Yoshida and Icho have been at the pinnacle of women's wrestling for over a decade recording countless world and Olympic titles.

Even with the change in weight categories as part of United World Wrestling's push for gender equality, which will see Olympic classes for women extend from just 48, 55, 63 and 72 kilogram at London 2012 to 48, 53, 58, 63, 69 and 75kg for Rio 2016, the Japanese powerhouses still proved a head above the rest of the field.

Yoshida secured her 12th world title, the first dating back to 2002, with a comfortable 6-0 victory over Sweden's Sofia Mattsson.

The three-time Olympic champion broke the 30 second stop clock with a single-leg takedown in the second period to drop the Swede to her back.

Yoshida's previous 11 world titles and three Olympic titles had come at 55kg with this latest gold coming in her more natural 53kg category following the change by wrestling's world governing body.

Canada's Jillian Gallays scored a pair of spin-behind counters for a 6-2 win over Russia's junior world champion Natalya Malysheva to secure the first of the bronze medals in this contest, while Asia junior champion Jong Myong-Suk of North Korea scored a four-point double-leg takedown on her way to an 11-5 win over Moldova's European bronze medalist Natalia Budu in the second.

Saori Yoshida secured her 12th world title with a convincing win over Sofia Mattsson
©United World Wrestling



Icho also moved down a weight category in the new rule changes to compete at 58kg, as opposed to the 63kg she previously competed in.

The change made little difference to the eight-time world champion and three-time Olympic gold medallist as she added world crown number nine with a 10-0 technical fal.

The 30-year-old spun behind from a front headlock three times against a defence-minded Valeria Koblova of Russia and picked up a couple of leg attacks to record the fall on the 5min 49sec mark and add Japan's fourth gold medal of the Championships.

The first bronze here was picked up by Belarus' former European champion Anastassia Huchok after a 4-4 win on criteria over America's Allison Ragan, while the second was secured by Turkey's Elif Yesilirmak with an 8-2 defeat of Lithuania's Lissette Antes.

The third and final contest of the day saw 2013 world bronze medallist Adeline Gray of the United States record a single-leg takedown in the first period en route to a 2-1 victory over Brazil's Aline Ferreira in the 75kg category.

It was Gray's second world title after winning the 67kg crown at the 2012 event in Strathcona County, Canada, while Ferreira's silver was a first for Brazil in any of the three Olympic disciplines.

Mongolia's Ochirbat Burmaa retained her bronze medal from last year's World Championships with a 3-0 win over Colombia's Andrea Olaya in the first of the two contests, with China's Zhou Qian taking the second with an emphatic 7-1 over Epp Mae of Estonia.

Competition continues in Tashkent tomorrow with the final female event, 63kg, and the first two categories in Greco-Roman, 75kg and 85kg.

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