Past World Wrestling Champion Sandra Bacher places ninth in Judo World Championships

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John Miller (USA Judo)
07/27/2001


Sandra Bacher (San Jose, Calif./Dave Schultz WC), a 1999 Women's World Wrestling Champion, placed ninth at 70 kg in the 2001 World Judo Championships, being held in Munich, Germany.    Bacher is a three-time Olympian in judo, and is a world-class star in both judo and wrestling.     Bacher received a bye in the first round in her weight division, which featured 28 competitors. In the second round, Bacher lost to Ulla Werbrouck of Belgium by ippon, the judo version of an instant pin. When Werbrouck advanced to the semifinals, she pulled Bacher back into the repechage, a consolation bracket that provides and opportunity to challenge for the bronze medal.    In her first repechage round, Bacher scored an instant Ippon victory over Yulia Semenova of Russia. In the next repechage match, Bacher was defeated by Regla Leyen of Cuba by Ippon, eliminating her from the tournament and placing her ninth in the weight division.    Bacher continues to be one of the top U.S. women's wrestlers in the nation. She placed second at 75 kg (165.25 pounds) at the World Team Trials in Cincinnati, Ohio in June, losing to Iris Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) in the championship finals series. She has won three medals for the United States in women's wrestling, a gold in 1999, a silver in 1997 and a bronze in 1998.    Another former wrestler also competed in the World Judo Championships today, Grace Jividen-Chapman, Littleton, Colo. at 63 kg. Jividen-Chapman won her first match by Ippon over Chin-Fang Wang of Chinese Taipei. In the second round, Jividen-Chapman lost by Yuko to Urska Zolnir of Slovenia. When Zolnir lost her next match, Jividen-Chapman was eliminated from the tournament. Jividen-Chapman won U.S. Women's National Wrestling titles in 1991 and 1992.