Japan continued its dominance Saturday with a blowout victory over Russia, booking a spot in the final in its bid for back-to-back World Cup titles in women's wrestling. Japan crushed the Russian team 23-2 to improve to a perfect 2-0 record in the preliminary round at the two-day, six-nation tournament in France and will take on Ukraine in the final later the same day.
All four Athens Olympic medal winners, including 55-kg wrestler Saori Yoshida, defeated their Russian opponents as Japan won all seven weight categories. Yoshida stretched her winning streak to 81 international matches. Kaori Icho, the 63-kg Olympic gold medalist, posted a victory by fall while elder sister Chiharu and Kyoko Hamaguchi prevailed over their opponents at 51 kg and 72 kg, respectively.