Yukako Kawai

Yukako Kawai

Yukako Kawai at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1997-08-27) 27 August 1997 (age 27) Tsubata, Ishikawa Prefecture^[citation needed]
Height	162 cm (5.31 ft; 64 in)
Sport
Country	Japan
Sport	Amateur wrestling
Weight class	62 kg
Event	Freestyle
Medal record Women's freestyle wrestling Representing  Japan Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo 62 kg World Championships 2018 Budapest 62 kg 2019 Nur-Sultan 62 kg Asian Championships 2020 New Delhi 62 kg 2019 Xi'an 62 kg World U23 Championships 2018 Bucharest 62 kg

Yukako Kawai (川井 友香子, Kawai Yukako, born 27 August 1997) is a Japanese freestyle wrestler. She won the gold medal in the women's 62 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.[1]

In 2018, she won the silver medal in the women's 62 kg event at the World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.[2][3] A year later, she won one of the bronze medals in this event.[4][5][6]

Career

In 2017, she competed in the women's 63 kg event at the World Wrestling Championships in Paris, France without winning a medal.[7] She won her first match against Elmira Gambarova of Azerbaijan but she was eliminated from the competition in her next match against Jackeline Rentería of Colombia. Rentería went on to win one of the bronze medals.

She won the gold medal in the women's 62 kg event at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships held in New Delhi, India.[8][9] In the final, she defeated Ayaulym Kassymova of Kazakhstan.[8][9]

In 2021, Kawai won the gold medal in the 62 kg wrestling division at the Tokyo Olympics. Her elder sister Risako won gold in the 57 kg division the following day.[10]

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Location	Result	Event
2018	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	2nd	Freestyle 62 kg
2019	Asian Championships	Xi'an, China	2nd	Freestyle 62 kg
	World Championships	Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan	3rd	Freestyle 62 kg
2020	Asian Championships	New Delhi, India	1st	Freestyle 62 kg
2021	Summer Olympics	Tokyo, Japan	1st	Freestyle 62 kg

References

1. Pavitt, Michael (4 August 2021). "Kawai succeeds sister as Olympic champion with women's 62kg wrestling triumph". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
2. "2018 World Wrestling Championships Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
3. Diamond, James (25 October 2018). "Japan win two golds and a silver on final day of women's action as Hungary claim first medal at World Wrestling Championships". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
4. Rowbottom, Mike (20 September 2019). "Tynybekova earns first-ever world wrestling gold for Kyrgyzstan". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
5. "2019 World Wrestling Championships Results" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
6. "Yukako Kawai earns family's second medal at 2019 world championships". The Japan Times. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
7. "2017 World Wrestling Championships" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
8. Pavitt, Michael (21 February 2020). "Kazakhstan and Japan share final women's titles at Asian Wrestling Championships". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
9. "2020 Asian Wrestling Championships" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
10. Landers, Serena (August 5, 2021), "Wrestling: Risako Kawai Follows Sister Yukako in Winning Gold", Japan Forward

External links

• Yukako Kawai at United World Wrestling
• Yukako Kawai at the International Wrestling Database
• Yukako Kawai at Olympics.com
• Yukako Kawai at Olympedia