In the men's lightweight, Korea had a surge of dominance in the division with Wang Ki-chun, who won the world championships in 2007 and 2009. In 2010, Japan's Hiroyuki Akimoto took over Wang as the world champion, marking a new era of Japanese dominance in the men's lightweight. Fellow countrymen Riki Nakaya and Shohei Ono then shared domination, with Nakaya winning in 2011 and 2014, and Ono in 2013 and 2015. In the upcoming 2016 Olympics, it is widely thought that newly formed rivals Ono and Japanese-born Korean An Chang-rim will be favorites for gold.