Japan’s five-time world champion Kaori Icho retained her Olympic women’s wrestling 63kg title, while up-and-coming Wang Jiao kept the 72kg title for China at the Beijing Games yesterday.
The 24-year-old Icho, whose older sister Chiharu grabbed her second straight 48kg silver medal on Saturday, beat European champion Alena Kartashova of Russia in the final by taking the two periods 1-0 each.
The 63kg bronze medals went to Kazakhstan’s Yelena Shalygina and Randi Miller of the US.
PHOTO: AP
Wang, 20, the world junior champion, pinned reigning world senior champion Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria for a fall in the 72kg final.
The heavyweight title was won by compatriot Wang Xu at the Athens Games four years ago when women’s wrestling made its Olympic debut.
The bronze medals went to Japan’s Kyoko Hamaguchi and Agnieszka Wieszczek of Poland.
Japan dominated the four categories with two golds, one silver and one bronze.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
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Chess great Magnus Carlsen on Friday quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York after governing body FIDE barred the Norwegian from participating in a round at the tournament for wearing jeans. FIDE said in a statement that its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.” It issued Carlsen a US$200 fine and gave him an opportunity to change into the correct attire, which the world No. 1 rejected, it said. Carlsen said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly. “I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like
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