Olympic wrestling: Russian Vorobieva pins down gold

London: Russian wrestler Natalia Vorobieva pinned down her opponent and the gold medal in the final of the women`s 72 kg freestyle wrestling Thursday.

Bulgaria`s Stanka Zlateva won the first round 1-0 but was pinned by Vorobieva 46 seconds into the second round and lost the match to the 21-year-old student from Siberia. For reigning world champion Zlateva, it was her second straight loss in an Olympic final after losing the gold medal match to China`s Wang Jiao in Beijing four years ago. Vorobieva`s triumph prevented a Japanese sweep of the four women`s wrestling gold medals and puts Russia on top of the wrestling medals table ahead of the seven men`s freestyle events. The bronze medals went to Kazakhstan`s Gayel Manyurova and Spain`s Maider Unda. Manyurova beat Wang 3-1 on points, while Unda defeated Belarusian grappler Vasilisa Marzalyuk 3-0 on points. IANS