Canada's Danielle Lappage has said she is "confused" as to why she did not win gold in the women's 65kg division ©UWW

Canada's Danielle Lappage has said she is "confused" by her loss in the women's 65 kilograms gold medal match at the United World Wrestling (UWW) World Championships here in Budapest yesterday.

The Canadian, who won Commonwealth silver in April, was wrestling Finland's Petra Olii for the world title at the Papp László SportArena and initially went behind, before bringing the score back level at 5-5 near the end.

Then, in the very last seconds of the contest, Lappage managed another takedown which would have given her the win, and it appeared at first that she was indeed going to be declared the new world champion.

However, amid significant confusion inside the arena, a challenge then saw the decision reversed and Olii awarded the gold at 6-5.

Afterwards the 28-year-old Lappage said she was "confused" as to what had happened.

There was significant confusion in the arena as officials deliberated over who to award the gold to ©UWW
There was significant confusion in the arena as officials deliberated over who to award the gold to ©UWW

"I thought I won," she said.

"I went from the most extreme happiness to the most extreme disappointment.

"I'm still confused.

"I'll have to go back and watch it, but I don't know."

Exactly why the decision was reversed was not clear at the time, with even the arena announcers expressing confusion as to what was happening.

In a statement sent to insidethegames, UWW said the confusion arose because Olii's coach was not paying attention as the match ended, and so attempted to challenge the score thinking his wrestler had lost, when in fact she had won on criteria.