Sisterhood of the squared circle

Inspired by Olympic medallist Saori Yoshida, Japan’s women wrestlers are on a world-beating mission

MAYBE, IT was lost in translation. Or perhaps, it is really that simple. Yui Sasaki repeats ‘hard work’ seven times in roughly three minutes as she looks for better words to explain the domination of Japanese women in world wrestling. “It’s just hard work,” she shrugs.

Sasaki is still a schoolgirl. But she is already beinglabeledasthenextsuperstarofwomen’s wrestling. And there’s a good reason for it. Sasaki hasn’t lost a single bout from the time she has stepped on the wrestling mat. She has wonthecadetworldchampionshipthreetimes (2014 to 2016), skipped juniors altogether and wasdirectlyincludedintheseniorteam.thisis herdebutyearandhasalreadywongoldinthe two tournaments she’s taken part in – Yarygin Grand Prix (one of the toughest tournaments, held in Russia) and the Klippan Open.

Sasaki is the youngest member of the Japanese women’s squad that’s here for the Asian Championship, which comprises of two Rio Games gold medallists— Risako Kawai and Saradosho.yet,thespotlightisonthis17-yearold wonder. She’s being talked up as a gold medal favourite in the 48kg category at the Tokyo Olympics. But even her perfect record pales when compared to her countrywoman. Sasaki struts around the warm-up hall with a picture of Saori Yoshida on her t-shirt with ‘dreamer’ written in big, block letters on it. “She is the reason I took up wrestling,” Sasaki says. Yoshida, you’d believe, is the reason why the whole of Japan has taken to wrestling. Japan is the most dominant nation in women’s wrestling.

Since the time women’s wrestling was introduced at the Olympics in 2004, Japan has won 15 medals, including 11 out of the 18 gold medalsonoffer.attheworldchampionships, they’re even more dominant – winning a totalof140medalsincluding76golds.china,the next best, has 62 medals and 25 gold.

As per the informally available wrestling stats,yoshidahasacareerrecordof255-11over two decades, including domestic matches. As perolympicstats,she’slosttwiceonlyinternationally,oncein2008tosnapa119-matchwinning streak, and once in 2012. She has won 13 straight world championships dating to her first title in 2002 and has three Olympic gold medals. Her Rio Olympics ended in tears because she could manage ‘only a silver.’

“Saori is very big in Japan. She’s on television doing commercials, on hoardings, she is everywhere,” says Kenneth Marantz of the Japan News. “Every time Japan wins a gold medal,thepublicityjustskyrocketswayoutof proportion. A guy recently won a silver medal in fencing and suddenly fencing is big. Figure skating is losing relevance around the world. In Japan, it’s shooting up.”

It’s amazing how one woman’s success gave birth to an entire generation of worldclass wrestlers. Like Sasaki, Kawai too says she tookupwrestlingbecauseofyoshida.theyare all products of a system that developed in the 1980s when the international wrestling federationwaspulledupbytheiocforlackofgender equality. While most traditional wrestling countries were reluctant to change, Japan was quick to adapt. Sasaki, like Yoshida and Icho, beganwrestlingbeforeshewasfive.“it’safamilysport.myfatherusedtobeawrestler,which is why I am one. It’s the same with others, including Saori, too,” Sasaki says.

Eventually, like most other wrestlers in the Japanese system, she trains at the famous Chukyo University near Nagoya, which is now called the Shigakkan University. Former world bronze medallist Kazuhito Sakae, a former world bronze medallist, recognized that women have lower center of gravity compared to men but had more flexibility in the upper body.

So he redesigned some of the freestyle techniques, and made it more about ‘position angles of attack than physical power, more movement and less contact,’ notes William May, who has written on wrestling for almost 30 years. Japanese training sessions itself can be intimidating for other wrestlers. Remember the Rio celebration where a wrestler pinned down her coach after winning the gold? That wrestler, Kawai, did the same on Tuesday during training, only this time it wasn’t fun for her coach, who was slammed three times in less than 10 minutes.

Apartfromtheconventionaltrainingmethods, there’s also a lot of cross-training. The wrestlers and judokas – another sport where Japanisverystrong–traintogetherattheirnational centre while the women also climb the snow-cladmountainsintheniigataprefecture whichmakesthemdeceptivelystrongandimprovesendurance. “Forus,it’stoughtogetinto the Japan team than to win international medals,”sasakisays.“onceyouarein,it’seasy.”

Kohei Nakajima, the physio, says the Asian Championship squad is among the best talents Japan has had in each category. And with Tokyo Games looming, he expects them to win all gold medals between now and then. “These are all young and best in Japan right now. Like USA dominates basketball, these girls will conquer wrestling,” he says. “This is our Dream Team.”

The Japanese contingent.