New Delhi, April 5 (IANS) Paris Olympic women’s 57kg champion wrestler Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan has decided to retire at the tender age of 24 to begin a second career nurturing a new generation of wrestlers and serving as a goodwill ambassador of sports for her native Kochi Prefecture in western Japan.

Sakurai triumph in Paris came after winning three consecutive world titles, at 55kg in 2021 and back-to-back golds at 57kg in 2022 and 2023.

“Thank you for your continued support. I have decided to separate my career in wrestling for almost 21 years and retire. So far I have been able to break into wrestling in a blessed environment with the support of so many people.

And I was able to fulfil my dream of winning gold in the Olympics. Thanks to all of you for your support. Thank you,” Sakurai posted on Instagram.

“Thank you very much for your continued guidance and support, even when the results were hard to produce. I’ve had a lot of experiences through wrestling. Looking back, there have been a lot of pain, but I am glad I continued wrestling.

“This is a decision I made after talking, worrying, and thinking about it with so many people over the past year. From now on, I want to start a classroom in Kochi Wrestling Club, Konan City, and do my best to spread and strengthen wrestling,” the post read.

A U17 world champion in 2016, she won golds at the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but suffered the second of just two career international losses at the 2024 Asian Championships, where she fell to Yongxian Feng of China in the final, as per United World Wrestling.

She bounced back five months later for her crowning achievement in Paris, where she defeated 2016 Rio Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) 10-4 in the semifinals, then took the gold with a 6-0 victory over Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) in a rematch of the 2023 world final.

–IAN

bc/