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Japan and USA claim gold - London 2012 - Wrestling

12/08/2012

Japan won their first male Wrestling gold in 24 years after Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu defeated India's Sushil Kumar, while the USA took home their second of London 2012.

Kumar, a railway worker from Delhi, was looking to become India's first-ever Olympic champion wrestler.

But Yonemitsu overcame him in the final of the 66kg Freestyle Wrestling 1-0 3-1 to record a historic win for Japan at the ExCeL.

Yonemitsu edged a tight first period before sealing victory in the second after picking up Kumar and slamming him on the mat.

Mitsuru Sato and Takashi Kobayashi were the last two Japanese men to win Wrestling gold at Seoul 1988. Their female wrestlers won three golds at London 2012.

Kazakhstan's Akzhurek Tanatarov and Cuban Livan Lopez Azcuy won bronze after coming through today's repechage.

In the heavier class, Jake Varner became the second USA wrestler to walk away from the ExCeL with Olympic gold.

Varner, who won bronze at last year's World Championships, beat Ukraine's Valerii Andriitsev in the 96kg Freestyle final 1-0 1-0 to claim the final gold of the sport at London 2012.

The USA wrestler got behind Andriitsev in the first period and did so again in the second to seal a narrow win.

Earlier this week, Jordan Burroughs won gold for the USA in the 74kg category.

Khetag Gazyumov of Azerbaijan claimed bronze when Reza Yazdani pulled out of one of the repechage finals after injuring his knee in the semi-finals.

Georgia's Georgi Gogshelidze won the other repechage final to also claim bronze.

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