Pastoriza, Gomez and Elor advance to semifinals, Dill battles back to bronze medal match during second day of women’s freestyle at the Cadet World Championships
by Mike Willis, USA Wrestling
Feature photo of Amit Elor courtesy of Martin Gabor/United World Wrestling.
Budapest, Hungary – Seven U.S. women’s freestylers took the mat this morning. Five were wrestling their first matches of the tournament, while two were competing in repechage.
Erica Pastoriza (40 kg), Katie Gomez (53 kg) and Amit Elor (69 kg) all advanced to the semifinals, which will be wrestled later this afternoon. The trio guaranteed themselves the opportunity to wrestle in a medal match.
Pastoriza and Elor were both drawn straight into the quarterfinals and only had one match a piece. They made the most of it, with Pastoriza earning a 10-0 technical fall over Kazakhstan’s Aizhan Muratbay and Elor picking up a 10-0 technical fall over Romania’s Barbara Sere. In the semifinals, Pastoriza will face off with Anastasiia Polska of Ukraine, a 2019 U15 Combat Games World champion, two-time U15 European champion and 2021 Cadet European champion. Elor will see Belarus’s Viktoryia Radzkova, who is also a 2021 Cadet European champion.
Gomez had two matches this session. She cruised to an 8-1 victory over Hungary’s Gerda Terek in her opening bout. She followed it up with a hard-fought victory over, India’s Antim Antim. Gomez battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the second period to earn the 5-4 come-from-behind win. She locked up the match-winning takedown with under 10 seconds remaining in the bout.
In the semifinals, she will take on Turkey’s Tuba Demir, a 2019 U15 European champion and 2021 Cadet European silver medalist.
The other two wrestlers that opened their tournament today were Ava Ward at 46 kg and Korina Blades at 61 kg. Both got off to strong starts, with Ward picking up a fall over Bulgaria’s Yana Dimitrova in 2:22 and Blades rattling off back-to-back 10-0 technical falls over Austria’s Emilia Hartmann and Poland’s Nicola Wasilewska, a 2018 U15 European Championships silver medalist.
In the quarterfinals Ward and Blades both dropped their matches to Indian opponents. Ward was leading Komal Komal, 7-4, in the second period before being thrown to her back for four points. While she fought valiantly, Komal eventually secured the pin. Blades lost her quarterfinal match to Nikita Nikita, 6-0.
Both wrestlers will need their quarterfinal opponents to win their semifinal matches to be pulled into repechage.
Angie Dill made the most of her repechage opportunity, battling her way into the 43 kg bronze medal match with a 14-5 victory over Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kulvakivska. Dill allowed the first step-out point but controlled the match after that, never relinquishing the lead after pulling ahead. At the end of the second period, Dill flashed her brutal chin whip once again, picking up four points and nearly a fall. She pinned Poland’s Julia Dolna in the opening round with the same move.
Dill will wrestle Kazakhstan’s Aida Alzhanova for bronze in this evening’s medal round.
At 57 kg, Savanah Cosme also participated in this morning’s repechage round. However, she fell to Mongolia’s Khaliun Byambasuren, eliminating her from the tournament.
The semifinal session begins at 10:45 a.m. EST and will be followed by the medal round where three Americans will wrestle for bronze, beginning at 12:00 p.m. EST.
2021 Cadet World Championships
at Budapest, Hungary, July 19-25
Women’s Freestyle Results
40 kg: Erica Pastoriza (Phoenix, Ariz.)
WIN Aizhan Muratbay (Kazakhstan), 10-0
vs. Anastasiia Polska (Ukraine)
46 kg: Ava Ward (Centralia, Mo.)
WIN Yana Dimitrova (Bulgaria), FALL 2:22
LOSS Komal Komal (India) FALL, 3:36
53 kg: Katie Gomez (Van Nuys, Calif.)
WIN Gerda Terek (Hungary), 8-1
WIN Antim Antim (India), 5-4
vs. Tuba Demir (Turkey)
61 kg: Korina Blades (Broadview, Ill.)
WIN Emilia Hartmann (Austria), 10-0
WIN Nicola Wasilewska (Poland), 11-0
LOSS Nikita Nikita (India), 6-0
69 kg: Amit Elor (Walnut Creek, Calif.)
WIN Barbara Sere (Romania), 10-0
vs. Viktoryia Radzkova (Belarus)
Repechage results
43 kg: Angie Dill (Eagle Bridge, N.Y.)
WIN Julia Dolna (Poland), FALL :49
LOSS Tannu Tannu (India), 13-0
WINYelyzaveta Kulvakivska (Ukraine), 14-5
vs. Aida Alzhanova (Kazakhstan)
57 kg: Savannah Cosme (Denver, Colo.)
LOSS Selvi Ilyasoglu (Turkey), 6-0
LOSS Khaliun Byambasuren (Mongolia), Fall, 1:08