SARAJEVO (August 28) – Junior world champion Leyla GURBANOVA (AZE) doubled up on age-group world titles and Yui SUSAKI (JPN) repeated as champion as the women’s events came to a close at the Cadet Wrestling World Championships.

After struggling in the morning session, Gurbanova dropped Aleksandra NITSENKO (RUS) to her back with a quick single-leg attack off the whistle and pressed for the fall only 34 seconds into the 52kg final at Sports Hall Alem Beckovic.

The triumph gave Gurbanova her first cadet world title after a silver medal last year in Snina (SVK). The cadet crown comes only two weeks after Gurbanova won the junior world title in Brazil.

When asked which gold medal she liked more, Gurbanova grinned and said “I like them both. But, I had stronger and older opponents in Brazil, so that makes the junior title a little more special.”
 
Comparing her cadet gold medal to last year’s silver medal and the difference between the two, Gurbanova explained “I worked really hard all year and had good training with my coaches.  Another year of experience also helped my confidence.”

Meanwhile, returning champion Yui SUSAKI (JPN) went on the attack early and rolled up a 10-0 technical fall over Alleida MARTINEZ (USA) only two minutes into the 46kg final for her second cadet world crown.

In other finals, Ekaterina MIKHAILOVA (RUS) capped a day of two technical and two falls by pinning Assyzat SAGYMBAY (KAZ) at 1:02 of the 40kg final and European champion Anzhelika LYSAK (UKR) flattened Maria MATYUSHENKO (RUS) with a whipover to fall at 60kg.

Another European champion Denise STROM (SWE) forged a 4-2 victory over Mei SHINDO (JPN) in the women’s finale at 70kg, assigning Shindo to her second silver medal at the cadet world meet.

Susaki’s gold medal was the third for the Japanese team in Sarajevo and helped lift Japan to the team title with 79 points (3 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze medals), followed by Russia with 75 (2-3-3) and the United States with 49 (1-1-2). 

“Russia really came on strong today, so I was a little worried about our position in the standings,” said head coach Shoko YOSHIMURA (JPN). “We didn’t have any information about the team score, but I could see Russia was doing quite well.”

“We didn’t have as many gold medals as we have had in the recent past, but we collected a lot of medals of different colors,” the coach added. “It was really a team effort and we’re happy for the win.

In all, 16 countries won medals in the women’s events in Sarajevo.

Women’s Wrestling 

40kg (11 entries)
Gold – Ekaterina MIKHAILOVA (RUS) df. Assyzat SAGYMBAY (KAZ) by Fall, 1:02
Bronze – Nastassia KURYSHTA (BLR) df. Rumi FUJISAWA (JPN), 12-7
Bronze – Lyubov VOLOSHINA (UKR) df. Maria CIOCCLEA (MDA) by TF, 12-2, 3:44

46kg (16 entries)
Gold – Yui SUSAKI (JPN) df. Alleida MARTINEZ (USA) by TF, 10-0, 2:00
Bronze – Maria TYUMEREKOVA (RUS) df. Aynur EGE (TUR), 9-0
Bronze – Lisa ERSEL (GER) df. Divy TOMAR (IND) by Fall, 3:40
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52kg (18 entries)
Gold – Leyla GURBANOVA (AZE) df. Aleksandra NITSENKO (RUS) by Fall, 0:34
Bronze – Shakhodat DJULLIBAEVA (UZB) df. Gabriela RAMOS (PUR), 4-2
Bronze – Sae NANJO (JPN) df. Reena REENA (IND) by TF, 10-0, 2:19

60kg (17 entries)
Gold – Anzhelina LYSAK (UKR) df. Maria MATYUSHENKO (RUS) by Fall, 1:24
Bronze – Elena ESPOSITO (ITA) df. Anina TEMIRTASSOVA (KAZ), 5-2
Bronze – Alexandra SANDAHL (SWE) df. Nisha NISHA (IND) by Fall, 3:00

70kg (16 entries)
Gold – Denise STROM (SWE) df. Mei SHINDO (JPN), 4-2
Bronze – Alexis BLEAU (USA) df. BYAMBADORJ Tsetsegbayar (MGL), 6-3
Bronze – Boriana BORISOVA (BUL) df. CHANG Hui-tsu (TPE), 10-5