It’s no secret that ZHOU Feng (CHN) was the underdog coming into her Matteo Pellicone finals against reigning world champion Tamyra MENSAH (USA), and though she fell behind by eight points, she remained composed enough to erase an 8-0 second-period deficit to win the 68kg gold medal. Zhou’s shocking win stopped Mensah, the 2019 Women’s Wrestler of the Year, from winning her fourth consecutive Ranking Series title. “For the first period, I didn’t feel prepared or ready, but I didn’t give up,” said Zhou. At that point of the match, Zhou surrendered three takedowns and a trapped arm gut and trailed 8-0. “I was thinking the match is not finished and I didn’t give up.”

Zhou, a two-time world medalist, kickstarted her unexpected comeback with two points from a defensive stop, which ended in a takedown. She tacked on six additional points from three gut wrenches and closed out the match on top, 8-8.  After her remarkable come-from-behind win, Zhou said, “I’m happy and excited. From this competition, most of (these wrestlers) will participate in the Olympic Games, so to get the gold medal makes me very happy.”

Even though the reigning world champion Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) has been fighting through a nasty illness since the start of the year, she decided to still compete at the Matteo Pellicone. “At the beginning of this year, I got sick and ill, so I wasn’t 100% ready for the competition,” Tynybekova said. “And, actually, before this final, my coach thought I should not go on the mat because of my illness.”

But, midway through today’s session, she felt strong enough to compete in the medal-match session. And luckily for her, she didn’t have to wrestle the entire six minutes. She only wrestled for just over a period – three minutes and 16 seconds to be exact — and after leading 7-2, was awarded the gold medal when 2019 world silver medalist Liubov OVCHAROVA (RUS) broke her nose in the second period and injury defaulted out of the finals.

“In the final match, I didn’t give my 100%. In my mind, I planned on keeping my energy and strength to wrestle for the two periods. But, accidentally, my Russian opponent couldn’t continue.”

In the 76kg finals, Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN) ended her gold-medal bout against two-time world medalist ZHOU Qian (CHN) in the opening period with a 10-0 shutout victory. “When I get into wrestling position, that’s when it gets really fun. She went for kind of a double leg, I redirected, went behind, we get into a scramble, and that’s what wrestling is all about.”

Wiebe barrel-rolled into four straight leg laces and ended the match 10-0 in the first period. Jokingly, Wiebe said, “I’ve been working on my lace. Watch out world!”

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD – Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) df. Anshu ANSHU (IND), 10-0
BRONZE – Linda MORAIS (CAN) df. Jenna Rose BURKERT (USA), 10-0
BRONZE – Allison Mackenzie RAGAN (USA) df. Alina AKOBIIA (UKR), 4-4

62kg
GOLD – Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) df. Liubov OVCHAROVA (RUS), via injury default
BRONZE – Jia LONG (CHN) df. Kayla MIRACLE (USA), 6-1
BRONZE – Yuliia TKACH OSTAPCHUK (UKR) df. Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR), 3-1

68kg
GOLD – Feng ZHOU (CHN) df. Tamyra MENSAH (USA), 8-8
BRONZE – Danielle LAPPAGE (CAN) df. Divya KAKRAN (IND), 12-2
BRONZE – Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) df. Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR)

76kg
GOLD – Erica Elizabeth WIEBE (CAN) vs. Qian ZHOU (CHN), 10-0
BRONZE – Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) df. Elmira SYZDYKOVA (KAZ), via injury
BRONZE – Aline ROTTER FOCKEN (GER) df. Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR), 4-2

Greco-Roman
72kg
GOLD – Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY) df. Selcuk CAN (TUR), via fall
BRONZE – Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR) df. Parviz NASIBOV (UKR), 6 – 0
BRONZE – Maksym YEVTUSHENKO (UKR) df. Gaoquan ZHANG (CHN), 5-3

77kg
GOLD – Zotlan LEVAI (HUN) df. Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR), via fall
BRONZE – Wuileixis RIVAS ESPINOZA (VEN) df. Ravaughn Richard Ravelle PERKINS (USA), 8 – 2
BRONZE – Sajan SAJAN (IND) df. Emrah KUS (TUR), via fall

82kg
GOLD – Singh GURPREET (IND) df. Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR), 8-5
BRONZE – Florian NEUMAIER (GER) df. John Walter STEFANOWICZ JR (USA), 5 – 1
BRONZE – Salih AYDIN (TUR) df. Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB), 6-5