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China Finds Double Gold on First Day of Women's Wrestling, Japan Boxed Out

By Tim Foley

China Strikes Double Gold

China’s Yumei CHEN kicked off the women’s gold medal finals with a commanding 14-4 technical fall victory over Sonu SONU of India. The Chinese grappler ceded a four-point takedown early in the 44kg finals, but returned fire with a takedown of her own and three gut wrenches to make it a 10-4 match into the break.

Chen closed out the match early in the second period winning by technical fall, 14-4

At 59kg Jing JIANG made Chian’s second final appearance making quick work of Thi My Hanh NGUYEN (VIE). The stout Chinese competitor shot a head inside single, lifted and converted a takedown early in the first before finding four gut wrenches to win the match by technical fall, 12-1.

India and Kyrgyzstan Golden as Japanese Falter

Japan is the most dominant force in women’s wrestling, but with their top athletes competing at the Meiji Cup in Tokyo the team was not up to their usual golden ways.

Chisaki HORI did manage to find her way into the 51kg finals where she faced India’s Pooja GEHLOT (IND). The duo excited the crowd with a flurry of attacks and crafty defense, but it was all Gehlot as time expired with the Indian winning a narrow 6-5 victory.

In the 67kg finals Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ) took almost a dozen low leg singles but was continually thwarted by the trick knee of the ultra-flexible Bakhtigul BALTANIYAZOVA (UZB). Despite the tough defense Zhumanazarova found two takedowns in the first period before cracking the match wide open in the second with a powerful double leg and crotch lift made it 8-0. A final hi crotch gave the Uzbek a 10-0 technical fall victory and gold medal.

Iran Caps Team Title in Greco-Roman with Pair of Titles

They weren’t beautiful matches, but Poya Soulat DAD MARZ and Amirmohammad HAJIPOURGANJI (IRI) pushed and pulled their way to a pair of gold medals Thursday night in Taichung, Taiwan.

For his part, Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI) took out Alpamys DASTANBEK (KAZ) in the 50kg with an anti-climactic 2-1 decision. Iranian big man Amirmohammad HAJIPOURGANJI (IRI) then followed with a chippy 6-3 decision against Satish SATISH (IND).

The final team scores for Greco-Roman were Iran 71, Kazakhstan 58 and India 55.

LIVE BLOG: Pan-American Championships (DAY FOUR)

By Eric Olanowski

CORALVILLE, United States (May 10) -- We just kicked off the final day of wrestling, not only at the Pan-American Championships, but of the continental championship season. Today, we'll had out the final seven freestyle golds at 57kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg, 92kg, 97kg and 125kg.

Stars in Action:
Levi David HAINES (USA) - World silver medalist 
Real Marshall Ray WOODS (USA) - World bronze medalist 
Darian Toi CRUZ (PUR) - Paris 2024 Olympian 
Wyatt Avery HENDRICKSON (USA) - Pan-Am champion

12:15: Once we finish these matches on Mat A, we'll be taking a quick five-minute break then head right into the semfinals.  

11:56: Not much to say about Wyatt Avery HENDRICKSON (USA). He hit a snap down to a cradle and pinned Brandon Eloin ANGUIANO FLORES (MEX) in 31 seconds. He'll wrestle the winner of  Gabriel DE SOUSA SILVA (BRA) and Aaron Anthony JOHNSON (JAM) in today's semifinals.

11:38: We have not talk much about the reinging world silver medalist, Levi David HAINES (USA), but he's coming up next on Mat A. He's already had a pair of matches that have both ended in 10-0 wins. He'll try to make it three-for-three, as he'll wrestle Patrik LEDER (CAN) next.

11:36: We're back to action on Mat A. The issue has been fixed and Jose Daniel DIAZ ROBERTTI (VEN) and  Jorawar Singh DHINSA (CAN) are finally wrestling.

11:28: We're having technical issues on Mat A. We apologize for the delay but we'll be back to wrestling once the IT issues get solved.

11:16: Impotant note for tonight's final session. We'll start at 16:00, an hour earlier than normally scheduled. The start time has been updated from 17:00 to 16:00,

11:10: We're doing a mini doc on Hidlay so we just ran back to do a quick interivew and also ran the Question of the Day: "Which Olympic champion has the best shot to win 97kg world gold in Bahrain? Sadulaev, Snyder, Tazhudinov or Yazdani?" That'll be up on our IG tomorrow, so stay tuned.  

10:41: Hidlay who won 10-0  about 15 minutes ago is already coming up again shortly. He'll be up in three matches on Mat A against AMBROCIO GREIFO Pool Edinson (PER).

10:26: It'll be very USA heavy today. They have a lot of firepower taking the mat and are favored in nearly every weight today. But on a non-USA note: reigning Pan-Am runner-up from Puerto Rico Shane Christopher JONES (PUR) scored four takedowns in his opening round match against Andrew Terry Musey JOHNSON (CAN), picking up the 8-2 win. 

10:20: Reigning world champion Trent HIDLAY (USA) is the biggest star in action today. He's making his way to Mat A as we speak for his opening round match. I actually just spoke to his coach Jamil KELLY (USA) and this is the match that they circled coming into the competition as the toughest that Trent will face here in Iowa.