TAIYUAN, China (March 22) - Japan routed Ukraine, 6-1, in the match for third place at the World Cup of women’s wrestling while two-time defending champion China rolled over Canada, 5-2, for its third straight World Cup crown.In the match for third place, Fuyuko Mimura, who posted three wins at 48kg in the preliminaries the day before, was taken down in the final second of the third period by 2003 junior world champ Lyudmila Balushka for her first loss in the World Cup. Mimura’s Japanese teammates, however, roared back for six unanswered wins to equal Japan’s finish in last year’s meet and claim the $2000 in prize money for third place.
In the championship final, Chinese rising star Liu Jie edged Olympic champion Carol Huyhn at 48kg and China went on to post a 5-2 victory for title and $5000 in prize money.
Individual results of the third-place and championship finals:
Third-place final - Japan 6, Ukraine 1
48 - Fuyuko Mimura lost to Lyudmila Balushka, 1-2 (1x-1, 1-1x, 2-2x)
51 - Yu Horiuchi df. Oleksandra Kohut, 2-0 (2-0, 1-0)
55 - Chikako Matsukawa df. Antonia Ptitsyn by fall, 1P=1:53 (F4-0)
59 - Kei Yamana df. Ganna Vasylenko, 2-1 (0-2, 4-3, 3-0)
63 - Mio Nishimaki df. Alla Cherkasova, 2-1 (2-0, 1-2, 4-0)
67 - Yoshiko Inoue df. Viktoria Mlynarska, 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
72 - Asuka Sano df. Oksana Vashchuk by default, 0:00
Championship final - China 5, Canada 2
48 - Liu Jie df. Carol Huynh, 2-1 (1-0, 0-1, 1-0)
51 - Dai Shiju lost to Jessica Bondy, 1-2 (0-6, 1-0, 0-6)
55 - Xu Li df. Tonya Verbeek, 2-0 (1-0, 2-0)
59 - Zhang Lan df. Katie Patroch by fall
63 - Meng Lili lost to Justine Bouchard by fall
67 - Qin Xiaoqing df. Megan Buydens, 2-0 (4-0, 6-0)
72 - Wang Jiao df. Ohenewa Akuffo by fall
Fifth-place final - United States 6, Russia 1
Seventh-place final - Mongolia 5, Belarus 2
