#Trnava2018

Japanese Women Win Six Golds, World Team Title

By Eric Olanowski

TRNAVA, Slovakia (September 21) -  For the eighth straight year, Japan left the Junior World Championships with the women’s wrestling team title. The most dominant women’s wrestling nation in the world finished 55 points ahead of second place Russia, and 88 points ahead of third place China. 

Japan closed out the fifth day of competition with four additional gold medals, bringing their tournament total to six overall individual champions. This is the fifth straight year that Japan has finished the Junior World Championships with at least four gold medalists. It’s also the most golds they’ve won since winning six golds at the 2016 Junior World Championships. 

They also won a silver and three bronze medals. In total, Japan medaled in all ten women’s wrestling weight classes. 

In the 53kg finals, Umi IMAI (JPN) blanked Aktenge KEUNIMJAEVA (UZB), 10-0, giving Japan their third women’s wrestling gold medal of the tournament. 

In the opening period, Iami scored a pair of takedowns and carried the 4-0 lead into the second period. 

The second period was short-lived, as Imai walked off the double underhooks of Keunimjaeva, shooting a high crotch, and finishing with a four-point double leg. Shortly after, Sawa gained the 10 point advantage with a right-side gut wrench. 

Andoriahanako SAWA (JPN) stuck Qi ZHANG (CHN) in the 57kg gold medal bout, giving Japan their fourth gold medal of the 2018 Junior World Championships. 

Sawa was leading 2-0 in the opening period after an early takedown but fell behind on criteria when Zhang took the lead with a smooth double leg. The Chinese wrestler transitioned into a gut-wrench, extending her lead to 4-2. Sawa caught Zhang on her back midway through a Chinese gut wrench attempt and scored the first-period fall. 

Atena KODAMA claimed Japan’s third gold medal of the night when Nabira ESENBAEVA (UZB) injury defaulted out of the 62kg gold-medal bout. 

Miyu IMAI (JPN) gave Japan their fourth gold medal of the day with a 13-3 technical superiority victory over Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL) in the 65kg finals. 

The final women’s wrestling gold medal went to four-time age-level world champion, Koumba LARROQUE (FRA). In the finals, Larroque overwhelmed Evgeniia ZAKHARCHENKO (RUS), 6-0. 

Larroque didn't give up an offensive point the entire tournament, outscoring her Junior World Championship opponents 33-0 on her way to winning her second junior world title. 

RESULTS

Team Scores 
GOLD - Japan (215 points)
SILVER – Russia (160 points)
BRONZE – China (127 points)
Fourth – Ukraine (73 points)
Fifth – Mongolia (67 points) 

53kg 
GOLD - Umi IMAI (JPN) df. Aktenge KEUNIMJAEVA (UZB), 10-0 

BRONZE - Enkhtsetseg BATBAATAR (MGL) df. Alisha Sue HOWK (USA), 11-0 
BRONZE - Mariia TIUMEREKOVA (RUS) df. Alicja CZYZOWICZ (POL), 5-2 

57kg 
GOLD - Andoriahanako SAWA (JPN) df. Qi ZHANG (CHN), via fall

BRONZE - Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE) df. Viktoriia VAULINA (RUS), 3-0 
BRONZE - Mansi MANSI (IND) df. Hannah Fay TAYLOR (CAN), 2-1 

62kg 
GOLD – Atena KODAMA (JPN) df. Nabira ESENBAEVA (UZB), via inj. def

BRONZE - Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA) df. Irina KUZNETSOVA (KAZ), 6-1 
BRONZE - Daria BOBRULKO (RUS) df. Xinyuan SUN (CHN), 9-1 

65kg
GOLD - Miyu IMAI (JPN) df. Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL), 13-3

BRONZE - Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) df. Asli DEMIR (TUR), via fall 
BRONZE - Albina KHRIPKOVA (RUS) df. Veranika EISMANT (BLR), 9-3

72kg 
GOLD - Koumba Selene Fanta LARROQUE (FRA) df. Evgeniia ZAKHARCHENKO (RUS), 6-0 

BRONZE - Fanwen SHEN (CHN) df. Kamila Czeslawa KULWICKA (POL, 6-4 
BRONZE - Naruha MATSUYUKI (JPN) df. Anastasiya ZIMIANKOVA (BLR), 3-1 

#development

Austria hosts U14/U15 women's wrestling camp

By United World Wrestling Press

WALS-SIEZENHEIM, Austria (October 16) --- The UWW High Performance Training Center and the Austrian National Wrestling Center in the sports community of Wals-Siezenheim hosted an U14/U15 girls wrestling camp of the Austrian Wrestling Federation, where 14 young women's wrestlers and 6 coaches took part in the camp.

The camp was led by the women's junior national coach Arsen FEITL. In addition to seven hard and varied training sessions, there were also several alternative activities on the programme. Parallel to the training camp, an international freestyle training camp of the seniors took place at the Austrian National Wrestling center, which the young athletes followed with great interest and which presented them with wrestling at the highest international level during the training competitions.

GEROlympic champion Aline ROTTER-FOCKEN (GER) was in attendance for the U14/U15 women's wrestling camp in Austria (Photo: United World Wrestling)

In the camp of the UWW-Europe women's project, the German Olympic champion Aline ROTTER-FOCKEN was a guest as a role model for the young athletes. The enthusiasm of the girls was very high from the beginning and Aline made a lot of effort and communicated with everyone.

In addition to the training sessions with the young athletes, Aline did a workshop with the girls where she talked about her life, her career and her Olympic victory. Afterwards, the girls got autographs from her and had the opportunity to admire her Olympic gold medal and take photos with her. The young athletes were thrilled and overwhelmed. For the Austrian Wrestling Federation, it was the first one-week training camp in the age group of U14/U15 for girls and for next year, several more training camps in the age group U14/U15 are planned.

In summary, it was a very successful camp and the participation of Aline Rotter-Focken was very good and it was a great thing for all involved People. The project has been an absolute success and the Austrian National Federation hopes that the UWW Europe will also benefit from the project.