Akari Fujinami's 155-match streak ends in Nagoya; she vows to win gold at Los Angeles 2028
Akari Fujinami suffered the first defeat of her career at the Asian Games in Nagoya on October 5, 2026, ending a 155-match winning streak, and has vowed to win Olympic gold at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The 22-year-old Japanese wrestler moved up from 53kg to compete in the 57kg division at the Nagoya Asian Games after a run of dominance in the lower weight class. She is a Paris 2024 Olympic champion at 53kg, a two-time World Champion in 2021 and 2023, and won gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, all in the 53kg category. Her loss in Nagoya was her first international and overall defeat since 2017 and brought to an end an unbeaten spell that had lasted nine years.
Fujinami was beaten in the women’s 57kg semi-final when DPR Korea’s world silver medallist Son Il Sim secured a pin. Son raced into a 10-0 lead before finishing the bout by fall, ending Fujinami’s extraordinary winning streak in the semi-final.
After the semi-final setback, Fujinami returned to the mat and won the bronze medal in Nagoya, preventing the tournament from finishing without a podium result. She described the emotional toll of the evening: “It was an indescribable emotion that I had never experienced before. I will never forget that feeling, and I don’t want to. I was extremely terrified to step onto the mat again after the semifinal.”
Fujinami said support from her family and fans helped her through the challenge and that she read messages of encouragement en route to the bronze. “But my father and so many people were by my side, giving me words of encouragement and sending messages. I read all of them.”
Reflecting on the defeat and her future goal, Fujinami acknowledged her frustration and set a clear target for the next Olympic cycle. “I feel deeply frustrated. Even though I lost, people supported me, which made me feel both frustrated and determined,” she said. “I have made up my mind that at the Los Angeles 2028 (Olympic Games), together with everyone who supported me, I will definitely win a gold medal.”
