At the Paris Olympics, Japan’s Higuchi Rei has won the men’s 57-kilogram freestyle wrestling final, while Sakurai Tsugumi has earned a gold medal at the same weight in the women’s event.
Higuchi, silver medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, faced Spencer Richard Lee of the United States in the final on Friday.
He allowed a two-point lead in the first half, before scoring two points in the latter half to catch up. He added two more points just before the end of the match to clinch the come-from-behind 4-2 victory.
It is the first time for a Japanese man to win the Olympic gold in the lightest weight category in the sport since the 1988 Seoul Games.
In the women’s section, Sakurai defeated Anastasia Nichita of Moldova by a 6-0 points victory in Friday’s final to secure the podium’s top spot.
First-time Olympian Sakurai has won three consecutive world championships. She beat the same opponent in the final of last year’s world championships.