Marzaliak grabs gold, Spanish shepherd takes bronze
Baku, June 17, AZERTAC
Belarus had a successful night on the second and final day of women's Wrestling on Tuesday, winning three of their four medal matches at the Heydar Aliyev Arena for a haul of one gold and two bronze.
Their gold came in the heavyweight 75kg class, when Vasilisa Marzaliuk defeated Russia's Ekaterina Bukina on points.
There was also a tremendous effort by Spanish sheep farmer Maider Unda Gonzalez de Audicana, who will be 38 in the first week of July. She won a bronze at London 2012, took a break from the sport last year to become a mother and has now returned to win bronze in Baku.
After losing to Marzaliuk in a semi-final, Unda Gonzalez de Audicana said: "I gave birth ten months ago, so I am still trying to recover myself, to return to my rhythm in competition.
"Wrestling very much suits my personality. I am very stubborn, and if I have one target I never stop until I get it. I have one Olympic medal and one daughter, but I continue fighting."
Her aim is to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I may be the oldest athlete here (in Baku wrestling) but is not about numbers, it's about how you feel," she said.
Unda Gonzalez de Audicana helps to run the farm in northern Spain that produces idiazabal, a hard cheese.
Women's 53kg
Poland's Roksana Zaksina twice needed treatment for head wounds, and was limping with a knee injury, but still came desperately close to defeating Azerbaijan’s Anzhela Dorogan, who took gold.
In a dramatic finish Poland issued a challenge when Zaksina appeared to have earned a point with her last move, but it failed and Dorogan leapt into the arms of her coach to celebrate.
The bronze medals went to Merve Kenga of Turkey and Nadzeya Shushko of Belarus.
Women's 58kg
Emese Barka won Hungary's second women's Wrestling gold when she defeated Ukraine’s Tetyana Lavrenchuk. Turkey won bronze through Elif Jale Yesilirmak, with the other going to Norway's Grace Bullen, who at 18 is the youngest competitor in women's Wrestling at Baku 2015.
Women's 63kg
Ukrainian world champion Yulia Tkach suffered a surpise 5-4 defeat on points against the woman she had beaten in last year's world championship semi-final, Russia’s Valeriia Lazinskaia.
There was another bronze for Belarus when Maryia Mamashuk swiftly won on superiority against Andrea Simon of Romania. The other bronze was won by Latvia's Anastasija Grigorjeva.
Women's 75kg
In earlier bouts on Tuesday, Bukina had rallied from 4-0 and 5-0 behind, but in the final she just failed, losing 5-4 after having been 5-0 down against Marzaliuk. Bronze medals went to Unda Gonzalez de Audicana and Svetlana Saenko of Moldova.
Other news in this section
