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Teenage wrestler Amit Elor of the USA celebrated her gold medal win in the women’s 72kg event at the Belgrade World Wrestling Championships in a very unique way. She carried her coach on her shoulders for a victory lap.
On Thursday night in Serbia, the 18-year-old Amit became the youngest US female wrestler to win gold at the senior World Wrestling Championships.
Amit demonstrated her strength during the final bout against Zhamila Bakergenova of Kazakhstan by winning 10-0 and that too, within a span of one minute and 13 seconds.
Amit scored via takedown and then secured a leg lace lock to enhance her points tally to 10-0 to end the contest in quick time. In the semis, Amit had defeated Japan’s Masako Furuichi 3-2.
Last year, Amit won both the world U17 and U20 titles. She was one of the favorites for the title in Belgrade.
“There were a lot of nerves and every time I feel nervous, I reminded myself why I am wrestling and I love the sport so much,” Elor told United World Wrestling in the post-match interaction. “So go out there and enjoy it and if you don't enjoy it, it’s not worth it.”
Women's events at World Wrestling Championships: Overview
In other events, US Olympic champion Tamyra Mensah Stock regained the 68kg title with a victory over Japan’s Ami Ishii.
Back-to-back gold medals enabled the USA team to collect 157 points to finish second behind a strong Japanese team, whose point tally was 190. China finished strongly to gain the third place with 84 points.
The Japanese, as expected, walked away with the team title, winning as many as five gold medals.
After winning a world title last year at 55kg, Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai moved to 57kg this year. She beat former Olympic champion Helen Maroulis of the USA 3-0 to win gold in 57kg.
In another highlight of the World Wrestling Championships, Anastasia Nichita, the two-time European champion, won the 59kg title to become Moldova's second-ever female world champion. Irina Ringaci was the first.
