Asian champion Tomohiro Matsunaga upset Russia's world champion Besik Kudukhov in the freestyle 55kg semi-finals to move closer to winning Japan's first Olympic men's wrestling gold medal in two decades.
Matsunaga, only 26th at last year's world championships, led the first period 3-0 and pinned the Russian for a fall in the second on the first day of the three-day six-division men's freestyle competition.
The Japanese was to battle for the gold with unfancied American Henry Cejudo who stunned 2006 world champion Radosiav Velikov of Bulgaria in overtime in the last 16 round on his way to the final.
‘I don't have too many considerations to win the match,’ 28-year-old Matsunaga said. ‘I just tried my best to compete at the highest level and I concentrated on my defence.’
Japan last won a men's Olympic wrestling gold through Mitsuru Sato in the freestyle 55kg at the 1988 Seoul Games.
In contrast, Japanese women wrestlers have collected two golds, one silver and one bronze in Beijing as they did in Athens when their sport made its Olympic debut.
Russian pride was saved by Olympic and world champion Maviet Batirov Tuesday as he reached the 60kg final.
Batirov, who won the world title after grabbing the 55kg gold medal at the Athens Olympics, needed three periods to overcome Athens 60kg winner Yandro Quintana of Cuba.
He went on to whip Iran's 2006 world champion Seyedmorad Mohammadi 2-0 in the semi-finals.
Batirov was to fight Ukraine's European champion Vasyl Fedoryshyn for the title.
Russia won five of the six world titles last year.
In the Greco-Roman competition earlier at the Games, Russia took three golds and one silver, compared with their two-gold haul in Athens.
Batirov beat Quintana in the 2006 world quarter-finals after stepping up to the 60kg.
‘He (Quintana) was stronger in 2006. He's not as good this year,’ the Russian said.
Cejudo, the 22-year-old three-time Pan American champion, outlasted Azerbaijian's Namig Sevdimov 4-3 with an outside single-leg attack in the tie-breaking third period.
‘The foreigners aren't used to US style and wrestling every second of the match. They get tired and I put my American will forward,’ said Cejudo, who was 31st at the worlds last year.
