Granma y Cerro Pelado

Cuba's Sanchez Brings The Boom To Open Cerro Pelado Women's Tournament

Monday, February 19, 2018 - 19:45 By

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HAVANA, Cuba – Home-nation representative Yudari SANCHEZ (CUB) was magnificent on the first day of women’s wrestling at the Granma Y Cerro Pelado, earning three early-stoppage wins at 68 KG.

It was a quick, first-period fall over Saidy Loena CHAVEZ (HON) for Sanchez to begin the day. She then reeled off technical fall victories over Soleimy CORABALLO (VEN) and Yariannys MARIN (CUB) to position herself a single win away from the gold medal.

Sanchez, a junior world silver medalist and U23 world bronze medalist last year, takes on Diana MIRANDA (MEX) in tomorrow afternoon’s session. Miranda was a fifth-place finisher at the 2015 World Championships and will no doubt be a tough out for Sanchez.

Many expected returning junior world runner-up and three-time Cerro Pelado champion Lianna MONTERO (CUB) to walk to the 57 KG title. However, Montero was upset in her last-of-four round-robin matches by Maria FERNANDA (CUB), 4-1.

Montero, a recent Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix bronze medalist, completed her tournament with a 3-1 record. Both Fernanda and 2016 Pan American bronze medalist Alejandra ROMERO (MEX) can finish 3-1 with wins tomorrow and force criteria to determine the 57 KG champion.

Cuba has two more women who are the only undefeated wrestlers left in their respective round-robin brackets. Returning Cerro Pelado silver medalist Milaimys MARIN (CUB) can take the 76 KG gold with a win over 2017 junior Pan American champion Mabelkis CAPOTE (CUB). Similarly, Hangelen LLANES (CUB) needs a win over 2018 Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix bronze medalist and six-time Pan American medalist Yakelin ESTORNELLA (CUB) to finish unscathed.

The remaining four weight classes, while also round-robin in nature, will feature pseudo gold-medal matches between unbeaten women tomorrow.

Two-time Pan American champion and London Olympian Kelsey CAMPBELL (USA) impressed with a pair of shutout wins at 59 KG. Next, she meets up with the talented Dayselis RODRIGUEZ (CUB), winner-take all.

At 53 KG, three-time Pan American bronze medalist Betzabeth Angelica ARGUELLO VILLEGAS (VEN) seeks perfection against Amanda HERNADEZ (CUB). Arguello Villegas finished in fifth place at the Rio Olympics.

Dual Cuba-on-Cuba finals round out the list of gold-medal contenders in women’s wrestling. 2016 junior Pan American champion Yusneylys GUZMAN (CUB) will battle last year’s Cerro Pelado bronze medalist Leanne MENDOZA (CUB) at 59 KG. Lesser known Cubans Yayneli SANZ (CUB) and Laura HERIN (CUB) will vie for the 55 KG crown.

The women’s wrestling day two session will begin at 2 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Complete results and a live stream of all the action can be found at unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS: http://uww.io/4gTea

#WrestleZagreb

Motoki leads Japanese trio to Worlds finals

Wednesday, September 17, 2025 - 15:47 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 17) -- After a slightly subdued start to its Women's Wrestling, Japan managed to show up at the World Championships.

Japan put three wrestlers in the final out of the four weight classes that were in action on Wednesday in Zagreb. Olympic champion Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) remained on course for her first world title at 62kg while Haruna MURAYAMA (JPN) and Ami ISHII (JPN) will look to add to their world titles at 53kg and 68kg.

Motoki was up against former world champion Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL) in the semifinals and she began with a four-pointer. Purevdorj got a reversal but that was all she managed in the match as Motoki kept coming up with different ways to score the takedowns. At 10-1, she scored another four-pointer to win 14-1 and enter her second world final.

For the elusive gold, she will face Ok Ju KIM (PRK) who pinned Amina TANDELOVA (UWW) in the other semifinal after building a 14-3 lead.

Murayama, a three-time world champion, will wrestle for her fourth world title after she won a close semifinal against Hyogyong CHOE (PRK). Both traded activity points but Murayama had a stepout which proved to the be difference as she won 2-1.

On Thursday, she will face Olympic silver medalist Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) in the final after the Ecuadorian defeated world bronze medalist ANTIM (IND), 5-3, majorly with four-pointer in the first period and protecting her lead.

Yepez hit a duck under to throw Antim for four and gave up a reversal to lead 4-1 in the break. The Indian tried to find the opening but she only got one in the final 10 seconds after giving up a takedown. Yepez was happy to give up that final takedown as it did not affect her win and only changed the score to 5-3.

Ecuador, a country which did not have a world finalist till Tuesday, now has two. Yepez is the second on consecutive day after Genesis REASCO (ECU) entered the 76kg final to create history.

World 72kg champion Ishii, who dropped down to 68kg this year, took a step closer to her second world title after she bullied through two Olympic medalist in quarterfinals and semifinals.

Ishii dominated silver medalist from Paris Kennedy BLADES (USA), 12-2, and had a similar match against bronze medalist against Buse TOSUN (TUR) in the semifinals.

Ishii was straight to work in the semifinal with a four-pointer as Tosun landed on her back despite controlling Ishii's legs. Turkiye challenged that scoring but lost it, giving one more point to Ishii.

She scored three different takedowns to finish the match 11-0 inside the first period and enter her second world final.

Yuliana YANEVA (BUL) will look to stop Ishii from winning the gold medal after she upset world 65kg champion Jia LONG (CHN) in the semifinal. Yaneva fell behind 1-1 on criteria but scored a takedown with around one minute and 30 seconds on the clock to lead 3-1.

From there on, Long was on the backfoot and a win seemed further away as she was cautioned for a point for locking fingers. As she tried to trip Yaneva, the Bulgarian blocked her and got the winning takedown for a 6-1 win.

At 72kg, multiple age-group world medalist Nesrin BAS (TUR) managed to reach her first-ever senior world final after she won a thrilling semifinal against Zelu LI (CHN), 9-6.

Bas scored a four-pointer using a whizzer to lead 4-1 at the break. Li scored a takedown to begin the second period but Bas elevated her leg from the front to score two points and lead 6-3. Turkiye challenged the call and the scored for reversed to 8-4. Li tried to mount a comeback from there but she managed only two points while Bas scored a reversal to win 9-6.

For her first world title, she will face Alla BELINSKA (UKR) who used a whizzer to pin Nurzat NURTAEVA (KGZ) in the other semifinal.

RESULTS

53kg
GOLD: Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) vs. Haruna MURAYAMA (JPN)

SF 1: Haruna MURAYAMA (JPN) df. Hyogyong CHOE (PRK), 2-1
SF 2: Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) df. ANTIM (IND), 5-3

62kg
GOLD: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) vs. Ok Ju KIM (PRK)

SF 1: Ok Ju KIM (PRK) df. Amina TANDELOVA (UWW), via fall
SF 2: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) df. Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL), 14-1

68kg
GOLD: Ami ISHII (JPN) vs. Yuliana YANEVA (BUL)

SF 1: Yuliana YANEVA (BUL) df. Jia LONG (CHN), 6-1
SF 2: Ami ISHII (JPN) df. Buse TOSUN (TUR), 11-0

72kg
GOLD: Nesrin BAS (TUR) vs. Alla BELINSKA (UKR)

SF 1: Nesrin BAS (TUR) df. Zelu LI (CHN), 9-6
SF 2: Alla BELINSKA (UKR) df. Nurzat NURTAEVA (KGZ), via fall