Earlier, Russia’s Valeria Koblova took silver in women’s freestyle wrestling in the under 58kg category.
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RIO DE JANEIRO-Japan has swept the gold medals on the first day of the Olympic women’s wrestling tournament in Rio. It took a two-point takedown nearly on the buzzer to pull off a dramatic victory.
Amri is the first woman to win a medal for Tunisia in any of the current combat sports on the Olympic programme – wrestling, boxing, judo or taekwondo.
Gold medalist Kaori Icho of Japan.
Up until the gold medal round, Icho’s status as the favorite was never in question. But within her sport she is a legendary figure, as is her countrywoman Saori Yoshida, who on Thursday will bid to match Icho’s record of four gold in four Games in the women’s 53kg division.
“My opponent came in for a tackle (at the end) so I thought that was my last chance to score”, she said.
Japanese wrestler Kaori Icho made history Wednesday in Rio. The referee finally awarded a two-point score to Icho with less than five seconds on the clock, giving her a dramatic 3-2 win. The only asterisk had been a forfeit in 2007. She had a winning streak of 189 matches in global competition that just ended this past January.
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There was drama, too, in wins for Sara Dosho and Eri Tosaka.
