Women's pool pairings released, Miranda and McMann receive toughest draws
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
09/11/2003
While Sept. 11 will stay in the minds of thousands of New Yorkers due to the tragic events of 2001, it will also stay in the minds of the U.S. Women's Freestyle Team as they weighed in for their first-ever Olympic qualifying event, the 2003 World Championships in New York City's Madison Square Garden. The U.S. team carries four World medalists in Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Tina George (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and Toccara Montgomery (Cleveland, Ohio/Cumberland College) at 72 kg/157.5 lbs. Two other members of the team, Jenny Wong (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and Sally Roberts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC), will compete in their first World Championships. Miranda will once again face Lyndsay Belisle of Canada, an opponent she defeated in the gold-medal finals of the Pan American Games. Miranda won a silver medal at the 2000 World Championships. Miranda pinned Belisle in four minutes and eight seconds in that August matchup, avenging a 3-1 loss to Belisle in March at the Pan American Championships. Belisle has placed fourth at the last two World Championships, both times at 51 kg/112.25 lbs. Miranda and Belisle will wrestle in the first match of their pool before facing Maria Del Mar Peralta Osuna of Spain. At 51 kg/112.25 lbs., Wong will face Yura Gandolgor of Mongolia and Teresa Piotrowski of Canada in pool competition. Gandolgor placed 11th at last year's World Championships. George, the reigning World silver medalist, will compete in a pool of four at 55 kg/121 lbs. She will match up against Ludmila Christea of Moldova, Elvira Rasulova-Mursalova of Krygyzstan and Julieta Okot of Bulgaria. Okot lives and trains in New York City and competes for the New York Athletic Club. Roberts is also in a pool of four, competing against Aikaterina-ko Tsimpanakou of Greece, Seba Jimenez Valderrama of Spain and Stefanie Stueber of Germany at 59 kg/130 lbs. Tsimpanakou placed fourth at last year's World Championships at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Stueber captured a silver medal at the 2003 European Championships. Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) will face off with 2002 World silver medalist Sara Eriksson of Sweden in her first match at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. and close with Kristine Odrina of Latvia, who competed at the World Championships last year at 59 kg/130 lbs. McMann has defeated both opponents this season, dropping Eriksson 3-2 at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in February and pinning Odrina in the second period at the Ivan Yarygin Memorial International in January. Marano, a native of Albany, N.Y., will match up with Martina Zykolva of the Czech Republic, Jodeen Marie MacGregor of New Zealand and Saito Nori of Japan. Marano holds the U.S. women's record for most World medals with six, including a bronze medal in 2002. Nori, who Marano defeated 4-0 at the Kilppan Lady's Open in March, placed seventh at least year's World Championships. Montgomery, a 2001 World silver medalist, will compete against Zarife Yildrim of Turkey and Marie Nicole Diedhiou of Senegal in pool competition at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Yildrim placed fourth at the 2002 World Championships. The first round of pool competition will begin on Friday, Sept. 12 at 9:00 a.m. (EST) in Madison Square Garden.