Canon-Mac’s Solomon advances to world wrestling final
Marlee Solomon will wrestle for a world championship gold medal Friday.
Solomon, who will be a senior at Canon-McMillan, advanced through the U17 girls wrestling World Championship bracket to earn a spot in the finals in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Solomon faces Akshara of India in the 53 kilogram gold medal match and has made a final in her first appearance in a world championship representing Team USA.
She won three matches on Thursday to get into the final.
Solomon defeated Mariia Zhytovoz of Hungary by a 5-4 decision in her first match. Then, she scored a pair of pins in the quarterfinals and the semifinals.
The first one came against Fatima Bayramova of host country Azerbaijan, in 3:06.
In the semifinals she built a healthy lead against Alejandra Serrano Roa of Colombia, pulling ahead 12-1 before securing a pin with 18 seconds remaining in the match.
Solomon is one of three Team USA girls wrestlers to advance to the finals along with Taina Fernandez (69 kg) and Landri Von Gonten (61 kg).
Akshara earned her spot in the final by pinning Japan’s Rion Ogawa in 39 seconds in the semifinals.
It was the last of four wins on the day, which were all by fall.
Akshara had to wrestle in the preliminary round, earning a win against Madalina Margareta Pavel of Romania. She went on to defeat Sabrina Abdreymova of Uzbekistan (first round) and Valeria Dmitrievna Stancheva of Bulgaria (quarterfinals).
Solomon is seeking a third major victory this month.
She won gold in her Team USA debut at the U20 Pan-American games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in early July and followed that up by winning her first national junior wrestling title at Fargo, N.D. on July 18.
Silva gets bronze
Mt. Lebanon’s Isla Silva won a bronze medal Thursday at 49 kgs for Team USA.
Silva lost her first match against Ukraine’s Olena Kolubai by a 5-3 decision but bounced back in repechage (the second-chance bracket) pinning Aiana Asylbekova of Kyrgyzstan at 1:54.
That got Silva into the bronze medal match, where she used a takedown in the final 30 seconds to secure a 4-3 win against Ayanat Meinambay of Kazakhstan.