59 kg – Liubov Ovcharova (RUS) def. Desiree Zavala (USA) | 10-0
62 kg – Macey Kilty (USA) def. Uliana Tukurenova (RUS) | injury default
65 kg – Forrest Molinari (USA) def. Natalia Fedoseeva (RUS) | fall
68 kg –Tamyra Mensah-Stock (USA) def. Anastasiia Bartchikova (RUS) | 8-0
72 kg – Victoria Francis (USA) def. Evgeniia Zakharchenko (RUS) | fall
76 kg – Adeline Gray (USA) def. Ekaterina Bukina (RUS) | 11-6
Scores from Session 1
Group A
JPN 9, UKR 1
CHN 9, UKR 1
Group B
MGL 6, RUS 4
USA 8, RUS 2
Session 2 Match Ups, 5pm local time / 3am ET
Group A
JPN vs. CHN
Group B
USA vs. MGL
Team USA’s Women’s Freestyle team put their physicality on display in a lopsided 8-2 victory over Russia in Round 1 of the group matches at the Women’s World Cup at the Nakadai Sports Park Gymnasium, Narity City, Japan.
USA found ways to win all of the close matches, including a couple of pins from Forrest Molinari at 65 kg and Victoria Francis at 72 kg and a scrappy win from 2019 World Champion Jacarra Winchester at 55kg.
Molinari was tested early in her match with Natalia Fedoseeva, whom Molinari beat in the Yasar Dogu finals in July by a score of 5-2. Plenty of tough hand fighting but a low scoring match when Molinari, who trailed 2-1 at the time, hit Fedoseeva with a perfectly timed snap that sent Fedoseeva to her knees. Molinari was quickly in on her and caught Fedoseeva on her heels and Molinari patiently took Fedoseeva to her back to secure the fall for Team USA.
“Last time we wrestled I snapped her a lot but I didn’t cover well,” says Molinari. “Early in the match my elbows were too deep on my front head position so I wasn’t able to get a good snap on her. So when I finally hit her with it and I saw her react I was ready for it.”
Molinari was excited about what she saw out of her teammates as well. “USA is just gritty and fighting for every point,” says Molinari. “That’s something Terry always drives home to us. The last 20 seconds of Sarah’s match was amazing and Jacarra was fighting for positions the whole match. V-Fran and Adeline too had to scrap out there too and they both got it done in a big way.”
Russia was second at the 2019 Senior World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and the United States was third. The pool pairings were determined based upon team placement at the World Championships
Up next for Team USA in the group stage will be Mongolia. Mongolia defeated Russia by a score of 6-4 earlier in the day. In the other group, both Japan and China decimated Ukraine, both by a final score of 9-1.
Wrestling fans in the USA can see the World Cup live on Trackwrestling.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
At Narita, Japan
USA 8, Russia 2
50 kg – Whitney Conder (USA) def. Daria Leksina (RUS) | 7-0
53 kg – Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) def. Milana Dadasheva (RUS) | 10-7
55kg – Jacarra Winchester (USA) def. Olga Khoroshavtseva (RUS) | 5-4
57 kg – Marina Simonyan (RUS) def. Kelsey Campbell (USA) | 10-0
59 kg – Liubov Ovcharova (RUS) def. Desiree Zavala (USA) | 10-0
62 kg – Macey Kilty (USA) def. Uliana Tukurenova (RUS) | injury default
65 kg – Forrest Molinari (USA) def. Natalia Fedoseeva (RUS) | fall
68 kg –Tamyra Mensah-Stock (USA) def. Anastasiia Bartchikova (RUS) | 8-0
72 kg – Victoria Francis (USA) def. Evgeniia Zakharchenko (RUS) | fall
76 kg – Adeline Gray (USA) def. Ekaterina Bukina (RUS) | 11-6
Scores from Session 1
Group A
JPN 9, UKR 1
CHN 9, UKR 1
Group B
MGL 6, RUS 4
USA 8, RUS 2
Session 2 Match Ups, 5pm local time / 3am ET
Group A
JPN vs. CHN
Group B
USA vs. MGL
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