Martin wins silver medal at Junior World Championships, Shelly places fifth
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
07/08/2005
The United States added one more medal during the second day of the FILA Junior World Women's Wrestling Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Heather Martin (Wellington, Ohio/New York AC) captured a silver medal at 67 kg/147.5 lbs., bringing the total medals for the U.S. women to four.
Also on Friday, Suekoilya Shelly (Bedford, Texas/New York AC) placed fifth at 59 kg/130 lbs. Martin, who won a silver medal at the 2004 Pan American Championships, dominated her first three opponents, pinning all of them in the first period. In the first round, martin pinned 2003 Junior World bronze medalist Julia Weiss of Germany in just over one minute. In the quarterfinals, Martin wasted no time in pinning Ana Maria Paic of Romania in only 27 seconds. In the semifinals, Martin pinned Laura Skujina of Latvia in 43 seconds. In the finals, Martin lost to Mami Shinkai of Japan, 2-0, 3-0. Shinkai was the Asian Junior champion this year as well. Shelly won her first match over Nadezda Shvetsova of Spain before losing to 2005 European Championships bronze medalist Yulia Ratkevich of Belarus in the quarterfinals. In the consolation bracket, Shelly defeated Brigit Stern of Austria but lost to Larissa Kanaeva of Russia in the bronze-medal bout. Also competing for the U.S. on Saturday were Melissa Gerard (Norway, Mich./Cumberland College) at 44 kg/88 lbs. and Kapua Torres (Kahuku, Hawaii/Pacific Univ.) at 51 kg/112.25 lbs. Gerard was pinned by Yulia Staravoitava of Belarus in her first match. Torres defeated Natalia Ryzhjouskia of Kazakhstan in the first round before losing to Jyldyz Eshimova of Kyrgyzstan in the second round. Eshimova placed fifth in the 2005 Senior Asian Championships. Men's Greco-Roman competition is set for Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10. The men's freestyle competition was completed on Wednesday, July 6. Women's freestyle action ended on Friday, July 8.