Japan Wrestle-Offs

Okuno, Ota Enter Japan World Team Playoffs in Non-Olympic Weights

Monday, July 15, 2019 - 19:55 By Ken Marantz

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World champion Haruna OKUNO and Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shinobu OTA, who missed out on places on Japan's team to this year's World Championships in Olympic weight classes, have entered the playoffs for spots in non-Olympic divisions, the Japan Wrestling Federation announced on its website.

Okuno, the world champion last year in Budapest at 53kg, will move up to 55kg---the same weight class she won a world gold at Paris 2017. Okuno was defeated in the Japan team qualifying at 53kg by Mayu Mukaida, the world champion at 55kg who dropped down to the Olympic weight.

Shinobu OTA​ ​​​​​​will take on Yoshiki YAMADA in the 63kg playoff. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka) 

Likewise, Asian champion Ota failed to displace 2017 world champion Kenichiro FUMITA at Greco-Roman 60kg, and will now try to make the team at 63kg in the non-Olympic weight playoffs, to be held July 21 at the National Training Center in Tokyo.

This year, the Japan Federation decreed that any wrestler winning a medal in Nur-Sultan in an Olympic weight class would automatically secure a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Such an incentive caused a scramble among top wrestlers into the six Olympic weight classes in each style. In addition to the clash of world champions Okuno and Mukaida, it also produced a highly publicized battle between Olympic gold medalists Risako KAWAI and Kaori ICHO at 57kg, from which Kawai emerged victorious.

To dispatch as strong a team as possible to Nur-Sultan 2019, the federation is allowing the runner-ups in the Olympic weight classes in the two national tournaments, which served as the world team qualifiers, to enter the playoffs in the non-Olympic weights.

Haruna OKUNO will wrestle Saki IGARASHI and Nanami IRIE in a three-way wrestle-off for the world team spot at 55kg. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne) 

At women's 55kg, Okuno faces a three-way wrestle-off with Saki IGARASHI, winner of the All-Japan Invitational (Meiji Cup) title in June, and Nanami IRIE, who was second to Mukaida at 53kg at the All-Japan Championships (Emperor's Cup) last December. Okuno had missed the latter tournament due to illness.

Igarashi, a Shigakkan University teammate of Okuno's, won both the world junior and U-23 titles in 2018, and was second at this year's Asian Championships. Irie was a world junior champion in 2015, but has been largely overshadowed by older sister Yuki, who famously knocked off two-time reigning world champion Yui SUSAKI at 50kg.

Okuno has faced Irie twice recently, beating her 5-2 in the Meiji Cup semifinals this year and by fall in the quarterfinals in 2018. Okuno and Igarashi met twice as high schoolers in the finals of two national tournaments in 2016, with Okuno winning both on points.

Ota's path to Nur-Sultan has just one obstacle in the form of Meiji Cup champion Yoshiki YAMADA. Ota has experience at the heavier weight, having won the Grand Prix of Hungary and placing second at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov Tournament at 63kg earlier this year.

In other weight classes, Daichi TAKATANI, a silver medalist at both the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2018, has moved up to 70kg after failing to displace world champion Takuto OTOGURO at 65kg.

Yuka KAGAMI, a two-time cadet world champion, will try to make the world team at 72kg. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka) 

The women's 72kg class in the lone division to draw four entries, including high school phenom Yuka KAGAMI. Kagami, a two-time world cadet champion who captured an Asian senior gold in April, won the Emperor's Cup at 72kg, but failed in a bid to knock off two-time world bronze medalist Hiroe MINAGAWA at 76kg at the Meiji Cup.

Two other high schoolers have a chance to earn tickets to the senior worlds: Yuzuka INAGAKI, the senior Asian champion at women's 59kg, and Yudai TAKAHASHI, who is fresh off a victory at the Asian Cadet Championships, also held in Nur-Sultan.

One notable name who was eligible but did not enter the wrestle-off was world bronze medalist Atsushi MATSUMOTO, the Emperor's Cup champion at freestyle 92kg whose absence will concede the spot to Meiji Cup winner Takuma OTSU.

Matsumoto had moved up to the Olympic weight of 97kg for the Meiji Cup, but did not advance past the semifinals.

#wrestlebishkek

Susaki 2.0 Ready to Rumble at Asian Championships

Saturday, March 28, 2026 - 07:14 By Vinay Siwach

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Yui SUSAKI (JPN) at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (March 27) -- In what has become a lasting photo of wrestling from the 2024 Paris Olympics, a wide-eyed Yui SUSAKI (JPN) is seen staring blankly into nothing.

The photo was taken after Susaki suffered her first-ever international loss. Vinesh PHOGAT (IND) had just defeated her in the opening round of the Paris Games. It was not a familiar feeling for Susaki. Not in international wrestling at least.

Yui SUSAKI (JPN)Yui SUSAKI (JPN) lost her first bout at the Paris Olympics. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

It was only after she walked off the mat and faced the cameras waiting for her in the field of play mixed zone that Susaki realized what had happened. She burst into tears.

Almost two years after that after that loss, a 'new' Susaki is returning to action at next week's Asian Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in a bid to re-establish herself as the dominant force she was before Paris.

"The defeat at the Paris Olympics and the year-and-a-half that followed were an incredibly difficult and painful time," Susaki says.

Susaki went on to win a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, a downgrade from the gold medal she won in Tokyo where she outscored her opponents 41-0. The loss shocked the world as Susaki was considered unbeatable. She was a three-time world champion boasting of a 96-0 winning streak, never lost an international bout and was the first wrestler to win the Golden Grand Slam, winning the Olympic gold and all age-group world titles including senior.

A second Olympic title seemed inevitable. There was no stopping.

While the loss was on the mat, Susaki believes that things off the mat may have contributed to her loss as well.

"In recent years, my desire to give back and do things for those around me had grown stronger," she says. "My focus had shifted toward others. When my focus is on others, I feel pressure, my mind gets cluttered with distractions, and doubts arise, leading me to overthink things."

Yui SUSAKI (JPN)Yui SUSAKI (JPN) celebrates after winning the world title in 2023. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

She is relieved that she did not overthink the loss in Paris after she returned to Japan.

"There were moments when I lost faith in myself [after that Paris loss]," she says. "But since then, I’ve focused more than ever on self-reflection and self-dialogue in my personal life, as well as on developing my character as a person. I’ve gained a deeper understanding of myself, and I feel I’ve developed a firm sense of self."

The version that Susaki has been working on over the last year did not begin just after the Olympics. There was one more bump before she made an important career decision.

Susaki was finding it incredibly difficult to reduce weight to continue wrestling at 50kg. So in September 2025, she decided to wrestle at 53kg at the National Sports Festival in Japan. It did not go as planned.

She suffered her first domestic loss in six years when world champion Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) defeated her at the festival. What was more alarming was that Susaki failed to finish a takedown in the final minute despite getting control over Kiyooka.

The 26-year-old returned to the drawing board with a sense of urgency as the Emperor's Cup was looming. The 2025 December tournament was the first step towards making the Japan team for the 2026 Asian Championships, World Championships and the Asian Games.

"The answer I arrived at after overcoming it all was simple: I wrestle because I love it and because I want to become an Olympic champion," she said. "I wrestle not for anyone else, but for myself -- to make my dream come true."

Susaki, along with her team, devised a better plan to reduce weight and remain at 50kg. She ate precise and molded her training in a way in which she managed to contain the weight.

In December, she won the Emperor's Cup at 50kg without much trouble and earn a spot on the Japan team for the Asian Championships which only be her third in her 12-year international career.

Yui SUSAKI (JPN)Yui SUSAKI (JPN) defeated Ziqi FENG (CHN) in the 50kg final at the Asian Championships in 2024. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Incidentally, her last Asian Championships was also in Bishkek in 2024, and she won gold after beating Ziqi FENG (CHN) in the final. She is likely to face Feng again as the Paris Olympic bronze medalist is among a strong field at 50kg this year.

One of the challenges that Susaki will be keen on taking on is a bout against Son Hyang KIM (PRK), a wrestler Susaki has beaten before. The two met in the 48kg final of the 2017 Asian Championships, Susaki's first, and the Japanese wrestler won 10-0.

Then in the same year, the two met at the World Championships and Kim managed to keep it tighter but failed to stop Susaki from winning, 5-2. Susaki went on to win her first senior world title.

While the matches against formidable opponents are something she is looking forward to, Susaki is more excited to return to an international tournament after a break and kick start her new Olympic cycle.

"I’m incredibly excited to be competing in a UWW international tournament for the first time in a year and eight months," she said. "I want to win this tournament to get off to a strong start, so that I can compete in the Los Angeles Olympics and reclaim the gold medal. I also want wrestling fans to see how much stronger Yui Susaki has become.

"I think you’ll get to see a whole new Yui Susaki!"