Japanese Women's Wrestling team perfectly qualified for 2008 Games

Through exemplary performances in the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Asian Championships, the Japanese Women’s Wrestling team has qualified for all classes of the wrestling event in the Beijing Olympics and will face China head to head, reports sports.cn..

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games has four classes in women’s wrestling: 48-kilogram, 55-kilogram, 63-kilogram and 72-kilogram. Each country or region may only send one wrestler to compete in each class. In the 2007 World Championships, the Japanese team won 3 gold medals in the 48-kilo, 55-kilo and 63-kilo classes. In the 2008 Asian Championships, the former Athens Olympics bronze medalist Hamaguchi Kyoko won gold in the 72-kilo class, completing the perfect qualification for Japan.

When women’s wrestling was first introduced as an official Olympic sport in the 2004 Athens Games, the Japanese team took two golds. Two gold medals in the 2005 World Championships and another two in the 2006 World Championships render the Japanese the dominant force in this discipline.

However, the winning of Wang Xu of China over Hamaguchi Kyoko in the 72-kilo final in Athens marked the rise of the Chinese team, which won 5 gold medals in the four following years.

These two teams will have a showdown this summer as they both have achieved perfect qualification.