Giuliana Gil Earns Bronze Medal at Junior Worlds

The U.S. Junior Team made it three straight days on the awards podium as female finweight Giuliana Gil (Pasadena, Calif.) claimed a bronze medal on Monday at the World Junior Taekwondo Championships in Tijuana, Mexico. Male featherweight Seth Wolfe (Miami, Fla.) captured a bronze medal on Saturday and female flyweight Cheyenne Lewis (Elk Grove, Calif.) won the gold medal on Sunday. The event concludes on Tuesday.

Gil opened her competition with an 8-1 win over Chinese Taipei's Wong Shiao Pet and then defeated Germany's Suhansera Gokmen in the quarterfinals, 8-6, to reach the medal round. In her semifinal match, Gil lost a 14-11 decision to Croatia's Ana Pavlovic, who went on to win the silver medal.

Also reaching the quarterfinals on Monday was female lightweight Paige Biviano (Cazenovia, N.Y.). Biviano defeated Brazil's Bruna Nascimento Silva on a last-second back kick, 4-3, in the opening round, and then shut out Trinidad's Katherine Lee-A-Ping by a score of 12-0 to advance to the quarterfinal round. In the quarterfinals, Biviano lost 4-2 to Vietnam's Giang Doan Thi Houng who would advance to win a bronze medal.

Male light heavyweight Gene Yang (Perry Hall, Md.) began the day with a 10-3 victory over Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Khorunzha, but then lost his Round of 16 match to Lebanon's Khalil Bassel, 3-1. Bassel would go on to win a bronze medal.

The three other U.S. fighters in action on Monday all lost their opening-round matches.

Male light middleweight Ryan Arcaina (Brentwood, Calif.) lost 8-3 to eventual bronze medalist  Manuel Beloqui Jimenez of Spain, male finweight Gabriel Chadis (Alvin, Texas) lost 8-6 to Spain's Cristian Soriano Carrion, and female light middleweight Nicole Palma (Lake Worth, Fla.) lost a 12-4 decision to Russia's Ekaterina Kuzheleva who would go on to claim a bronze medal.

Day Three Winners:

Male -45kg (finweight) : Please click here for match tree
1. Carlos Navarro Valdez      - Mexico
2. Solimani Mohammad       - Iran
3. Kazakov Dmitry                   - Russia
3. Ibrahim Pak                         - Turkey

Male -68kg (light middleweight) : Please click here for match tree
1. Je Geun Kim                          - Korea
2. Solenicki Tin                          - Croatia
3. Manuel Beloqui Jimenez    - Spain
3. Jeffrey Trieu                           - Canada

Male -78kg (light heavyweight) : Please click here for match tree
1. Darvishhardouei Morteza          - Iran
2. Femandes Jean Michel             - Portugal
3. Khalil Bassel                               - Lebanon
3. Gaspar Trabalon Rodriguez     - Spain

Female -42kg (finweight) : Please click here for match tree
1. Na Hee Song   Korea
2. Pavlovic Ana   Croatia
3. Nurgul Celik   Turkey
3. Glulana Gil   USA

Female -52kg (lightweight) : Please click here for match tree
1. So Ra Lim                                  Korea
2. Rastovic Tanja                          Croatia
3. Giang Doan Thi Houng            Vietnam
3. Laja Martinez Ramirez              Spain

Female -59kg (light middleweight) : Please click here for match tree
1. So Yun Mun    Korea
2. Farzaveh Sahebi   Iran
3. Kuzheleva Ekaterina  Russia
3. Borji Nihel    Tunisia

The Junior World Championships wrap up on Tuesday with the following U.S. fighters in action...

Tuesday, March 9
In Action...
Nicholas Yow (Mequon, Wis.) in male lightweight
Juanito Cajimat (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) in male welterweight
Haley Kong (Hillsborough, Calif.) in female bantamweight
Nicole VanCleave (Lake Tapps, Wash.) in female welterweight

Male Brackets: http://www.tkdmexico2010.com/pdf/draw_sheet_men.pdf
Female Brackets: http://www.tkdmexico2010.com/pdf/draw_sheet_women.pdf

Tags: Gabriel Chadis., Gene Yang, Giuliana Gil, Nicole Palma, Paige Biviano, Ryan Arcaina