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India dominates men's competition while Ross and McNutt battle for women's gold
LONDON, ON, July 7 /CNW/ -
London, ON – Two training partners battled for gold at the 2003 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships and it was settled by a whisker. University of Calgary Dinosaur wrestler Andrea Ross of London battled Terri McNutt, who is a Western Mustang, for the championship of the Women’s 55 kg weight class.
It was a tight match, with Ross building up a 5-0 lead, until McNutt found her opportunity in the second round. McNutt scored four unanswered points on Ross then moved to a pin position with one and a half minutes remaining. McNutt came close, but the officials never signaled a pin and Ross survived, exhausting all of the remaining time. Even though McNutt was on top of Ross at the end, Ross prevailed 5-4.
The Canadian Women really put on a display winning six of seven gold medals. The only silver was Tara Hedican of Guelph, who is the 2003 Pan Am champion and 2001 Junior World champion. Hedican lost to Geetika Jakhar of India, who is the silver medalist from the Asian Wrestling Championships. A key decision by the officials with 12 seconds left, not to award Hedican two points, would have tied the match and may have altered the outcome, and ultimately prevented the Canadian women from sweeping all seven golds.
In the Men’s division, India showed their superiority winning all of the seven available gold medals, but they also took four silver medals. The only weight classes where they didn’t get the silver, as well as the gold, was where they didn’t enter a second wrestler in the weight class. Clearly, the Indian Men dominated the division.
Leading the charge was Palwinder Singh Cheema, who won the 120 kg class in impressive style. While Cheema didn’t have many matches, his two wins were dominant. In the gold medal bout, he shot in for double leg takedowns with the speed of a much smaller man. He needed less than two minutes to dispose of his opponent Colin Miller of Hamilton, winning by superiority with a score of 11-1.
Another impressive Indian was Bhagat Singh, who beat Mike Neufeld in the finals. He clearly showed why he was the gold medalist in the World Police Games.
The one disappointment of the afternoonnwas in the 60 kg class, where Sushil Kumar was facing off against Krishan Kumar in an eagerly awaited final. Krishan, who was dominant in the preliminaries, was injured and unable to compete.
Many of the competitors in the 2003 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships will travel up the 401 to Guelph for next week’s Canada Cup of Wrestling.
WOMENS
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Weight Class Gold Silver Bronze
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48 kg Krista Wells, CAN Kamini Yadov, IND Sumel, IND
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51 kg Teresa Piotrowski, Sasha Smith, CAN Neha Rathi, IND
CAN
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55 kg Andrea Ross, CAN Alka Tomar, IND Terri McNutt, CAN
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59 kg Katie Patroch, CAN Manju, IND Gurmeet Kaur, IND
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63 kg Gettika Jakhar, IND Tara Hedican, CAN Amanda Gerhart,
CAN
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67 kg Megan Dolan, CAN Kiran Sihag, IND Sam Johnson, CAN
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72 kg Pam Wilson-Ennismore, Gursaran Preet Kaur, IND -
CAN
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The Championship bouts will be telecast by Rogers Cable TV, across
Ontario, on Sunday July 13, 2003 at 2 pm and rebroadcast on Saturday July 19,
2003 at 8 pm.
The 2003 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships featured men and women
Olympic Freestyle wrestlers, representing 7 countries, on July 5 and 6, 2003
at the Western Fair Sports Centre. These Championships are sanctioned by the
Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling Association and hosted by the London Western
Wrestling Club.
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For further information: 2003 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships
Organizing Committee: Chairman - Rick Finkenzeller, Phone: (519) 685-2133
x2614; Media Liaison - Glenn Yonemitsu, Phone: (519) 673-7397, Fax:
(519) 661-4171, E-mail: gyonemitsu@ivey.ca; Web-site:
http://groups.msn.com/CommonwealthWrestling; Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling
Association: Chairman - Josip Mrkoci, Phone: (519) 668-9901, Fax:
(519) 685-6493, E-mail: commonwealth-wrestling@sympatico.ca
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WTT Photos(Names have been added to the bouts)
Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2003 12:19:59 -0400