Tasmin Athimni has the chance to become Tunisia’s first-ever world champion in wrestling. She has already created history by reaching the 40kg final at the U17 World Championships in Baku on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before Athimni, no other U17 wrestler from Tunisia had won a medal at the tournament. Moreover, she is only the second ever world finalist for the country, nine years after Tunisian legend Marwa Amri did it at the 2017 Paris World Championships at the senior level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 40kg semifinal, Athimni managed to compose a 6-3 win over Sirin Askara of Turkiye, but her dream run began in Baku began with a 5-0 win over Azzaya Battulga of Mongolia before she pinned home favorite Gulkhanim Shirinova of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing between her and the historic gold medal is Natsumi Sasaki of Japan, who managed a close 4-2 win against American Sophia Valdez. Sasaki fell 2-2 behind on criteria but scored a stepout to take a 3-2 lead before adding another for the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three falls in three bouts and Taina Fernandez of the USA made it to her third U17 World Championships final. She is hoping to become the first non-Japanese wrester to three U17 world titles. Her first two came at 61kg but Fernandez is now at 69kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She picked up a 33-second fall against Maja Wejcha of Poland in the semifinal and will now face U17 European champion Kiymet Tezcan of Turkiye, who posted a controlled 5-1 win over Milana Ulanova of Kyrgyzstan in the other 69kg semifinal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two other wrestlers from the United States made it to the finals on Thursday, giving the country a strong position in the team title race. Marlee SOLOMON (USA) and Landri VON GONTEN (USA) will wrestle for the gold medal on Friday at 53kg and 61kg respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solomon secured a fall over Colombian Alejandra Serrano in the semifinal while Von Gonten survived a battle against Aruzhan Bakytnur of Kazakhstan and win 7-6, thanks to a slight exposure when Bakytnur was trying a leg-lace in the final 20 seconds. Von Gonten will now face U17 European champion Ozdenur Ozmez of Turkiye in the 61kg final after the Turkiye wrestler blanked Graciela Eningo of Spain 6-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India’s Akshara will try to stop Solomon in the 53kg final after she picked up a quick fall over Rion Ogawa of Japan in the other semifinal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 46kg, Sandhya Vishnoi of India and Kokona Makino of Japan will face each other for the gold medal after both picked up dominant wins in the semifinals. Vishnoi defeated Inzhu Bakkozha of Kazakhstan via fall while Makino secured a 10-0 technical superiority win over Vivien Szentpal of Hungary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 40kg<\/strong> 46kg<\/strong> 53kg<\/strong> 61kg<\/strong> 69kg<\/strong> Tasmin Athimni has the chance to become Tunisia’s first-ever world champion in wrestling. She has already created history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[91],"class_list":["post-15191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-wrestling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
SF 1: Natsumi SASAKI (JPN) df. Sophia VALDEZ (USA), 4-2
SF 2: Tasmin ATHIMNI (TUN) df. Sirin ASKARA (TUR), 6-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SF 1: Sandhya VISHNOI (IND) df. Inzhu BAKKOZHA (KAZ), via fall
SF 2: Kokona MAKINO (JPN) df. Vivien SZENTPAL (HUN), 10-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SF 1: AKSHARA (IND) df. Rion OGAWA (JPN), via fall
SF 2: Marlee SOLOMON (USA) df. Alejandra SERRANO (COL), via fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SF 1: Landri VON GONTEN (USA) df. Aruzhan BAKYTNUR (KAZ), 7-6
SF 2: Ozdenur OZMEZ (TUR) df. Graciela ENINGO (ESP), 6-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SF 1: Taina FERNANDEZ (USA) df. Maja WEJCHAN (POL), via fall
SF 2: Kiymet TEZCAN (TUR) df. Milana ULANOVA (KGZ), 5-1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"