TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's five-time world wrestling champion Saori Yoshida's winning streak has been brought to an end after 119 matches, ahead of her Olympic title defence in Beijing, press reports said Sunday.
She lost to American Marcie Van Dusen 2-0 in the 55-kilogramme category at the women's freestyle wrestling World Cup team competition in Taiyuan, China, on Saturday, Jiji and Kyodo news agencies reported.
It was 25-year-old Yoshida's first defeat since losing to two-time world champion Seiko Yamamoto at the 2001 national championships.
It was also her first loss in an international meet and marked the end of a 114-match winning streak against foreign competitors.
"It went wrong because I thought I could surely win and took it easy," Yoshida said. "The biggest shock is that I was beaten for the first time in an international meet."
"I realised that I needed to train much more ahead of Beijing. I definitely want to triumph at the Beijing Olympics," she added.
Yoshida, a quick tackler at 156 centimetres (5 feet 2 inches), won a record fifth straight world title in September at Baku, Azerbaijan, when the Japanese women won four out of seven golds.
Japan are the dominant force in women's wrestling, having won 54 titles in the past 19 world championships.
Yoshida and Kaori Icho in the 63kg category won two out of four gold medals on offer in Athens in 2004, when the sport made its Olympic debut.
Icho, 23, also set a record in Baku by winning a fifth straight world title, while her elder sister Chiharu, 25, won the 48kg division.
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