Maya Nelson defeated Russia's Mariia Kuznetsova to reach the gold-medal match (Photo/Richard Immel)TAMPERE, Finland -- Maya Nelson will be upgrading her world medal a year after winning a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships.
She advanced to the gold-medal match at 63 kilograms on Friday in Tampere, Finland, blanking Russia's Mariia Kuznetsova 4-0 in the semifinals. It was a rematch from last year's bronze-medal match, also won by Nelson.
Nelson held a 2-0 lead until late in the match. Kuznetsova attacked with 15 seconds left and able to get to Moore's leg, but the American countered and scored a takedown of her own in the closing seconds to seal the victory.
She will face Bulgaria's Yuliana Yaneva for the gold medal.
"I've gotten so much better since last year," said Nelson, a Denver, Colorado native. "I've been nervous all day. It probably doesn't show in my face when I'm wrestling out there. I had a couple breakdowns this morning. It just showed me that I can overcome adversity and get on the mat and do what I love to do … and just have fun."
Nelson was dominant in her first two matches. She opened with a 12-1 technical fall over Ying Zhang (China), and then in the quarterfinals picked up a fall in the second period over Nicole Depa of Canada.
Nelson was the lone American to reach a medal match on the final day of women's wrestling. Three other Americans, McKayla Campbell (48 kilograms), Ronna Heaton (55 kilograms) and Rachel Watters (72 kilograms), were eliminated in Friday's opening session.
Campbell dropped her first match by technical fall, 12-2, to India's Ankush Ankush of Indiana. She was eliminated from the competition after Ankush dropped her next match.
Ronna Heaton cruised to a technical fall in her first match (Photo/Richard Immel)Heaton, a two-time Cadet world finalist, cruised to a 10-0 technical fall in her opening match at 55 kilograms against New Zealand's Anastasia Dmitrivna. In the round of 16, Heaton faced Russia's Viktoriia Vaulina, a past cadet world champion. The match was competitive early as the two wrestlers traded takedowns in the first minute. But Vaulina dominated the rest of the way, getting three more takedows and two turns to end the match in the first period. Heaton's tournament officially ended when Vaulina fell in the semifinals to Cuba's Lianna De Montero Herrera.
Watters, competing at 72 kilograms, came from behind to win her first match in the closing seconds, getting a late exposure to win 3-2 over Poland's Natalia Strzalka. In her second match, Watters faced Taipei's Hui Tsz Chang, and appeared to be on her way to another close victory. Trailing 4-2 with 15 seconds remaining, Watters took a shot and was awarded a go-ahead takedown in the closing seconds. However, the call was challenged and reversed, giving Chang the victory.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now