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Montreal's Sissaouri goes for wrestling gold
By DONNA SPENCER -- Canadian Press
Sunday, November 25, 2001
The world freestyle wrestling championships ended on a golden note for Canada on Sunday as Montreal's Guivi Sissaouri won a world title in dramatic fashion.
The 30-year-old wrestler threw Mongolian Oyunbileg Purevbaatar onto his back with a three-point move in overtime to win gold in the men's 58-kilogram final at Sofia, Bulgaria.
It was a sweet victory for Sissaouri. The Olympic silver medallist in 1996 has won bronze and silver medals at the world championships before, but never gold.
"I can't believe it. It's finally happened," Sissaouri said. "It's like a dream.
"I promised I would do it and I did it."
Canadians won two gold and a silver at the world championships, which were postponed almost three months and moved from New York to Sofia following the terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Christine Vierling-Nordhagen of Valhalla Centre, Alta., which is north of Grande Prairie, won her sixth world title Saturday in the women's 68-kilogram class.
The 30-year-old teacher, who went down a weight class after two years at 75 kilograms, defeated American Toccara Montgomery, avenging a loss at a tournament in Phoenix earlier in November.
"I was bit nervous earlier on just because I had lost to her before, but I was able to refocus," Vierling-Nordhagen said. "But by the time I got on the mat I was confident.
"My coaches had worked with me ahead of time to take away her best offence so I knew what was coming. I think it was the experience I had that allowed me to win."
Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., won a silver medal, losing her 46-kilogram title bout to defending champion Irina Melnick of Ukraine on Saturday.
Sissaouri, who immigrated to Canada from Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1992 and received his Canadian citizenship in 1995, has had disappointing international results recently after finishing 13th at the Sydney Olympics last year and 18th at the 1999 worlds.
But he put it all together at this year's championships.
The score in the final was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation time. As per the rules, the wrestlers were put in a clinch position where both competitors have their arms locked around each other's torso and one arm.
When the whistle blew, the Mongolian wrestler pressed. Using his opponent's momentum, Sissaouri planted his feet and tossed him.
He had beaten Bulgarian Anatoliy Guidia 4-0 in the semifinal earlier Sunday.
"Guivi finally won the championship he deserved for many years," said Canadian men's coach David McKay. "After so many close calls, we saw an outstanding wrestler come through with a championship performance."
Daniel Igali's reign as world champion ended, however, when the Olympic gold medallist lost his fourth-round match in the men's 69-kilogram competition to Cuban Yosmany Sanchez on Saturday.
While the postponement of the worlds interrupted the training schedules of Sissaouri and Vierling-Nordhagen, it worked in Igali's favour because it gave him more time to heal a troublesome back injury and get in more training.
But it could not make up for his lack of competition this year.
"I know I will get back into intense training in about a month and I'll get about six, seven or eight tournaments next year and be very ready for every international meet I get into," said Igali, who is from Surrey, B.C.
"I know I'm still on top of my game and in the top one per cent in my weight class. I'm pretty confident things will go well in the future."
After Sissaouri's victory, Igali told him: "I am so happy you finally got it."
Sissaouri responded: "Next year we will both win."
Lyndsey Belisle of Burnaby, B.C., was fourth in the women's 51-kilogram weight class. She was pinned by China's Gao Yanzhi in the bronze-medal bout Sunday.
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IGALI ELIMINATED AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS;CHRISTINE NORDHAGEN-VIERLING BRINGS HOME GOLD IN WOMEN'S 68-KG WRESTLING CLASS
DONNA SPENCER, THE CANADIAN PRESS 11/26/2001
Daniel Igali's reign as world wrestling champion has ended.
Igali, the defending champion in the 69-kilogram weight class, was
eliminated yesterday in his fourth match of the world wrestling championship
by Cuban Yosmany Sanchez.
Igali, the Olympic champion, needed to win that match to advance to the
quarter-finals.
"It's a bit disappointing I couldn't pull it off today" said Igali during a
phone call last night from Sofia, Bulgaria. "But I know I'm capable of doing
it. I know I'm still on top of my game and in the top one per cent in my
weight class. I'm pretty confident things will go well in the future."
While Igali's day ended in disappointment, Christine Nordhagen-Vierling was
exhausted and elated after winning her sixth world title.
The 30-year-old from Valhalla Centre, Alta., beat American Toccara
Montgomery for gold.
"It was a long day," said Nordhagen-Vierling, who returned to the
68-kilogram weight class after competing the last two years at 75 kilograms.
"I could fall asleep right now." GAMBLE FAILED
Igali was down 3-2 to Sanchez with two minutes remaining. Instead of
wrestling conservatively for one point and overtime, he gambled on a
two-point move and failed.
"Wrestling is about taking risks and I took a risk that didn't work out,"
said Igali. "I was honestly flat. I wasn't my normal mobile self and that
kind of hurt me."
The 27-year-old from Surrey, B.C., was not his usually cheerful self, but
sounded determined to regain his title next year.
"I know I will get back into intense training in about a month and I'll get
about six, seven or eight tournaments next year and be very ready for every
international meet I get into," he said.
He had finished first in his pool after beating Russian Farniev Irbek
earlier yesterday.
Hampered by a back injury, Igali did not compete much this year except in
the Canadian championship in May and an international event in Phoenix
earlier this month.
The world championship was supposed to be held at Madison Square Garden in
New York in September, but was delayed almost three months and moved to
Sofia following the terrorist attacks in the U.S.
While the extra time helped Igali get healthy and get in some extra
training, it could not make up for his lack of competition.
"I wouldn't want to completely blame it on that," said Igali. "The last six
weeks we had pretty good training and this trip has been the best organized
in terms of practice and support staff.
"We had an awesome training camp in Paris and I felt very confident coming in."
He plans a trip to Eniwari, Nigeria in early December to visit his family
for a month and will then return to Canada and begin training again in 2002.
Nordhagen-Vierling had lost to Montgomery in the final in Phoenix, so was
happy to get another crack at her.
"I was bit nervous earlier on just because I had lost to her before, but I
was able to refocus," she said. "But by the time I got on the mat I was
confident. EXPERIENCE PAID OFF
"My coaches had worked with me ahead of time to take away her best offence
so I knew what was coming. I think it was the experience I had that allowed
me to win."The postponement of worlds was disruptive in her life - she is a
schoolteacher in Calgary - and in her training.
"It wasn't my best prep and that's what makes me very pleased, that I was
able to wrestle well enough that, using my experience, I could still wrestle
a disciplined match," she said.
With women's wrestling almost assured entry into the 2004 Olympic Games,
Nordhagen-Vierling and her husband Leigh want to try to have a family and
still give her time to prepare for Athens.
"I know that I want to wrestle in the Olympics," said Nordhagen-Vierling.
Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., was a silver medallist, losing her
46-kilogram title bout to defending champion Irina Melnick of Ukraine.
There are more Canadian wrestlers going after medals today.
Lyndsey Belisle of Burnaby, B.C., will face American Stephanie Murata in
today's semifinal of the 51-kilogram event. Belisle pinned Mongolia's Naidan
Otgonjarlal in yesterday's quarter-final.
Montreal's Guivi Sissaouri will face Vasil Fedorishin of Ukraine in the
men's 58-kilogram quarter-finals today. He earned a bye yesterday after
winning his pool Friday.
Tricia Leibel of Thunder Bay, Ont., was eliminated from medal contention
yesterday in the 62-kilogram weight class when she was pinned by Norway's
Lele Aanes.
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Sakamoto wins 2nd title, Hamaguchi 4th in women's wrestling
Kyodo News Service 11/26/2001
Japan Economic Newswire
Japan's Hitomi Sakamoto rolled to an easy 12-1 victory over Stephanie Murata
of the United States on Sunday to successfully defend her 51-kilogram crown
at the women's wrestling world championships.
Three-time world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi, however, lost a pair of bouts on
the final day of the championships at the Palace of Sport in Sofia and will
return to Japan without a medal from the world meet for the first time in
five years.
Sakamoto, who breezed into Sunday's semifinals with three pins in her three
previous matches, fashioned a tactical 6-1 win over former world bronze
medalist Gao Yanzhi of China to advance to the championship against the
American veteran. Against Murata, Sakamoto came out aggressively to forge a
5-1 lead after the first three minutes and then continued to score with her
single-leg takedown in the second period for seven more quick points to
claim a technical fall victory at four minutes and 59 seconds.
With the victory, Sakamoto, who was named female wrestler of the year in
2000 by wrestling's world governing body FILA, maintained Japan's four-year
monopoly on the world title at 51 kg and gave Japan its second gold medal of
the meet. Seiko Yamamoto, the titlist at this weight in 1999, won the 56-kg
crown Saturday.
At 75 kg, however, Hamaguchi, seeking to regain the world title she lost
last year, fell to European champion and eventual world titlist Edyta
Witkowska of Poland 3-1 in the semifinals and then lost out to Nina Englisch
of Germany early in the bronze medal match.
In the men's freestyle world championships, three of Japan's four entries in
the second half of the meet each posted a win in the preliminaries, but
failed to advance to the championship bracket.
The freestyle and women's world championships had been scheduled to take
place at Madison Square Garden in New York at the end of September but were
postponed and re-located after the terror attack on the World Trade Center
on Sept. 11.