"VAN" (Sports Desk - 06.10.2025) :: Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) earned her second world gold and fifth medal overall with a dominant run to the 65kg title.
Morikawa cruised to an 8-0 victory over Alina KASABIEVA (UWW) to regain the title she won in 2022, capping a year in which she also won the Ranking Series Tirana event and a second career gold at the Asian Championships.
Morikawa scored all of her points by shooting for a single, then fighting off a whizzer by Kasabieva to gain control for a pair of takedowns in each period.
“It’s my first time to face her, but comparatively she was easier to wrestle than my semifinal opponent,” Morikawa said, referring to her semifinal victory over former world champion Irina RINGACI (MDA), albeit a 10-0 decision.
“I couldn’t get in on my tackles, and that part is something that I have to change. I’ll be going to a heavier weight class and I want to be able to knock off the top wrestlers.”
For Morikawa, competing at 65kg now is part of a process aimed at being competitive in the race to make the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, almost surely at 68kg, after missing out on Paris.
“It was great that I won the championship, but the next step will be starting soon. I can be happy today, but from tomorrow I’ll have to start working hard in practice.”
In between her two world titles, Morikawa took a world bronze at 72kg in 2023, then returned to 65kg in 2024, only to have to settle for a bronze again.
“It was a long time [between titles], and there was the time that I missed out on the Olympics, but I will use this victory as inspiration for what is coming next. It will be the start of a much more difficult fight than up to now, so I have to renew my determination.”
While two world golds is no small accomplishment, Morikawa joked that it still leaves her well behind her coach, who was in her corner on Wednesday and accompanied her on the victory lap on the mat.
“I still only have two titles, so I’m about 10 behind the coach who was in my corner,” Morikawa said of Kaori ICHO (JPN), the four-time Olympic and 10-time world champion.
Cr - United World Wrestling
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