Wrestling: Shiga, Takahashi earn medals on 1st day of Asian C'ships

XIAN, China - Japanese wrestlers Kojiro Shiga and Yuki Takahashi won silver and bronze, respectively, on Tuesday to kick off this year's Asian Championships in China.

Shiga, the 70-kilogram national champion, won three bouts by technical fall en route to the men's 70-kg final but finished runner-up to Kazakhstan's Nurkozha Kaipanov.

"I'm relieved to win a medal but I'm really disappointed I lost in the final," Shiga said. "I was able to tackle but I was still lacking movement from there. I just didn't have enough power."

In the men's 57-kg division, 2017 world champion Takahashi lost to North Korea's Kang Kum Son in the semifinals but beat India's Ravi Kumar in their bronze medal bout.

"The semifinals were really frustrating," Takahashi said. "I lost because my opponent was good. I still haven't reached my full potential. That is absolutely the reason I lost. I want to train hard."

Thirty men's and women's weight classes are being contested at the April 23 to 28 tournament in Xian. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Kaori Icho will make her first international appearance since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in the women's 57-kg on Friday.

Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190424/p2g/00m/0sp/021000c