Pickering Wrestler Qualifies for Olympic Games

PICKERING — Braxton Stone-Papadopoulos has booked a ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

The Pickering wrestler and member of Team Impact finished fifth in the 63kg weight class at the senior world championships in Las Vegas, automatically qualifying her for next year’s Olympics.

Fresh off a bronze-medal win at the junior world championships in Salvador, Brazil in August, the 20 year old started with a bye into the round of eight. In her opening bout, Stone-Papadopoulos dominantly beat Giedre Blekaityte of Lithuania 14-4. In her next bout she was against Yekaterina Larionova (KAZ). Stone-Papadopoulos fought back to win the quarter-final 10-6. With the win, she automatically qualified in her weight class for Rio.

In her semifinal match against Japan, Stone-Papadopoulos lost the bout by fall, but moved on to fight for a medal in the evening’s bronze-medal final.

There Stone-Papadopoulos met Yulia Tkach Ostapchuk of Ukraine. The Ukrainian wrestler put two points on the board first, and the first period stayed that way until the half. In the second half, with Ostapchuk up by six, Stone-Papadopoulos became more aggressive, earning two and then another two points. At 6-4 with 30 seconds to go, another point for her opponent’s cautious wrestling was awarded to Stone-Papadopoulos. In the end the Ukrainian wrestler managed to stay out of trouble for the final seconds and Stone-Papadopoulos settled for fifth.

Earlier this summer, Stone-Papadopoulos won gold at the Pan Am Games, beating a Cuban wrestler at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.