Great Lakes Wire

TIRANA, Albania - Yu Sakamoto, a sophomore from Northern Michigan women's wrestling team, secured the gold medal in the 53kg weight class at the 2024 U23 World Championship held in Albania on October 25th.

Sakamoto faced Serena Di Benedetto of Canada in the final match. She started aggressively, scoring four points within 23 seconds with a hip-toss. By stepping over a takedown attempt, she added two more points to lead 6-0 after the first round.

In the second round, Sakamoto maintained her intensity. She scored two points on a takedown and concluded the match with additional points for back exposure, winning by technical fall at 11-0.

Throughout the match's duration of 3:28 minutes, Sakamoto remained in control and aggressive. After an unsuccessful challenge from her opponent, she celebrated her victory by taking a lap around the mat with Japan's flag.

Sakamoto reached the finals after defeating Otgontuya Chinbold of Mongolia by decision in Thursday's semifinal. In earlier rounds, she won against Zeinep Baynova of Kazakhstan and Ellen Inger Kristina Oestman of Sweden with scores of 10-0 each. Overall, Sakamoto finished undefeated with a score tally of 35-4.

Assistant coach Dominic Damon praised Sakamoto: "Yu is the kind athlete that every coach dreams of working with and we are so fortunate that she's part of our team." He added that her greatest strength lies in "the joy that she finds in wrestling."

For those interested in watching Sakamoto's performance again, it is available through Flowrestling.