By Ken Marantz
Nagoya, Japan, October 2, 2026: Having already captured Olympic golds, Japan’s Yui Susaki and Yuka Kagami both added another title that comes around only once every four years, and on their first tries.
Susaki and Kagami kept the Japanese women’s juggernaut going full steam ahead in the Asian Games wrestling with victories in their respective weight classes on Friday at Inae Sports Center.
Susaki, the Tokyo Olympic champion who had to settle for a bronze in Paris, marked her Asian Games debut with a dominant performance at 50kg, capped by a 10-0 victory in the final over DPR Korea’s Kim Song Hyang.
Kagami, competing internationally for the first time since her triumph in Paris, shrugged off a recent knee injury to forge a 5-1 win over Kazakhstan’s Elmira Syzdyhkova in the 76kg final.
The victories give host Japan four golds out of four through three days of the women’s competition.
For Susaki, the win over Kim was a repeat of her 6-0 victory in the final at the Asian Championships in Bishkek in April, and further establishes her as the preeminent force in the lightest weight class.
“It’s the first Asian Games of my career and with the plus of being in my home country, I definitely wanted to be here,” Susaki said. “It has a special feeling. To be able to win the title in front of my supporters and to be able to be elated together makes me so happy.”
None of Susaki’s four matches in the one-day competition went the distance, nor did she surrender a point. She won her semifinal match by fall in 32 seconds.
Susaki was never in danger in the final against Kim, opening with a stepout before methodically chalking up three straight takedowns to take a 7-0 lead into the break.
In the second period, two straight stepouts and a fleeing point added on to the second one ended the match at 4:54.
Susaki said she was not concerned that Kim might have devised a strategy based on their previous match.
“More than who I am facing, I am focused on being the best Yui Susaki I can be,” she said. “I was able to win doing the wrestling that I want to be able to do.”
Later this month, Susaki plans to shoot for a fifth world title and first since 2023 in Astana, all part of her preparations for a run at making the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The bronze medals at 50kg went to Paris Olympics bronze medalist Feng Ziqi of China and Kazakhstan’s Zeinep Bayanova.
At 76kg, Kagami had her hands full scraping out a 5-1 over Kazakhstan’s Elmira Syzdykova, then revealed after the match that she had suffered a torn right ACL in practice one month ago.
“In the range of what I was able to do, I did the best wrestling I could today,” Kagami said.
With her knee heavily taped and her movement limited, Kagami conceded an activity clock point in the first period. But she went ahead 3-1 in the second by scoring a stepout just as the clock ran out on Syzdykova, who was penalized a point for fleeing point.
In the final minute, Syzdykova twice locked up Kagami’s arm in an attempt to set up a big throw. But Kagami resisted, and the second time stopped the action enough to score a takedown to seal the victory.
To get to the final, Kagami needed a come-from-behind 5-3 victory over long-time rival and defending Asian Games champion Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan.
After spotting Medet Kyzy a 3-0 lead, Kagami started the second period with a stepout, then went ahead with an eye-opening 4-point takedown in which she lifted up her opponent high into the air and dumped her to the mat.
Medet Kyzy, the world silver medalist and a four-time Asian champion, came away with her third career Asian Games medal when she swept to a 10-0 victory over Uzbekistan’s Sevinchoy Polvonova in a bronze-medal match.
Medet Kyzy also won a bronze in 2018 in Jakarta.
The other 76kg bronze went to China’s Li Wenji, a 5-1 winner over Mongolia’s Davaanasan Enkh-Amar.
Japan will look to complete a sweep when the women’s competition wraps up Saturday with the final two weight classes. Competing for the host country will be Olympic champion Akari Fujinami at 57kg and 2024 world 55kg champion Moe Kiyooka at 53kg.
