China earned its first gold medal at the world junior wrestling championships on Thursday as Li Songni won the women's freestyle 59-kilogram event.

 

Chinese wrestlers also grabbed two silvers and one bronze in the third day of the tournament, which started Tuesday at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium.

 

Russia now leads the overall medals table with six medals, including four golds. Iran and Turkey are tied in second place with two golds and one silver.

 

In the day's first event, Russia's Elena Gnatenko, the reigning European junior champion, outclassed Lei Jingling of China 1-0, 4-0 in the 44kg category.

 

The 67kg final was also a Russia vs China showdown, with Natalya Laushkina upsetting local favorite Zhang Fengliu 3-1, 5-1 to take the title.

 

To the deafening cheers of about 1,000 local fans in the stands, Li Songni defeated Tatiana Padilla of the United States 1-0, 2-0 in the 59kg final. Li scored the only takedown in the first period, and in the second bout Padilla stepped out of bounds twice, giving Li two points for the win.

 

"I had full confidence in myself during the match, but I was too cautious when attacking. If I had wrestled more aggressively, I would have an even bigger win," said the 18-year-old Li.

 

But Padilla seemed to have a different opinion. "There wasn't a lot of wrestling on her part, so when you wrestle someone and they wrestle you back, it's easier to capitalize on her mistakes," she said.

 

Whitney Conder made up for Padilla's defeat when she downed India's Kumari Babita 2-1, 3-2 in the 51kg final to become America's first gold winner at these championships.

 

Li Xiao of China was awarded a bronze medal in the 51kg category.

 

Chinese coach Wei Chenyang praised his team, but refused to take the accolade that China is world No. 1 in women's wrestling.

 

"Our women wrestlers really did a good job and I'm happy with their performance," Wei told reporters.

 

"We won the most medals at the 2003 world junior championships, but it was the past. You must not think China is still the best team as all can see that countries like Russia and the United States are making great progress," he added.

 

All the four events contested on Thursday are non-Olympic events. China won a gold medal in women's wrestling at the 2004 Olympic Game in Athens.

 

The junior world wrestling championships, which features some 600 wrestlers from 60 countries and regions in men's Greco-Roman and freestyle and women's freestyle, is one of a dozen of Olympic test events that are underway in the Chinese capital.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2007)