TOKYO (February 24) - Saori Yoshida won the showdown between world champions to win the 55-kg title at the Japan Queens Cup competition Tuesday and secured her berth in this year's Athens Olympic Games.
Yoshida defeated arch-rival Seiko Yamamoto 6-1 at Komazawa Gymnasium in Tokyo to join Kyoko Hamaguchi (72 kg) and Kaori Icho (63) on the Japanese roster for the debut of women's wrestling in the Olympics. Chiharu Icho, the world champion at 51 kg, however, lost in the finals at 48 kg to Makiko Sakamoto 3-0 and missed a chance to finalize her trip to Athens in August.
Icho and Sakamoto will square off in a special wrestle-off April 13 to decide Japan's 48-kg representative in Athens.
Hamaguchi won her sixth straight and eighth overall Japan Queens Cup crown and was named the outstanding wrestler of the competition.
