Cuba, Russia bag gold medals on opening day of wrestling (updated)

Reigning world champion Ismael Borrero Molina of Cuba overpowered Japan's Shinobu Ota to win the men's 59kg Greco-Roman wrestling final on Sunday when Russian Roman Vlasov successfully defended the 75kg title at the Rio Olympic Games.

Borrero Molina clinched an 8-0 win over Ota, dubbed "Ninja Wrestler" at home who defeated defending champion Hamid Soryan of Iran and two-time Olympic Games silver medalist Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan en route to the final.

"I'm really glad to be an Olympic champion. There's a lot of emotion. It's so hard to explain," said Borrero Molina, 24. "It went really fast but I was able to be a stronger athlete and come out on top."

Norway's Stig-Andre Berge then beat Bayramov for the bronze. The other bronze went to Elmurat Tasmuradov of Uzbekistan who defeated Kyrgyzstan's Arsen Eraliev.

Vlasov ovecame world silver medalist Mark Overgaard Madsen of Denmark 5-1 after he edged Kim Hyeon-Woo of South Korea, the London 2012 gold medalist at 66kg, 7-5, in his opening bout and marched into the 75kg final.

Vlasov scored a four-point lift in the first period of his bout with Kim for a 6-2 lead, then survived a late throw attempt from par terre by Kim for the victory.

Kim settled for a bronze with win over Bozo Starcevic of Croatia and Saeid Morad Abdvali of Iran won the other bronze. Endit