#WrestleSamokov

Japan defends U20 Worlds women's team title

Friday, August 22, 2025 - 23:31 By Vinay Siwach

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SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 22) -- Japan defended its Women's Wrestling team title at the World U20 Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria with two more gold medals on Friday.

The Women's Wrestling competition came to a close in Bulgaria with three weight classes, 50kg, 53kg and 72kg, and Japan won the first two gold medals while India won 72kg. India finished second in the team race with 140 points, 25 less than Japan which had 165 points.

Rinka OGAWA (JPN) won the 50kg gold medal with 9-3 win over three-time age-group world medalist Audrey JIMINEZ (USA) in the final. Ogawa gave up the first takedown but she hit a single-leg and turn to lead 4-2 at the break.

The second period was more scrappy but Ogawa gave up just a reversal while four points to win 8-3. The United States challenged at the end of match but there was no points for Jiminez and one more point to Ogawa's score for the lost challenge.

This was Jiminez's third loss to a Japanese wrestler in finals of World Championships. She lost to Umi ITO (JPN) in the World U20 and U23 finals in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Her one other loss came to Yanrong LI (USA) in 2023 at the World U20 Championships. She will now look to change her fortunes at the senior World Championships in Zagreb next month.

Japan's second gold cane with Natsumi MASUDA (JPN) who defeated European U20 champion Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR) in controlled 6-0 final. She scored three takedowns in six minutes for the win and earn herself the gold medal.

At 72kg, world U17 silver medalist last month, KAJAL (IND) managed to survive a fall attempt and a threating Yuqi LIU (CHN) in the final and win her first world U20 title to go with her world U17 gold from 2024.

Kajal used snapdowns to pressure Liu and score three takedowns and lead 6-0 but as the match progressed Liu hit a leg-attack and scored a takedown, and cradle Kajal who barely managed to get out off the lock and keep the 6-4 lead.

Both traded a takedown each in the remainder of the bout but Kajal held on for an 8-6 lead and win the gold medal.

RESULTS

50kg
GOLD: Rinka OGAWA (JPN) df. Audrey JIMENEZ (USA), 9-3

BRONZE: SHRUTI (IND) df. Josephine WRENSCH (GER), 6-0
BRONZE: Na HU (CHN) df. Diana RYSOVA (UKR), 7-5

53kg
GOLD: Natsumi MASUDA (JPN) df. Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR), 6-0

BRONZE: SAARIKA (IND) df. Ilona VALCHUK (POL), 11-0
BRONZE: Kseniya KOSTSENICH (UWW) df. Abigale COOPER (USA), 11-10

72kg
GOLD: KAJAL (IND) df. Yuqi LIU (CHN), 8-6

BRONZE: Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW) df. Haticenur SARI (TUR), 17-12
BRONZE: Kaiyrkul SHARSHEBAEVA (KGZ) vs. Jasmine ROBINSON (USA), via inj. def.

UWW Academy provides access to an Interactive Data Analysis Programme for all Major UWW Competitions

Monday, April 29, 2024 - 11:31 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (April 29) --The UWW Academy has added a programme for coaches, wrestlers, and spectators to provide access to an interactive site that analyses data and metrics from all of the UWW major competitions.  This programme can be found in the “Analytics” tab on the UWW Academy page.   On the Analytics page, there is a direct link to the “UWW Performance Analysis Application.”  In that programme, there are reports available for each style at each of the major competitions from 2020-Present.  This is a great way to see how points are being scored for each style, weight category, medal matches, teams, etc… The programme also highlights data from the most successful wrestlers at those competitions and those most successful by techniques.  There is also the option of looking at data for specific countries at those competitions.  This tool will provide everyone with an opportunity to easily access data that could help improve training decisions (technical and tactical) and overall general knowledge of the sport and the wrestlers.

Also on the Analytics Page, there is a tutorial video that will help explain how to use the programme and access the reports.  There are also complete analysis reports from previous competitions that are available for download too.

The UWW Academy is the official educational site for United World Wrestling.  The Academy is an all-encompassing online portal designed to educate, provide information, necessary learning tools and resources to be able to assist different stakeholders and enhance the knowledge and value of wrestling.  Access to the Academy and all its resources are free.  Registration only requires a working email to confirm your account. UWW encourages all stakeholders to get registered and utilize all of the free resources.