Giullia won the gold medal in Santiago, her second at the Pan American Games. – Photo: Alexandre Lourenço / COB

This Thursday (02), second day of protests in the struggle in Santiago, the Brazilian Giullia Penalber assured the gold medal of category 57kg of female freestyle of the Pan American Games 2023. Giullia looked the Canadian Hannah Taylor notthe decision and after a fight with domination of the Brazilian, she obtained the highest place on the podium.

The wrestling competition continues until Saturday (04) and takes place at the Chilean National Olympic Training Center. Giullia Penalber had a complicated path to the decision, making her debut in the quarterfinals against Mota-Pettis, of the United States, in which the Brazilian started to lose but had the patience to fight and win the fight.

Then another tough opponent opposed Giullia, the Cuban Alvarez Martínez, bronze at the continental championship organized in May, while the Brazilian had won silver. The fight was well balanced, with little action from both athletes, until Giullia managed to defeat the Cuban and secure her place in the final, again by touching her.

Giullia Penalber’s opponent in the final was Canadian Hannah Taylor. Giullia showed confidence and was dominant early in the fight, scoring first and even suffering a draw and later the comeback showed no signs that she was going to lose. At the end of the fight, the Brazilian entered and knocked down the Canadian, reaching 4 points, all that remained was to manage the fight and wait for the clock to reset to close the fight at 7-6.

This is Giullia Penalber’s second Pans medal, since in Lima 2019 she won the bronze medal. It is only Brazil’s second gold medal in the sport at the Pan American Games, matching Joice Silva’s feat at Toronto 2015.

Brazil was again represented today by Thalia Oliveira, who competed in women’s freestyle wrestling in the 50 kg category. As there were only seven athletes registered in the category, the fighters were divided into two groups and the Brazilian was eliminated after winning one fight and losing two others. In the men’s freestyle wrestling, Guilherme Porto competed in the 86 kg category and was overtaken by Ethan Ramos of Puerto Rico, who fell in the semifinals and left Guilherme no chance to return in the repechage.