Ukraine's Iryna Merleni is top female wrestler at World Championships (09/21/03)

Ukraine's Iryna Merleni is top female wrestler at World Championships

by Andrew Nynka

NEW YORK - Ukraine won a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Freestyle Wrestling World Championships in New York on September 12-14, and qualified six out of a possible 11 wrestlers for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Ukraine's Iryna Merleni (née Melnyk) won her third consecutive World Championship in the women's 48-kilogram (105.5 pound) division and will defend her title as the best in the world at next year's Summer Olympics.

"This is amazing, I can't believe it," Merleni said to her coach after a dramatic gold medal match. The Ukrainian defeated Patricia Miranda of the United States 5-4 in the final in front of some 13,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. With only seconds left in the match, Miranda tried desperately for a point to send the match to overtime but came up short.

After she won, Merleni broke down in tears and hugged her coaches, saying, "Three times, three times, I can't believe it."

After the match Miranda said she was disappointed with her performance: "I didn't do what I needed to do for my wrestling, and it wasn't as much about anything she [Merleni] did."

However, Merleni so dominated the competition in the opening round - earning 26 points in her first three matches while giving none up - that she also earned the title of top female wrestler for the 2003 World Championships.

In freestyle wrestling competitors win matches by either pinning an opponent - when a competitor's two shoulder blades touch the mat - or by acquiring the most points during the match. If a match is tied after six minutes, competitors wrestle in a three-minute sudden-death overtime period where the first person to score a point wins the match.

Unlike Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling lets competitors use their legs (for pushing, lifting or tripping) and hold opponents below the waist. Wrestlers are expected to always attack; any passivity or delay on the part of a competitor could mean points for the opponent.

In addition to Merleni, Ukraine's Liudmila Golovchenko qualified for next year's Olympics with a fourth-place finish in the women's 63-kilogram (138.75 pound) division. Both women will be part of history as women's wrestling will make its Olympic debut next year.

Considering Merleni's dominance in her weight class, she could conceivably be one of the first women to win an Olympic medal in her sport.

"She's talented and very fast," said Switzerland's Karin Wild, an opponent of Merleni in the first round. "I think she's got to be the person to watch in Athens."

Merleni pinned Wild 1 minute and 7 seconds into the match; next she pinned Peru's Livanis Rivera in 55 seconds. She won her final first round pool bout, 11-0, 2 minutes and 38 seconds into the match, giving her a bye until the quarterfinals, where she beat Japan's Sakamoto Makiko 5-2. Merleni won her semifinal bout 6-1 against Li Hui of China, setting up the final against Miranda.

In the first round of competition athletes are placed, based upon a random draw with no seeding, into a pool of three or four athletes. The athlete must win that pool in order to advance into the single-elimination brackets. The winners of the semifinals compete for the gold and silver medals, while the losers of the semifinals compete for the bronze medal and fourth place. All of the other final placements are determined by a point scoring system.

On the men's side, Ukraine's Oleksander Zakharuk won a bronze medal in the men's 55-kilogram (121 pound) weight class. Zakharuk lost to Uzbekistan's Dilshod Mansurov in the semifinal match, 5-4, but rebounded to take the bronze with a dramatic overtime win against Iran's Mohammed Aslani. With the score tied 2-2, Zakharuk threw Aslani to the mat 22 seconds into the extra period to win the match 5-2.

Ukraine missed out on two other opportunities to medal when Serhii Priadun and Golovchenko lost their bronze medal matches and dropped to fourth place.

Priadun, wrestling in the men's top weight class of 120 kilograms (264.5 pounds), lost his match to heavily favored Ali Reza Rezaei of Iran by a score of 3-0. Although the loss relegated Priadun to fourth place at the World Championships, he qualifies to compete in next year's Olympics.

The top 10 wrestlers in each of the seven men's weight classes qualified for the Olympics, while the top five women in the 48-, 55-, 63- and 72-kilogram weight classes qualified to compete in Athens, Greece.

Golovchenko came up short in her semifinal match against heavily favored Kaori Icho of Japan, 4-0. She then lost her bronze medal match to Canada's Viola Yanik after Yanik pinned her 2 minutes and 44 seconds into the contest.

A disappointment for the Ukrainian men's team was the performance of multiple world champion Elbrus Tedeev. Prior to the start of the World Championships many wrestling experts believed the Ukrainian would medal. Although Tedeev said he was disappointed with his sixth-place finish, his performance earned him a spot at next year's Olympics.

Tedeev lost in the quarterfinals 6-4 to Irbek Farniev of Russia and said losing to the eventual world champion was not a consolation. "I should have won that match. I did several things wrong early and it ended up costing me," Tedeev said.

Prior to the start of competition, Ukraine's head wrestling coach was denied a visa to enter the United States. Members of the country's coaching staff and delegation said they could not say why the coach was denied entry. Tedeev said his head coach's absence had little to do with his performance.

Ukraine's Vadym Tasoyev also earned a spot at the 2004 Summer Games with his eighth-place finish in the men's 96-kilogram (211.25 pound) division.

Other Ukrainians who wrestled but did not qualify for the Olympics were: Inessa Rebar, who finished 11th in her weight class (51 kilograms/112.25 pounds); Tatiana Lazareya, 10th place (55 kilograms/121 pounds); Oksana Shalikova, fifth place (59 kilograms/130 pounds); Katerina Burmistrova, eighth place (67 kilograms/147.5 pounds); Svitlana Sayenko, 12th place (72 kilograms/158.5 pounds).

Ukrainian men who did not qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics included: Vasyl Fedoryshyn, 24th place (60 kilograms/132 pounds); Zaza Zazirov, 12th place (74 kilograms/163 pounds); and Alik Muzayev, 21st place (84 kilograms/185 pounds).

The World Championships are scheduled to be aired in the United States on ESPN2 on October 22 at 5 p.m. and October 23 at noon.

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