By Ken Marantz
OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, September 29, 2026: After carrying the Japan flag and being one of the final runners in the torch relay during the opening ceremony, Akari Fujinami now gets down to her main business in Nagoya -- winning a gold medal at her “home” Asian Games.
Fujinami will take her 153-match winning streak dating back to 2017 -- which includes a Paris Olympics gold medal and two world titles -- when she takes the mat in the women’s 57kg competition of wrestling, which gets underway Wednesday at the Inae Sports Center.
For Fujinami, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games hold particularly special meaning, as she grew up in neighboring Mie Prefecture a short train ride from Nagoya.
“It’s a big deal,” the 22-year-old Fujinami said in an interview with the UWW website. “To be able to win a major international title in front of Japanese people, it may be my first and last chance in my career. I want them to see me do it live, and I want to see how happy it makes them.”
The tournament will mark Fujinami’s first major senior outing in the 57kg weight class since making a highly publicized move up from 53kg following her triumph in Paris.
Looking to add to the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games gold she won at 53kg, Fujinami can expect to be tested by two established stars at 57kg, China’s Hong Kexin and DPR Korea’s Son Il Sim.
Hong won the gold at the Asian Championships in April and was a bronze medalist at both the 2025 World Championships and the Paris Olympics. Son had to settle for the silver medal at the worlds after suffering a heartbreaking, last-second loss in the final to American Helen Maroulis.
In the random draw conducted Tuesday, Fujinami and Son were placed in the same bracket, meaning a potential clash in the semifinals.
With no seeding, the “luck” of the draw produced at least one high-profile first-round match that could be regarded as more befitting of a final.
In the men’s Greco-Roman 77kg class, world champion Akzhol Makhmudov of Kyrgyzstan and Japan’s Olympic gold medalist Nao Kusaka were drawn to face each other, a rematch of the 2024 Asian Championships final won by Kusaka.
And, as if that weren’t enough, the winner will then face Kazakhstan veteran Demeu Zhadrayev, the runner-up to Kusaka in Paris and a four-time Asian medalist.
A galaxy of other stars is set to appear in the four-day tournament filled with world and Olympic champions and medalists.
Among the women, Yui Susaki of Japan will aim to add a first Asian Games gold at 50kg to her two Olympic medals, including a gold at Tokyo 2021, and four world titles. She is also the reigning Asian champion.
Olympic champion Yuka Kagami will be competing internationally for the first time since her victory in Paris at 76kg, and could encounter world silver medalist Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan in the semifinals.
Another Japanese Olympic champion, Kotaro Kiyooka, is entered at men’s freestyle 65kg, while his younger sister, Moe, has filled the hole at women’s 53kg left by Fujinami. She is a former world champion at 55kg.
Powerhouse Iran has dispatched a generally young team, but will still be represented by the world’s two premier heavyweights, Amir Zare at freestyle 125kg and Amin Mirzazadeh at Greco-Roman 130kg. Both are the reigning world champions.
One weight class drawing attention is freestyle 74kg, where Olympic champion Razambek Jamalov of Uzbekistan will be challenged by Asian champion Yoshinosuke Aoyagi, the world champion at 70kg. Mongolia’s Tulga Tumur-Ochir has also moved up from 70kg, the weight in which he was second at the Asian Championships and the runnerup to Aoyagi at the worlds.
Other reigning world champions set to compete are Japan's Ami Ishii at women's 68kg and DPR
Korea's Han Chong Song at freestyle 57kg.
Here is the schedule for the four days:
Wednesday, September 30: Greco 67kg, 87kg, 130kg; Women 68kg
Thursday, October 1: Greco 60kg, 77kg, 97kg; Women 62kg
Friday, October 2: Freestyle 65kg, 86kg, 125kg; Women 50kg, 76kg
Saturday, October 3: Freestyle 57kg, 74kg, 97kg; Women 53kg, 57kg