Canada wins three gold medals at the Matteo Pellicone in Italy

Erica Wiebe (David Jackson, Canadian Olympic Committee) (with permission)

Team Canada came away with three gold medals and five medals overall this past weekend at the Matteo Pellicone in Rome, Italy, a premier international wrestling competition. Canadian Olympic gold medalist Erica Wiebe of Ottawa, Ontario won the gold medal in the women’s 76-kilogram division on Friday, Michelle Fazzari of Hamilton, Ontario won the gold medal in the women’s 62-kilogram category also on Friday, and Amar Dhesi of Surrey, British Columbia won the gold medal in the men’s 125-kilogram division on Saturday. Team Canada also won a silver medal from Diana Weicker of Kentville, Nova Scotia, and a bronze medal from Samantha Stewart of London, Ontario in the women’s 53-kilogram division on Saturday.

In the women’s 76-kilogram division, Wiebe, who won the gold medal in women’s wrestling for Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the women’s 75-kilogram division, defeated Mariya Gerginova Oryashkova of Bulgaria by a forfeit in the qualification round, Aline Da Silva Ferreira of Brazil 5-1 in the quarterfinal, Elmira Syzdykova of Kazakhstan 2-0 in the semifinal, and Samar Amer Ibrahim Hamza of Egypt 10-0 in the gold medal match. Hamza won the silver medal, while Syzdykova and Matilde Caldarelli of Italy each won bronze.

In the women’s 62-kilogram division, Fazzari defeated Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan 8-7, and Marianna Sastin of Hungary 5-3 in Group B action, before beating Irina Kuznetsova of Kazakhstan in the semifinals and Sastin 2-1 in the gold medal match. Sastin won the silver, and Lais Nunes De Oliveira of Brazil won the bronze medal.

In the men’s 125-kilogram division, Dhesi won the gold medal with a record of three wins and one loss. He defeated Sumit Sumit of India 14-4, Anthony Nelson of the United States 5-0, and Oleg Boltin of Kazakhstan 4-0, before losing 11-0 to Yusup Batirmurzaev of Kazakhstan. Batirmurzaev won silver and Nelson won bronze.

In the women’s 53-kilogram category, Weicker and Stewart reached the podium in the same weight class. Weicker beat Assylzat Sagymbay of Kazakhstan 12-2 and beat Stewart 9-4 in Group B. Stewart meanwhile won her other Group B match by beating Sagymbay 2-0. In the semifinals, Weicker defeated Nandini Bajirao Salokhe of India 12-2 before losing to Vinesh Vinesh of India 4-0 in the gold medal match. Stewart lost 4-0 to Vinesh 4-0 in the other semifinal before beating Salokhe 6-0 in the bronze medal match. The medals for Wiebe, Fazzari, Dhesi, Weicker and Stewart, will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.

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