(NOV 22)
(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) -
Three of the Team USA’s most decorated female athletes have
secured a new piece of hardware for their trophy cases with
quarterfinal wins on Friday at the Halla Gymnasium in Jeju,
South Korea. 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Marlen
Esparza (Houston,
Texas), reigning featherweight world champion Tiara
Brown (Fort
Myers, Fla.) and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Claressa
Shields (Flint,
Mich.) will all compete for a spot in the finals in Jeju on
Sunday. Welterweight Danyelle
Wolf (San
Diego, Calif.), light heavyweight Heidi
Henriksen (St.
Louis Park, Minn.) and heavyweight Krystal
Dixon (New
Rochelle, N.Y.) each dropped their quarterfinal matches on
Friday.
Shields was hoping for the chance
to avenge her only career loss in today’s action but after her
former foe lost in Thursday’s preliminary action, the
19-year-old Olympic champion was forced to settle for a match-up
with Russia’s Iaroslava
Iakushana.
The American dominated the middleweight quarterfinal battle,
winning every round on all three judges’ scorecard to move on to
her first Elite World Championships semifinal round. She will
face off with Canada’s Ariane
Fortin in
her fourth bout of the tournament at approximately 8:45 p.m.
local time (6:45 a.m. ET) on Sunday.
Esparza is returning to the
semifinal round at the Women’s World Championships for the first
time since her event debut in 2006. The first female American
boxer ever to win a medal at the Olympic Games, Esparza clinched
her berth in the medal round with a 2-0 victory over Turkey’s Elif
Nur Coskun in
their flyweight contest on Friday. Following a rest day on
Saturday, Esparza will battle Brazil’s Clelia
da Costa on
Sunday at approximately 7:15 p.m. local time (5:15 a.m. ET) for
a berth in the flyweight finale.
For the second straight World
Championships, Brown is vying for a spot in the featherweight
finals. Only the third U.S. female boxer ever to win a world
championship, Brown moved on to the semifinals with a 2-1 win
over Chinese Taipei’s Wen
Ling Chen in
their quarterfinal contest. After two bouts in consecutive days,
Brown will enjoy the off day on Saturday before facing the
Philippines’ Nesthy
Petecio at
approximately 7:30 p.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET).
After claiming two victories at
the World Championships, Wolf fell by split decision to
Azerbaijan’s Elena
Vystrapova in
their welterweight contest. Henriksen dropped her second bout of
the tournament, losing a 3-0 decision to Ukraine’s Anastasia
Chernolenko in
their light heavyweight match-up. Dixon lost a 3-0 bout to
Turkey’s Emine
Bozduman in
her tournament opener.
As the 2014 Elite Women’s World
Championships enters the off day in tournament competition, the
United States is tied for third place in the team standings with
three athletes advancing to the semifinal round.
All of the tournament action is
being live streamed at
www.aiba.org.
U.S. Results
112 lbs/51 kg: Marlen
Esparza, Houston, Texas/USA dec.
Elif Nur Coskun, TUR, 2-0
125 lbs/57 kg: Tiara
Brown, Fort Myers, Fla./USA dec.
Wen Ling Chen, TPE, 2-1
152 lbs/69 kg: Elena Vystrapova,
AZE, dec. Danyelle
Wolf, San Diego, Calif./USA,
2-1
165 lbs/75 kg: Claressa
Shields, Flint, Mich./USA dec.
Iaroslava Iakushana, RUS, 3-0
178 lbs/81 kg: Anastasia
Chernolenko, UKR, dec. Heidi
Henrkisen, St. Louis Park, Minn./USA,
3-0
178+ lbs/81+ kg: Emine Bozduman,
TUR, dec. Krystal
Dixon, New Rochelle, N.Y./USA,
3-0
