All Japan Wrestling Championship Women's 53kg class 19-year-old Fujinami wins third consecutive title

19-year-old Akari Fujinami won the women's 53-kg class for the third time in a row at the All Japan Championship, which determines Japan's number one wrestling champion, taking a step forward toward the Paris Olympics.

The final day of the All Japan Championships, which is involved in the selection of the representatives for the Paris Olympics, was held at the Komazawa Gymnasium in Tokyo.

Of these, the final of the women's 53 kg class was played by 19-year-old Akari Fujinami, the gold medalist of last year's world championship, and Haruna Okuno, who won the world championship under the age of 23 this year.

After 40 seconds into the match, Fujinami cleverly moved around behind the opponents and scored two points.

Fujinami missed this year's World Championships due to an injury to his left foot, and it was the first time in about four months that he had a real match. I improved to 106 and took a step forward towards participating in the Paris Olympics.

In addition, Mayu Shido, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in this class, lost to Okuno in the semi-finals on the 24th and faced the 3rd place match on the 25th, 6 to 0 against the player who became the student champion this year. I won the fall and was in 3rd place.

In the women's 62-kilogram class final, 20-year-old Sakura Motoki, who won a bronze medal in the non-Olympic class 59-kg class at this year's World Championships, and 19-year-old World Championship gold medalist Nonoka Ozaki in this class. Players competed.

After chasing two goals, Motoki scored one goal with about a minute remaining, and with less than 30 seconds left, he skillfully took the opponent's back and turned the game around.

Motoki added one more point to win 4-2 and take her first win.

Yukako Kawai, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in this division, lost to Motoki in the semi-finals, and on the 25th she appeared at the venue to face the third-place match, but she suffered a back injury. so she abstained.

Kawai, who responded to the interview, explained the situation, "I hurt my back when I stepped in because I felt pressure from my opponent. It's not a good condition."

Kawai also withdrew from the tournament in October due to a lower back injury, and said, "Recently, I was able to adjust without pain, so I wasn't worried about my lower back. This injury is not the first time. So I want to get along well," he said.