Burnaby-based wrestler Justina Di Stasio has earned her share of hardware.
But this week’s gold medal is a notch above. Di Stasio, an assistant coach with Simon Fraser University’s women’ s wrestling team, captured her first world wrestling title by beating Mongolia’s Nasanburmaa Ochirbat in the 72-kilogram division. She prevailed in a hard-fought final by a 4-2 margin, scoring two early takedowns to build up a 4-0 lead before defending the rest of the way.
“(Ochirbat) has a left leg lead and I have a right leg lead. So, I was just thinking about that all day, trying to figure out what we were going to do for it and we did it,” said Di Stasio in a press release.
It was the first Canadian victory at the worlds since 2012. A year ago, Di Stasio finished third at the worlds in the 75kg category.
The 25-year-old moved to the lighter weight class after failing to make the national team at 75kg.
