Kaori Icho became the first woman to win three Olympic wrestling titles on Wednesday, while her teammate Hitomi Obara also claimed gold as Japan cemented their dominance of the women’s sport within 30 triumphant minutes at the London Games.
The packed arena turned into a roaring sea of red and white Japanese flags after seven-time world champion Icho swept aside China’s Jing Ruixue in the final of the second-heaviest 63kg class in freestyle wrestling.
Her weeping compatriot Obara held her head in her hands and fell to her knees after coming from behind to beat Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnyk in Wednesday’s other final, the 48kg lightest weight division.
Photo: Reuters
Japan have ruled the mat since women first began competing in Olympic wrestling in Athens in 2004, winning six out of a possible 10 golds.
They were expected to add at least one more gold on the second and final day of the women’s competition yesterday when two-time gold medal winner Saori Yoshida defended her 55kg title.
After a flawless display, Icho, 28, said it was too soon to say if she would go for a fourth gold in Brazil in 2016.
“The last three Olympics have just run past so fast, probably the fourth will arrive fast too, but I have no idea at this moment,” she said.
Icho stayed remarkably composed, despite becoming one of Japan’s greatest Olympians.
Asked repeatedly how it felt to win the hat-trick, she calmly replied: “I am very happy.”
She never looked like losing her title. Her opponent injured her eye in an earlier bout and scraped through her semi-final.
Obara, 31, needed an ounce of luck to win gold at what she said would be her first and last Olympic Games.
Stadnyk of Azerbaijan took the first round and looked capable of beating the eight-time world champion, but the Japanese wrestler fought back to win the final two rounds and take gold.
Obara, wearing a bright red leotard emblazoned with a roaring tiger’s head, broke down after her victory.
“To be honest, I thought I would lose,” she said. “My coach said: ‘It’s alright, it’s alright’ after the first period, so I was able to carry on.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS