Taina Rose Fernandez, 17, on Friday joined the list of a handful of wrestlers who have won three U17 world gold medals by claiming the 69kg gold in Baku, the first non-Japanese wrestler to achieve the feat. No male wrestler has won three U17 world titles ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She joins the quartet of Japanese – Masako Furuichi in 2013, Kika Kagata in 2014, Yui Susaki in 2016 and Honoka Nakai in 2019 – in achieving the feat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The American prodigy won gold medals in 2024 and 2025 at 61kg and jumped to 69kg for 2026. The change in weight class had no bearing on her performance as she secured four pins in four bouts, including the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Facing Kiymet Tezcan of Turkiye for the gold medal, Fernandez waited for the opportunity before picking up a leg attack for two points when Tezcan was on the activity clock to lead 3-0. She pressured Tezcan on the mat and then held the Turkiye on the mat to secure the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the victory in the final, Fernandez also extended her unbeaten streak in international wrestling to 28 wins out of which 16 are via fall, 11 via technical superiority and only one on points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gold, fourth for the United States of the tournament in Women’s Wrestling, helped the nation win the U17 world team title, only for the second time as it had won the trophy in 2021. The U.S. finished with 167 points, well ahead of defending champion India which finished with 132 points. Japan was third with 127 points followed by Turkiye and Ukraine at fourth and fifth positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fernandez’s was the second gold medalist for the USA on Friday after Marlee Solomon claimed the gold medal at 53kg. She defeated India’s Akshara 11-0, ending the match with a four-pointer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solomon used a two-on-one set up to complete her takedowns as Akshara failed to defend the pulls. During the second takedown, Solomon managed to score a turn to go up 6-0 and a sweep single and dumped the Indian for four points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India challenged the four-point call, asking for a stepout as the action occurred close to the zone. But it lost the challenge and added one more point to Solomon’s score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in the 46kg final, Kokona Makino of Japan denied Sandhya Vishnoi of India via fall after building a 13-2 lead in a very aggressive gold-medal bout. Makino scored the first takedown for two points before Vishnoi got an exposure from scramble. But Makino was quick to score a reversal and lead 3-2 at the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Vishnoi continued the hand-fighting with little awareness towards ground wrestling, Makino kept coming with sweep singles and scoring takedowns. She completed four takedowns using the same technique against a squared-up Vishnoi and after the fourth, she led 11-2 and later pinned the Indian, who committed offensive foul by pulling Makino’s hair and ear, trying to avoid the pin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the two losses in the final, India ended its U17 campaign in Women’s Wrestling without a gold medal, the first time since 2018 when it won two gold medals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan’s second gold medal came at 40kg when Natsumi Sasaki completed a 10-0 win over Tasnim Athimni of Tunisia in the 40kg. Athimni was the first to initiate attack and Sasaki was even put on the activity clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Tunisian wrestler let Sasaki take advantage when she left the corridor open. Sasaki capitalized to score a takedown and lead 2-0 before doubling it to 4-0 when she tossed Athimni for exposure in the next scramble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final lasted only 25 seconds in the second period as Sakaki used her long reach to finish a leg attack with takedown and two turns using the lace to complete a victory by technical superiority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Athimni’s silver was Tunisia’s first-ever medal at the U17 World Championships and she is only the second wrestler from the country to reach a world final after 2016 Rio Olympic bronze medalist Marwa Amri who reached the final in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Returning bronze medalist Ozdenur Ozmez of Turkiye won gold medal at 61kg after blanking Landri von Gonten, 10-0, in the final. She is Turkiye’s second-ever U17 world champion in Women’s Wrestling after Selvi Ilyasoglu of Turkiye who won the 57kg gold medal in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ozmez used some powerful leg attacks, all towards Von Gonten’s right, to score her points. She began with a single-leg attack for a takedown before performing it again but this she threw Von Gonten for four points. Ozmez’s third takedown was a counter when Von Gonten failed to trip her and Ozmez scored easy two points to lead 8-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final takedown took some time but Ozmez completed it when Von Gonten went for a desperate long shot. Ozmez went for the go-behind and secured a 10-0 win and gold for Turkiye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 40kg<\/strong> BRONZE: Sophia VALDEZ (USA) df. Rohini DEVBA (IND), 9-0 46kg<\/strong> BRONZE: Inzhu BAKKOZHA (KAZ) df. Alina BARANOVA (RUS), 8-2 53kg<\/strong> BRONZE: Rion OGAWA (JPN) df. Valeria STANCHEVA (BUL), 10-0 61kg<\/strong> BRONZE: AVANSHIKA (IND) df. Aruzhan BAKYTNUR (KAZ), 5-1 69kg<\/strong> BRONZE: TANIYA (IND) df. Maja WEJCHAN (POL), 12-2 Taina Rose Fernandez, 17, on Friday joined the list of a handful of wrestlers who have won three<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15236,"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":[7],"tags":[91],"class_list":["post-15235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","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
GOLD: Natsumi SASAKI (JPN) df. Tasnim ATHIMNI (TUN), 10-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BRONZE: Sirin ASKARA (TUR) df. Gulkhanim SHIRINOVA (AZE), 12-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GOLD: Kokona MAKINO (JPN) df. Sandhya VISHNOI (IND), via fall (13-2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BRONZE: Madison HEALEY (USA) df. Vivien SZENTPAL (HUN), 10-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GOLD: Marlee SOLOMON (USA) df. AKSHARA (IND), 11-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BRONZE: Mariia ZHYTOVOZ (HUN) df. Alejandra SERRANO (COL), 11-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GOLD: Ozdenur OZMEZ (TUR) df. Landri VON GONTEN (USA), 10-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BRONZE: Graciela ENINGO (ESP) df. Surae ABBASSOY (FIN), via fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GOLD: Taina FERNANDEZ (USA) df. Kiymet TEZCAN (TUR), via fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BRONZE: Nino SAMKHARADZE (GEO) df. Milana ULANOVA (KGZ), 2-1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"