Let's examine the five most likely champions in women's wrestling at this year's World Championships in Nur-Sultan.
Risako Kawai after winning a gold medal at the 2018 World Championships (Photo/Gabor Martin, United World Wrestling)1. Risako Kawai (Japan, 57 kilograms)
Kawai was one of four gold medalists for the Japanese women's wrestling team at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Since then, Kawaii has added a pair of world titles. Last year, Kawai's world title came at 59 kilograms where she completely dominated the competition. In the finals, Kawai won 8-0 over Elif Yeşilırmak of Turkey. She moved down a weight class to 57 kilograms and earned her spot by beating out four-time Olympian champion and 10-time world champion Kaori Icho. Kawai is the biggest lock to win gold in the women's wrestling field this year.
Mayu Mukaida wrestling at the 2018 World Championships (Photo/Gabor Martin, United World Wrestling)2. Mayu Mukaida (Japan, 53 kilograms)
Mukaida enters Nur-Sultan in search of her third world title. The 22-year-old Japanese star won her first world title in 2016. After getting upset in the finals of the 2017 World Championships in a match in which she went up 6-0, Mukaida bounced back in a big way in 2018, torching the field at 55 kilograms, outscoring her opposition 44-7. Her toughest match came in the quarterfinals, where she beat Sweden's Sofia Mattsson, 6-4. Mukaida took a surprising loss in the finals of the Asian Championships, where she gave up a takedown in the closing seconds to lose 4-3 to Pak Yongmi of North Korea. She looks to be in top form entering this year's World Championships after beating out two-time returning world champion Haruna Okuno for the spot on the Japanese team.
3. Sara Dosho (Japan, 72 kilograms)
Dosho won an Olympic gold medal in 2016 and added a world title in 2017. In 2018, Dosho was recovering from a shoulder injury and missed the World Championships. She returned this year and won her fourth Asian championship in April, beating 2018 world bronze medalist Zhou Feng of China. In addition to her Olympic and world titles, Dosho has three other world medals. She has not been defeated since the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas.
Adeline Gray after getting a fall at Beat the Streets in Los Angeles (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)4. Adeline Gray (USA, 76 kilograms)
Gray, a four-time world champion and the reigning world champion, enters the World Championships as the No. 2 seed behind 2017 world champion Yasemin Adar of Turkey, who won gold medals at the Dan Kolov and European Championships. Also in the weight class is 2016 Olympic champion Erica Wiebe of Canada, who will be seeded No. 4. The top four seeded wrestlers combine for six world and Olympic titles. Still, despite the talent in the weight class, Gray has to be considered a solid favorite. She beat Adar by technical superiority in last year's finals. In addition, Gray beat Wiebe 3-1 in the semifinals of last year's World Championships before getting a 10-0 technical superiority over the Canadian Olympic champ at the Pan American Championships this year.
5. Yuki Irie (Japan 50 kilograms)
Irie made the Japanese team at the lightest weight class by knocking off reigning two-time world champion Yui Susaki, 6-1, in their special wrestle-off in July. She is a past Junior world champion and earned a gold medal at the Asian Championships in April. Japan has dominated this weight class, winning six straight world or Olympic gold medals. Before Susaki burst on the scene and won two straight gold medals, Eri Tosaka had a stranglehold on the weight class worldwide, winning four straight world or Olympic titles.
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