TOKYO (October 11) - Profiles of the members of the Japanese women's national team for the World Cup in Cairo, Egypt (October 19-20) and the world championships in Halkida, Greece (November 2-3):
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WORLD CUP
48 kg - SHIMIZU, Misato (Japan Beverage)
Born: 1977 March 25, Gifu Prefecture. Ht: 152 cm. Education: Takayama high school (Gifu) - Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education. Took third place in the national championships in 1993 and won the women's junior world championship crown at 44 kg. Repeated as national champion in 1997 and 1998 and finished fifth in the 1997 world championships. Was eighth in the 2000 world championships, but rebounded for fifth place last year.
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51 kg - HATTORI, Ninako (Chukyo Women's University
Born: 1982 June 25, Kanagawa Prefecture. Ht: 153 cm. Education: Chukyo Women's University high school (Aichi). Started wrestling as a member of the Tokai Juniors club in Kanagawa and in 1999 won the 52 kg title in the cadet national championships. She went on to finish seventh in the world cadet meet. Hattori won the junior Asia crown in 2000 at 50 kg and in 2001 won her first senior national title. She finished second in the Japan Queen's Cup meet in 2002.
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56 kg - YAMAMOTO, Seiko (Nihon University)
Born: 1980 August 22, Kanagawa Prefecture. Ht: 150 cm. Education: Tokiwamatsu Gakuen high school (Kanagawa). Won the Japan Women's Open at 51 kg in 1998 and followed the next year by winning the junior world championship at 54 kg and the senior world title at 51 kg. She repeated in both the junior world meet (54) and senior world tourney (56) in 2000. Yamamoto won her third world championship in 2001 and received the Emperor's Cup at the national championships as the most valuable wrestler for the year in Japan -- male or female. Her father is Ikuei Yamamoto, former Japanese national team member who wrestled in the 1972 Olympics and her sister is Miyu Yamamoto (Ikeda in the FILA Database), also a three-time world champion for Japan.
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59 kg - IWAMA, Rena (Replay)
Born: 1979 August 2, Iwate Prefecture. Ht: 157 cm. Education: Miyako Shogyo high school (Iwate). Won the junior national title at 58 kg in 1999 then went on to win the junior world and senior national championship title at 62 kg in the same year. Iwama also finished second in the world championships in 2000 but fell to 14th in 2001. Later in 2001, she won her second straight national championship crown.
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63 kg - ICHO, Kaori (Chukyo Women's University high school)
Born: 1984 June 13, Aomori Prefecture. Ht: 165 cm. Education: Chukyo Women's University high school (Aichi). Icho won the schoolgirls championship in 1996 and won the junior high school girls crown at 52 kg in 1998. In 2001, she won the Japan Queen's Cup crown at 56 kg with a pin over reigning world champion Seiko Yamamoto. She finished fourth in the national championships last December. Icho, making her international debut at the Pusan Asian Games in October, won the silver medal at 63 kg.
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67 kg - SAITO, Norie (Japan Beverage)
Born: 1978 October 24, Ibaraki Prefecture. Education: Tsuchiura Nichidai high school (Ibaraki) - Teikyo University. Saito practiced judo in high school, but also entered wrestling competitions, winning the national championship title at 70 kg in 1995. Saito devoted herself to judo as a student at Teikyo, but switched her attention to wrestling after graduating. In 2001, she represented Japan in the world championships, finishing 12th, and won the national championship title.
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72 kg - HAMAGUCHI, Kyoko (Hamaguchi Gym)
Born: 1978 January 11, Tokyo. The daughter of former pro wrestler, Heigo "Animal" Hamaguchi, Kyoko began her sports career in bodybuilding and switched to wrestling. She won her first world championship crown in 1997 and added titles in 1998 and 1999. In 1998, Hamaguchi was named FILA's female wrestler of the year. Hamaguchi, however, finished third in the 2000 world championships and fourth a year later. She has won six national championships in a row and won the Asian Games gold medal in October.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
48 kg - NOGUCHI, Mika (Chukyo Women's University)
Born: 1982 October 9, Kagoshima Prefecture. Education: Kanoya Chuo high school (Kagoshima). Won seven straight titles in the national schoolboys/schoolgirls meet. In 1999, Noguchi won the world cadet championship at 46 kg and finished third in the 2001 Japan Queen's Cup meet at 46 kg. She finished in the high school national championships in 2001.
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51 kg - ICHO, Chiharu (Chukyo Women's University)
Born: 1981 October 9, Aomori Prefecture. Education: Amino highi school (Kyoto). Started wrestling at the schoolboy/schoolgirl level and won the high school national championship in 1998. The following year she won the senior national title at 51 kg and the wrapped up the junior national crown at 50 kg in 2000. She won the junior world championship in 2000 and 2001. Chiharu, the older sister of Kaori, won the 2002 world university title at 51 kg.
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56 kg - YOSHIDA, Saori (Chukyu Women's University)
Born: 1982 October 5, Mie Prefecture. Ht: 156 cm. Education: Hisai high school (Mie). Quickly built a reputation throughout Japan as an unrivaled schoolgirl wrestler. Won the world cadet crown at 56 kg in 1999, added the junior world title at 58 kg in 2000 and 2001. She won the gold medal at 55 kg at the Asian Games in Pusan and remains unbeaten overseas.
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59 kg - IWAMA, Rena
(See above)
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63 kg - ICHO, Kaori
(See above)
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67 kg - SAITO, Norie
(See above)
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72 kg - HAMAGUCHI, Kyoko
(See above)
