To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world
By William May
(Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
Kyodo World Services, senior sports writer:wmay52@hotmail.com)
JWF ANNOUNCES DELEGATION FOR WORLD C'SHIPS
The Japan Wrestling Federation has
announced most of its delegation for the
wrestling world championships in New York
this fall. The entire delegation for the
September 26-29 championships will be comprised
of 44 wrestlers, coaches, staff and officials.
The team includes Sydney silver
medalist Katsuhiko Nagata (GR 69) and fellow Olympians Makoto Sasamoto (GR 58) and Tatsuo Kawai (FS 85). Kazuyuki Miyata, who wrestled at 63 kg in freestyle at the
Sydney Games, has moved up a weight and is
entered at 69 kg, replacing Takahiro Wada who now serves as one of the national team
coaches.
The greco-roman team also features
2001 Asia champion Taichi Suga, who won the 76 kg crown in Ulan Bator in
June. Kunihiko Obata (76 kg), a bronze medalist in freestyle
at the Asian championships, leads the freestyle
team.
Among the coaches selected for the Japanese
team are two from the ranks of professional
wrestling -- Yuji Nagata, currently with New Japan Pro Wrestling,
and former fan favorite Heigo "Animal" Hamaguchi.
Nagata will serve as the personal coach for younger
brother Katsuhiko Nagata. The elder Nagata was a greco-roman national champion at 82
kg in 1992 and wrestled in the Asian championships
in 1991 (fourth place) and 1992 (fifth) as
an assistant coach at Nippon Sports Science
University. He joined pro wrestling
in 1992.
Hamaguchi is father to three-time world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi, overseeing his daughter's training and
practice sessions at the Hamaguchi Gym in
Tokyo.
The 68-kg position on
the women's national squad will be decided
at a three-way wrestle-off on August 21 at
the team's training camp.
The national team line-up is
as follows: (photos → click)
Male Officials
Chef de mission - Tsutomu Hanahara, Nippon
Sports Science University
Greco-roman team leader - Yamato Oshima,
Adachi Kodaifu High School (Tochigi)
Greco-roman head coach - Masakazu Hijikata,
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Greco-roman coach - Hiromichi Ito, Japan
Self Defense Forces
Hiroshi Kado, Fukuoka University
Freestyle team leader - Yusaku Imaizumi,
Tokyo Meriyasu
Freestyle head coach - Hideaki Tomiyama,
Nihon University
Freestyle coach - Takahiro Wada, Japan Wrestling
Federation
Takumi
Adachi, NSSU
Greco-roman team
54 kg - Tomoya Murata, Hino Club (Shiga)
58 kg - Makoto Sasamoto, Sogo Security
63 kg - Masaki Imuro, Japan SDF
69 kg - Katsuhiko Nagata, New Japan Pro Wrestling
76 kg - Taichi Suga, Nihon University
85 kg - Shingo Matsumoto, Ichinomiya Transport
97 kg - Yuji Morikaku, NSSU
130 kg - Minoru Hamaue, Miyazaki Nogyo High
School
Freestyle team
54 kg - Yuki Nagao, NSSU assistant coach
58 kg - Hiroki Sekikawa, Niigata Prefectural
Sports Association
63 kg - Kazuhiko Ikematsu, NSSU
69 kg - Kazuyuki Miyata, Clean-up club
76 kg - Kunihiko Obata, Yamanashi Gakuin
University
85 kg - Tatsuo Kawai, Itakura High School
(Gunma)
97 kg - Kiyotaka Kodaira, Tokyo MPD
130 kg - Hisashi Fujita, YGU
Female Officials
Team leader - Shuji Maruyama, Maruyama Co.
Head coach - Saburo Sugiyama, Chukyo Women's
University
Coach - Kazuhito Sakae, CWU High School (Aichi)
Ryo Kanahama, Japan Beverage
Administrative staff - Kazuko Oshima, Josai
High School (Tokyo)
Female team
46 kg - Misato Shimizu, Japan Beverage
51 kg - Hitomi Sakamoto, CWU
56 kg - Seiko Yamamoto, NU
62 kg - Rena Iwama, CWU
68 kg - To be decided
75 kg - Kyoko Hamaguchi, Hamaguchi Gym
Special coaches
Men's team - Yuji Nagata, New Japan Pro Wrestling
Women's team - Heigo Hamaguchi, Hamaguchi
Gym
OBATA LEADS FS TEAM IN RUSSIA
Yamanashi Gakuin University
junior Kunihiko Obata won the Budaev international tourney in
Ulan-Ude on July 29 to cap the Japanese freestyle
team's tour of Russia. Obata went 4-0, including one default, at 76 kg
in the tourney.
Along with Obata, Kazuyuki Miyata, Japan's entry at 63 kg at last year's Sydney
Olympics, took second at 69 kg while Tomohiro Matsunaga and Kiyotaka Kodaira earned third place at 54 kg and 97 kg, respectively,
in the July 27-29 tournament.
Obata also led Japanese wrestlers at the Yarigin
Memorial in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on July 20-22,
taking a fifth at 76 kg. Kiyofumi Kanabuchi was Japan's only other place winner, grabbing
a seventh at 63 kg.
JAPAN GR TEAM TO COMPETE IN POLAND
The Japanese greco-roman national
team left for Japan on August 8 to take part
in the Pytlasinski international in Wroclaw,
Poland on August 9-11. The team is
also planning to train with the Hungarian
national team in Hungary in the lead-up to
the world championships.
KYOTO BOY WINS ASIA CADET FS CROWN
Shinya Matsumoto of Amino High School in Kyoto won at 76
kg in the freestyle competition of the Asian
cadet championships July 4-6 in Tehran to
successfully defend the title he won in this
meet last year. In greco-roman, Naoyuki Nishio of Osaka Ichiritsu High School took third
at 54 kg.
VENEZUELAN WOMEN TRAINING IN JAPAN
The Venezuelan women's wrestling
national team, including 1993 worldchampion
Xiomara Guevara, arrived in Japan on July
15 for a joint training camp with the Japanese
national team as well as practice sessions
with the Chukyo Women's University team among
others.