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Maroulis, the first female American wrestler to be crowned an
Olympic champion when she won gold in Rio, has battled through
multiple concussions and post-traumatic stress disorder in
recent years before qualifying for the Tokyo Games.
The 29-year-old initially struggled to score against Rong
Ningning, with the former world champion from China taking a 3-0
lead with a takedown. Maroulis did find an opening for a gut
wrench but Rong reversed to make it 4-2 at the break.
However, the second period was one-way traffic as the American
scored points with a counter tilt, nearly pinning Rong, and two
takedowns to win 8-4.
Maroulis continued to impress in her quarter-final against
Ukraine's Tetyana Kit, making four takedowns to seal a
semi-final berth with an 8-0 victory by technical superiority.
The American, who was the bantamweight champion in Rio, will be
up against Risako Kawai of Japan, who also won a gold in 2016
but in the heavier middleweight category.
In the other semi-final, Bulgarian Evelina Nikolova will face
Belarusian Iryna Kurachkina.
Nikolova looked to be on the way out after trailing Moldovan
Anastasia Nichita 3-0 but put her on her back and made a
takedown with just seconds left to win 6-3.
Nichita had reached the quarter-finals after a stunning
fightback against Nigeria's Odunayo Adekuoroye. The Moldovan
trailed 8-0 but pinned Adekuoroye down and the referee took a
close look before awarding her the bout.
In the men's freestyle middleweight category, 2018 world
champion David Taylor of the United States beat Belarusian Ali
Shabanau 11-0 and followed it up with a commanding 12-2 victory
over San Marino's Myles Amine.
Taylor will face India's Deepak Punia, while the other
semi-final will have Iran's 2016 welterweight gold medallist
Hassan Yazdani taking on Russian Artur Naifonov, a three-times
European champion.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay in Chiba and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru;
Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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