OLYMPICS/ ‘Lion king’ Kiyooka and Kagami underline Japan’s mat mastery in Paris escape the backrooms

REUTERS

August 12, 2024 at 07:50 JST

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Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan celebrates winning gold in men's freestyle 65kg match against Rahman Amouzadkhalili of Iran at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris on Aug. 11. (REUTERS)

PARIS--Wrestling powerhouse Japan bagged two freestyle golds through Kotaro Kiyooka and Yuka Kagami on the final day at the Paris Olympics on Sunday to boost their bumper harvest at the Champ de Mars Arena.

The Asian nation finished their campaign with eight golds -- three more than in Tokyo three years ago -- with Iran, Bulgaria and the United States all trailing far behind on the medal table with two apiece.

Bahrain's Akhmed Tazhudinov, who competed for Russia until 2022, won Sunday's other gold confirming his growing stature in the 97kg class.

Kiyooka was under pressure to deliver having beaten compatriot and Tokyo gold medalist Takuto Otoguro in the wrestle-off for a place in Paris.

The 23-year-old with a mop of bristling hair did not disappoint as he beat Iran's Rahman Amouzadkhalili 10-3 in the gold medal bout.

Amouzadkhalili was the first to open his account but Kiyooka killed the contest stone-dead in the first period when he scored a takedown and four turns for a 10-1 lead.

"There was a certain degree of pressure on me having defeated the Tokyo champion," Kiyooka told reporters.

"But I think that pressure actually helped me a bit."

The new Olympic champion has no plans to change his hairstyle, which is quite popular on social media.

"I think my hairstyle makes me look like a lion. So I'm going to keep it."

Sebastian Rivera of Puerto Rico and Albania's Islam Dudaev took bronze.

Kagami, who trains with male wrestlers at Toyo University to be at her sharpest, won the women's 76kg gold by beating Kennedy Blades of the U.S. 3-1.

Kagami scored a takedown out of bounds in the second period and hung on to it despite desperate efforts by her opponent in the remainder of the bout.

Milaimy Marin of Cuba and Tatiana Renteria of Colombia won bronze.

In the men's 97kg, Georgia's Givi Matcharashvili had to settle for silver as world champion Tazhudinov won the final by pinfall.

"There was a counterattack, and I caught him on this move," Tazhudinov said.

"This is Olympic Games, and all my fights were quite difficult."

"My objective here was to win the gold and it's hard to believe that I'm an Olympic champion."

Magomedkhan Magomedov of Azerbaijan and Iran's Amirali Azarpira took bronze.

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