Team USA to compete for seven gold medals in finals tonight; Roberts, Wong claim bronze medals
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Jason Bryant (TheMat.com)
09/14/2003
NEW YORK- The American women's freestyle wrestling team might have to make Madison Squard Garden their permanent home. Another solid semifinal round advanced five wrestlers into Sunday afternoon's finals, including four victories by fall. Cael Sanderson and Kerry McCoy topped their opponents to advance to the finals for the U.S. men's team. They will be the only world medallists for the United States. Sanderson beat Georgia's Revaz Mindorashvili 4-2 at 84kg. Tied at two early in the second period, Sanderson hit an ankle-pick and nearly turned the Georgian. He added another takedown as time expired for the final 4-2 margin. "I was just trying to look for my shots," Sanderson said in his normally quiet demeanor. Sanderson will face Russia's Sajid Sajidov, a 7-0 winner over Bulgaria's Siarhei Borchanka. "I'm just going to look at it like a match I want to win," Sanderson said. McCoy has had a knack for bringing the New York crowd to its feet. He again roused the fans during the semifinals, pinning Iran's Ali Reza Rezaei at 1:41 in the 120kg division. McCoy stacked Rezaei and back-arched to pin Rezaei's shoulders to the mat. "We're in the finals, going for the gold was our goal all along," McCoy said. The women dropped their first two matches of the tournament and ran their combined record to 27-2. Patricia Miranda, Kristie Marano, Sara McMann and Toccara Montgomery advanced with falls. Miranda rolled, pinning Fani Psatha of Greece at 1:51. "I think that my biggest test was myself," Miranda said. As far as her opponent, "I think if I show up to do what I need to do mentally, I'll do well." Jenny Wong fell 6-2 to Russia's Natalia Karamchakova. She beat Belarus' Alena Kareisha 3-2 off the clinch in overtime to take the bronze. Tina George had a tough go in the semifinals as well at 55kg, but she came out on top, beating Sun Dongmei of China 4-3. George went ahead 4-0 at the start of the second period, using a head-throw on Dongmei, nearly pinning her. "We work on the clinch a lot. I tried to get good position, but I didn't so I went to Plan B," George said. Plan B, as she calls it, is your basic head-and-arm throw (read: headlock). Sally Roberts also rebounded from a semifinal loss, pinning Marianna Sastin of Hungary at 5:36. McMann was the next U.S. woman to take to the mats and made her first world final in a flash. McMann chin-whipped Canada's Viola Yanik and stepped over to score a fall in a mere 39 seconds. "I thought that match was going to go six minutes. Wow!" McMann said. Montgomery didn't go six minutes, pinning Wang Xu of China as time elapsed in the first period. Xu had pinned Montgomery in the first round of last year's World Championships. "I didn't come out last year," Montgomery said. A lot has changed since last year's bout. "My performance and my training have increased so much," Montgomery said. "She had a bit of redemption, she wanted to come out and prove herself," Terry Steiner, U.S. Women's National Team coach said. The U.S. women closed out their semifinal run with Kristie Marano, a 2000 world champion, getting a pin over Canada's Shannon Samler at 2:15. When asked about the four falls in the semifinals, Steiner said, "Who expected seven medals!" recognizing the women's team's performance over the match results. "They're not only representing themselves and their country, their representing a sport that's trying to grow," Steiner said. Going 29-2 for the tournament heading into Sunday afternoon's finals might just say a little bit about how the sport is growing in the U.S.