Yang Kyong Il is a wrestling ace who has risen to fame at home and abroad. He is enrolled at the Ryongnamsan Sports Team of
He was born on Aug 7, 1987 to an ordinary worker's family in Sosong District, Pyongyang.
He took up wrestling at the district's juvenile sports school when he was 10. Four years later, he began to make his name with wins in the 32kg, 42kg and 46kg freestyle events at the national competition of juvenile sports schools.
After he joined the Ryongnamsan Sports Team in November, 2003, he distinguished himself in several domestic tournaments: he claimed the 55kg freestyle title at the youth championships in 2005 and 2006 successively, and won the first division at the Mangyongdae Prize games in 2007.
In July, 2004 he took part in a sporting event in Sakha, Russia to mark the Asian Children's Day, in which he won a gold medal and certificate. That was the first international event for him.
Afterwards, he attended a dozen of international competitions including the qualifier for the 29th Olympic Games in Poland in May 2008, the World Championship in Denmark in September 2009, the Isyarokin Prize International Tournament in Russia in January 2010, the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan in May 2011, the qualifier for the 30th Olympic Games in China in June 2012 and the Dan Colov-Nikolai Petrov tournament in Bulgaria in February 2013. Now he has eight golds, three silvers and three bronzes under his belt.
In 2009, he was honoured with the title of People's Athlete.
He won the 57kg events at the world championships in 2009 and 2014 to become a two-time world title-holder.
The 27-year-old is widely regarded as an icon of the country and the university as well.
