Saori Yoshida saw her bid to win a fourth straight Olympic wrestling gold medal crumble before her eyes after a seismic loss to American Helen Maroulis at the Rio Games on Thursday.
But Risako Kawai lifted the mood when she won the women's 63-kg freestyle competition later in the evening, taking Japan's tally of wrestling golds so far at Rio 2016 to four.
Yoshida was aiming to follow in teammate Kaori Icho's footsteps by becoming only the second female athlete in any sport to win individual gold medals at four successive Olympics.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.