ASTANA - Japan's Moe Kiyooka prevailed in the women's 53-kilogram category at the wrestling world championships on Thursday, her second gold at the tournament after winning the non-Olympic 55 kg in 2024.
The 23-year-old, the younger sister of Paris Olympics men's freestyle 65-kg gold medalist Kotaro, dominated Ecuador's Lucia Yamileth Yepez Guzman with sharp tackles in her 6-0 final win in Astana.
"To realize my dream of competing at the Olympics, I needed to become a world champion in an Olympic weight class," Kiyooka said. "I'm really relieved to have achieved it as planned."
"Mentally, I was able to really look forward to competing (ahead of the final)."
After cruising to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games title in early October, Kiyooka again lived up to her billing as the next big Japanese talent to emerge in the division after Paris gold medalist Akari Fujinami moved up to 57 kg.
Kiyooka blanked China's Jin Zhang 6-0 in Wednesday's semifinals to avenge her loss at the Asian championships in April and then beat Paris silver medalist Yepez Guzman by the same score in the final.
"I was on a roll," said Kiyooka, who had nerves ahead of Wednesday's opening round but grew in confidence as she won all four bouts by wide point margins. "It was great I was able to show my style of wrestling."
Nonoka Ozaki lost her lead late in her final and had to settle for silver in the 62 kg, while Mahiro Yoshitake won bronze in the 72 kg for Japan.
