Miranda, McMann qualify for semifinals of Olympic women’s wrestling competition
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
08/22/2004
Two U.S. wrestlers won their pool competition Sunday night and advanced to Monday's semifinal round of women's freestyle wrestling at the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall in Athens, Greece. Moving on into the semifinals were Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. and Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. Miranda, a two-time World silver medalist, scored an 11-1 technical fall in 4:55 over Mayelis Caripa of Venezuela in the evening session. It gave Miranda three wins for the day, including victories over 2003 World bronze medalist Li Hui of China and 2003 Junior World champion Lorisa Oorzhak of Russia during the morning session. Miranda will face three-time World Champion Irini Merlini of Ukraine in Monday morning's semifinals. Merlini defeated Miranda in the gold-medal finals of the 2003 World Championships in New York City. Also in the evening session, 2003 World silver medalist McMann lost a 5-2 decision to 2003 World bronze medalist Viola Yanik of Canada. However, McMann was still able to claim her pool competition and advance to the semifinals. McMann opened the tournament Sunday morning by pinning 2001 World champion Lili Meng of China. In the next match, Meng defeated Yanik, 8-1. The final pool match was Yanik's 5-2 win over McMann. All three athletes completed their pool with 1-1 records. McMann won the pool by scoring five classification points, four for the pin and one for the loss in which she scored at least a point. Yanik was second in the pool with four classification points, three for the decision victory and one for a loss in which she scored at least one point. Meng was third in the pool with three classification points, all three for the decision victory, and none for being pinned. McMann had beaten Yanik a number of times in recent seasons, including at the 2003 World Championships, the 2003 Pan American Games and the 2004 Titan Games. Two U.S. wrestlers who lost matches during the day were eliminated from medal contention. In the evening session, Tela O'Donnell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) lost by an 11-1 technical fall in 5:18 to Tonya Verbeek of Canada at 55 kg/121 lbs. Verbeek led 4-1 at the break, then opened up her offense in the second period, taking O'Donnell down a number of times and earning exposure points. O'Donnell finished with a 1-1 record in her pool, after pinning over 1996 World champion Olga Smirnova of Russia in the morning session. When Verbeek came back and scored a technical fall victory over Smirnova, she captured the pool. O'Donnell placed second in the pool and will be placed in a repechage, in which she can still wrestle back and place fifth if she wins two bouts on Monday. Also eligible to wrestle back in the repechage is two-time World silver medalist Toccara Montgomery (Cleveland, Ohio/New York AC) at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Montgomery pinned Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria in 3:18 during the evening session. Montgomery was trailing 5-0 after the first period. Off the whistle in the second period, she took Zlateva down to her back for three points then finished the move with a fall. Montgomery had lost to five-time World Champion Kyoko Hamaguchi of Japan 8-4 in the morning session. When Hamaguchi defeated Zlateva in the evening session, she clinched the victory in the pool. In their repechage bouts on Monday morning, O'Donnell will face Mabel Fonseca of Puerto Rico, while Montgomery will face six-time World champion Christine Nordhagen of Canada. All four U.S. women wrestlers will be on the mats on Monday. Miranda and McMann are still in the hunt for a gold medal, while O'Donnell and Montgomery can wrestle back and place as high as fifth. Women's wrestling is the newest sport in the Summer Olympic Games, and this was a historic day for the sport. A total of 50 wrestlers qualified for the first Olympic Games women's wrestling tournament. U.S. second session pairings, Sunday, August 22 at 5:30 p.m. 48 kg/105.5 lbs. - Patricia Miranda (USA) tech. fall over Mayelis Caripa (Venezuela), 11-1, 4:55 55 kg/121 lbs. - Tonya Verbeek (Canada) tech. fall over Tela O'Donnell (USA), 11-1, 5:18 63 kg/138.75 lbs. - Viola Yanik (Canada) dec. Sara McMann (USA), 5-2 72 kg/158.5 lbs. - Toccara Montgomery (USA) pin Stanka Zlateva (Bulgaria), 3:18 Semifinal pairings for Monday, August 23 at 9:30 a.m. 48 kg/105.5 lbs. Chiharu Icho (Japan) vs. Angelique Berthenet (France) Irini Merlini (Ukraine) vs. Patricia Miranda (USA) 55 kg/121 lbs. Tonya Verbeek (Canada) vs. Ida Theres Karlssson (Sweden) Saori Yoshida (Japan) vs. Anna Gomis (France) 63 kg/138.75 lbs. Stavroula Zygouri (Greece) vs. Sara McMann (USA) Lise LeGrand (France) vs. Kaori Icho (Japan) 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Gouzel Maniourova (Russia) vs. Svetlana Sayenko (Ukraine) Xu Wang (China) vs. Kyoko Hamaguchi (Japan) U.S. repechage matches for Monday, August 23 at 9:30 a.m. 55 kg/121 lbs. Tela O'Donnell (USA) vs. Mabel Fonseca (Puerto Rico) 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Toccara Montgomery (USA) vs. Christine Nordhagen (Canada) Complete pairings of each weight class can be found at www.themat.com