Olympic wrestling: Japanese women grapplers sweep two golds

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 08: Hitomi Obara of Japan celebrates winning gold

London, Aug 9 (IANS) Japan heaped two golds in a day at 48kg and 63kg women’s freestyle category here Wednesday of London Olympics wrestling competition.

The 63kg legend Kaori Icho beat Chinese Jing Ruixue in the final to win her third straight Olympic title. Mongolia’s Soronzonbold Battsetseg and Russia’s Lubov Volosova shared the bronze medal, Xinhua reported.

The two-time Olympic champion Icho met no challenge from Jing, who never won over Icho before and cruised past the game 3-0, 2-0, her latest victory of a 72-match winning streak. She now owns the only three Olympic golds ever awarded at 63kg.

“In the final, I was able to tackle both legs of my opponent. I am happy I could do that because I have practiced this technique,” said Icho.

“There were things I could not do in the final, but I’m happy to achieve my goal,” she added.

Earlier, another powerhouse Hitomi Obara of Japan won her first Olympic gold medal in women’s 48-kg freestyle by rallying to beat Mariya Stadnyk of Azerbaijan 0-4, 1-0, 2-0.

China’s Zhao Shasha lost in the preliminaries to US wrestler Clarissa Kyoko Mei Ling Chun, who gave the US its first wrestling medal at the London Games. Another bronze went to Carol Huynh of Canada.