Tokyo Olympics 2020: Yukako Kawai wins Japan’s first wrestling Gold upsetting Aisuluu Tynybekova

Tokyo Olympics 2020: Yukako Kawai wins Japan’s first wrestling Gold upsetting Aisuluu Tynybekova

Yukako Kawai celebrates her Gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Yukako Kawai of Japan won her country’s first Wrestling gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Taking part in the women’s freestyle 62kg event that took place on the 3rd and 4th of August, Kawai beat 15 other competitors from various nations to strike gold for Japan.

This is the 23-year old’s first-ever Olympic medal. She had previously won a Silver and Bronze at the World Championships in 2018 (Budapest) and 2019 (Nur-Sultan) respectively. Kawai had also won the Gold medal at the Asian Championships in New Delhi which took place in 2020.

Yukako Kawai edges out Aisuluu Tynybekova to win Gold!

Yukako Kawai
Yukako Kawai

In the Round of 16, Yukako Kawai took on Lyubov Ovcharova of Russia and defeated her 10-0. In the quarter-finals she squared off against Henna Johansson of Sweden. The Japanese once again, did not have much trouble dispatching her opponent, as she eased to a 10-2 win. The semi-finals was a bit close. Kawai beat Bulgarian Taybe Yusein 3-2 to advance to the finals. A nail-biting contest against Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan saw Kawai win 4-3.

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The silver medalist Aisuluu Tynybekova drubbed Anastasia Grigorjeva of Latvia in the Round of 16 (8-0), before demolishing Kriszta Incze of Romania in the quarter-finals. Then came Iryna Koliadenko of Ukraine in the semi-finals. Another thrashing. This time a 10-0 win for the Kyrgysztani.

Iryna Koliadenko and Taybe Yusein settle for Bronze

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The Bronze medals were won by Iryna Koliadenko and Taybe Yusein. Firstly, Koliadenko of Ukraine faced Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria in a close encounter. She won the match by fall. In the Round of 16, she blanked Long Jia 4-0 before being torn to shreds by the Silver Medalist Aisuluu Tynybekova (10-0). Koliadenko then made her way to a bronze medal against Anastasia Grigorjeva of Latvia.

The other Bronze medalist Taybe Yusein went all the way until the semi-finals in the regular rounds, after beating Lais Nunes in the Round of 16, Khürelkhüügiin Bolortuyaa (10-0). She lost to eventual gold medalist Yuko Kawai in the semi-finals and beat Lyubov Ovcharova in the bronze medal match.

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