By Ken Marantz
OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, October 3, 2026: In the end, the giant-killer got slayed herself.
China’s Hong Kexin won the 57kg gold in women’s wrestling on Saturday with a victory over DPR Korea’s Son Il Sam, who had pulled off a stunning upset by knocking off Japanese superstar Akari Fujinami in the semifinals.
World and Olympic bronze medalist Hong put on a late spurt to defeat Son 7-2 in the final match of the wrestling competition at Inae Sports Center, adding the Asian Games gold medal to the one she won at the Asian Championships in April.
“I was confident, and I am very satisfied to win the gold,” Hong said.
Meanwhile, Japan took home its fifth gold out of the six available in women’s wrestling when Moe Kiyooka captured the other title at stake at 53kg.
Earlier in the semifinals, Son had pulled off the biggest surprise of the tournament—one of the biggest in all of wrestling this year—when she dominated Olympic and two-time world champion Akari Fujinami of Japan and ended her 155-match winning streak.
Son built up a 10-0 lead before finishing off Fujinami by fall, dealing the Japanese star her first loss in nine years dating back to her junior high school days.
But it all came for naught in the final, when Hong fell behind 2-1 early in the second period, but rallied with a takedown and two ankle rolls to pull out the victory.
“I just remembered what my coach told me to forget about the lost points and try to gather all of my strength for the rest of the match,” Hong said.
Hong said she regretted not being able to face Fujinami and hopes their paths cross sometime in the future. She also warned about counting Fujinami out too soon.
“I didn’t think it was such a great surprise,” Hong said of Fujinami’s loss, given that she had made the difficult move up from 53kg to 57kg. “I would like to meet her once. She is a really strong opponent, so one defeat cannot downplay her real strength. She is still worth attention.”
Fujinami bounced back from the devastating defeat to take one of the bronze medals with a 10-0 victory over Vietnam’s Thi My Trang Nguyen, but still looked heartbroken on the medal podium. Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova took the other bronze.
In the 53kg final, Kiyooka finished off an impressive run with a 9-1 victory over India’s Antim.
Kiyooka was limited to a stepout and activity point by a defensive Antim to take a 2-0 lead into the break.
After conceding an activity point to start the second period, Kiyooka emerged from a wild scramble with a double-leg takedown.
An unsuccessful challenge put Kiyooka up 5-1, and then she clinched it with a 4-point takedown—just as she did in two previous matches.
“I was wrestling in a calm manner,” said Kiyooka, the world and Asian gold medalist at 55kg in 2024. “I am confident of my stamina and I thought I would score in the second half and didn’t get overanxious.”
Kiyooka had stormed into the final with three straight technical falls by scores of 12-0, 10-0 and 12-0.
The last of those victories came in the semifinals over Mongolia’s Otgontuya Bayanmunkh, who did Kiyooka a big favor by scoring a surprising victory by fall over world and Olympic bronze medalist Choe Hyo Gyong of DPR Korea—who beat Kiyooka in the 2025 Asian final.
Her victory Saturday was a near repeat of Kiyooka’s 10-0 win over Antim in the semifinals of the 2025 Asian Championships, where she ended up with the silver medal.
Winning the gold also put her one up on her older brother Kotaro, a Paris Olympic champion who had to settle for a bronze medal at freestyle 65kg.
Kiyooka had been at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou as a training partner for then Ikuei University teammate Tsugumi Sakurai, who won the 57kg gold as Hong took bronze.
“I was in China for the last one and I saw how high the level was,” Kiyooka said. “I am happy to be able to come here this time and to win the title.”
The 57kg bronzes went to China’s Zhang Jin and Bayanmunkh.
