Montgomery wins silver medal at SportAccord World Combat Games in China

BEIJING, China – Amberle Montgomery (Kent, Wash./Gator WC/OCU) won a gold/silver medal at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. at the SportAccord World Combat Games on Wednesday.

This unique competition includes elite international competition in a number of combat and martial arts disciplines.

Montgomery lost to Olesya Zamula of Azerbaijan in the gold-medal finals, 2-4, 0-6. Zamula was fifth in the 2008 World Championships, and also competed in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Montgomery went 2-1 in her pool competition, with victories over Olga Kalinina of Kazakhstan and Kayoko Kudo of Japan, and a loss to Panpan Yang of China. Kalinina was seventh in the 2009 World Championships at 59 kg. Yang was a 2010 Asian Junior champion.

Nobody went unbeaten in the pool, and Montgomery advanced to the finals by scoring the most classification points during her matches, bolstered by two pins.

Montgomery is currently a member of Women’s Team USA, holding a No. 3 ranking on the national team at her weight class. She was a 2010 WCWA women’s college national champions for Oklahoma City University. 

Placing fifth in the 55 kg/121 lbs. division was Michaela Hutchison (Soldotna, Alaska/Gator WC/OCU). In her pool, she defeated Katarzyna Krawczyk of Poland, but dropped bouts to Zulfiya Yakhyarova of Kazakhstan and Brittanee Laverdure of Canada. In the fifth-place bout, she stopped Tatiana Debien of France, 4-1, 3-0.

Laverdure, a 2008 World bronze medalist, was the eventual champion at 55 kg/121 lbs.

Hutchison has won the WCWA Women’s College Nationals Oklahoma City University for two straight years, and has held a national ranking on the Senior level in her weight class.

Four disciplines of wrestling will be showcased: women’s freestyle wrestling; men and women’s No-Gi Grappling; Belt Wrestling; Pankration. The wrestling competition is being held at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium, which was also the venue for wrestling at the 2008 Olympic Games.

In addition to the women wrestlers, USA Wrestling will be represented by two U.S. No-Gi Grapplers. USA Wrestling has no participants in the other two wrestling disciplines.

Competing on Thursday in the No-Gi Grappling event is Tom LeCuyer (Plano, Ill. (Atlas XT/Torres MA) at the Men’s 70 kg/154 lbs. division and Tara LaRosa (Woodstown, N.J./Philadelphia Fight Factory) at the Women’s 60 kg/132 lbs.

Both are past Grappling World champions for the United States. LaRosa was a Gi gold medalist at the 2009 Grappling World Championships, and won a No-Gi gold medal in the Grappling competition at the World Wrestling Games in 2007. LeCuyer won a No-Gi gold medal at the 2009 Grappling World Championships.

SPORTACCORD WORLD COMBAT GAMES
At Beijing, China, Sept. 1

48 kg/105.5 lbs.
Gold – Yanan Sun (China)
Silver – Yana Stadnik (Great Britain)
Bronze – Anna Lukasiak (Poland)
4th –Auriele Basset (France)
5th – Svetlana Mamadova (Azerbaijan)

55 kg/121 lbs.
Gold – Brittanee Laverdure (Canada)
Silver – Chikako Matsukawa (Japan)
Bronze – Gui Liu (China)
4th – Zukfiya Yakhyarova (Kazakhstan)
5th – Michaela Hutchison (USA)
6th – Tatiana Debien (France)
7th – Katarzyna Krawczyk (Poland)
8th – Katerina Domrovska (Azerbajain)

63 kg/138.75 lbs.
Gold – Olesya Zamula (Azerbaijan)
Silver – Amberle Montgomery (USA)
Bronze – Panpan Yang (China)
4th – Stacie Anaka (Canada)
5th –Kayoko Kudo (Japan)
6th – Paulina Grabowska (Poland)
7th – Irene Garcia (Spain)
8th – Olga Kalinina (Kazakhstan)

72 kg/158.5 lbs.
Gold – Xiaoqing Qin (China)
Silver – Hiroe Suzuki (Japan)
Bronze –Leah Callahan (Canada)
4th – Anna Wawrzycka (Poland)
5th – Cynthia Vescan (France)
6th – Galina Ivanova (Bulgaria)
7th – Dacil Lopez (Spain)

U.S. women’s freestyle results

55 kg/121 lbs. – Michaela Hutchison, Soldotna, Alaska (Gator WC/OCU), 5th
LOSS Zulfiya Yakhyarova (Kazakhstan), 1-0, 1-3, 0-1
WIN Katarzyna Krawczyk (Poland), 1-1, 2-0, 2-2
LOSS Brittanee Laverdure (Canada), 0-1, 0-5
WIN Tatiana Debien (France), 4-1, 3-0

63 kg/138.75 lbs. – Amberle Montgomery, Kent, Wash. (Gator WC/OCU), 2nd
WIN Olga Kalinina (Kazakhstan), 0-1, pin
WIN Kayoko Kudo (Japan), pin
LOSS Panpan Yang (China), 0-8, 2-4
LOSS Olesya Zamula (Azerbaijan), 2-4, 0-6