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)
OBATA WINS 4TH COLLEGIATE OPEN FS CROWN
OSAKA (August 28-29) - Yamanashi Gakuin University senior Kunihiko
Obata swept through the field at 84 kg to
become the seventh wrestler in Japanese wrestling
history to win four straight collegiate open
freestyle championship crowns Obata, a Japanese
national team member at 74 kg, had little
trouble rolling to the championship at Kanaoka
Park Gymnasium in the Osaka suburb of Sakai
and named the outstanding wrestler of the
freestyle competition. Obata was later named
the most valuable wrestler of the entire
collegiate open meet, which included competition
in greco-roman and women's wrestling.
The other champions included Tomohiro
Matsunaga (Nippon Sports Science University,
55), Daishi Matsuo (NSSU, 60), Masahiko Nagashima
(Aoyama Gakuin University, 66), Kazuhiko
Nagashima (Waseda University, 76), Katsutoshi
Semba (Ritsumeikan University, 96) and Akihito
Tanaka (Senshu University, 120). Matsunaga,
the 2002 world university champion, Matsuo
and the Nagashima twins each won their second
collegiate open titles.
MURAKAMI, 3 OTHERS WIN 2ND TITLES IN COLLEGE
OPEN GR
OSAKA (August 30-31) - Bunsei Murakami and three other wrestlers
won championship titles for a second straight
year in the greco-roman collegiate open while
Seiko Yamamoto won her a second straight
crown in the women's student open. Murakami
of Takushoku University breezed to the championship
at 55kg at Kanaoka Park Gymnasium and was
joined by Takushoku teammate Naoki Sawada
at 120 kg as a repeat champion. Ikuhiro Yanagawa
of Nippon Sports Science University won at
60 kg for his second straight open title
and Kenzo Kato of Daito Bunka University
notched a second championship with a hard-fought
overtime win at 96 kg. Other champions included
Ikuo Usuda (Takushoku, 66), Hiroki Iwasaki
(NSSU, 74) and Yujiro Takahashi (NSSU, 84).
In the women's competition, the champions
were Momoko Sera (Fukuoka University, 48),
Sachiko Akasaka (Fukuoka, 51), Seiko Yamamoto
(Nihon University 55), Saori Yoshida (Chukyo
Women's University, 59), Ayako Suga (Nihon,
63), Mimi Sugawara (Kokushikan University,
67) and Fumiko Murashima (CWU, 72).
N. TAKAHASHI WINS 4TH HS TITLE AT GR NATIONALS
FUKUOKA (August 17-19) - Noriyuki Takahashi of Kasumigaura high
school in Ibaraki Prefecture won his fourth
high school level national championship title
by taking the 58-kg crown at the high school
greco-roman national championship meet in
Fukuoka. Takahashi has already won individual
championships at the high school national
invitational meet in March, the cadet national
championships in April and the high school
(freestyle) national championships earlier
in August.
Tsunehira Hasegawa of Yaezu Chuo high
school in Shizuoka Prefecture won his second
straight high school greco-roman national
title at 50 kg. Other champions included
Yuki Takeda (Ehime, 54 kg), Hiroki Takahashi
(Oita, 63), Shinji Jinno (Ehime, 69), Tsukasa
Tsurumaki (Yamagata, 76), John Gayardo (Miyagi,
85), Yoshio Kobayashi (Nagasaki, 97) and
Hideki Maruyama (Kumamoto, 120).
AKAISHI TO AFGHANISTAN, KADO TO UKRAINE
TOKYO - Japanese national team coach Kosei Akaishi
left for Afghanistan on August 5 to help
with the revitalization of the war-torn country's
wrestling program. Akaishi, who received
the request from the Japan Foundation, left
Narita Airport outside Tokyo with four boxes
of wrestling shoes and T-shirts to help with
the reconstruction of Afghan wrestling. Akaishi,
a silver medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics, is scheduled to help the Afghan
team prepare for the Asian Games in Pusan,
South Korea.
Akaishi will serve as a coach for the
Afghan team throughout the wrestling competition
at the Asian Games. The games get under way
on September 29 with the wrestling competition
slated for October 2-8. Meanwhile, 1995 world
silver medalist Hiroshi Kado left for Ukraine
on August 15 to study coaching theory and
methodology for one year under the Japanese
Olympic Committee's program for developing
national team coaches.
SASAMOTO TAKES 3RD IN PYTLASINSKI INT'L
PIOTRKOV, Poland (Aug. 9-11) - Japanese ace Makoto Sasamoto took a third
place at 60 kg at the Pytlasinski International
tourney in Poland during the national team's
summer tour of Europe. Other members of
the Japanese national team, however, failed
to advance beyond their preliminary groups.
MATSUMOTO WINS 3RD STRAIGHT TITLE AT HS NATIONALS
KASUMIGAURA (August 2-5) - Shinya Matsumoto of Kyoto's Amino high
school won the high school national championship
crown at 76 kg and became the second wrestler
in Japanese wrestling history to win three
straight titles at the high school national
meet.
Masahide Ohashi of Suita high school
in Osaka won three championships from 1993
to 1995. Matsumoto won titles in the national
meet and national sports festival in 2000
as a first year student at Amino high school.
He added the national invitational crown
to his list of titles in 2001. In 2002, Matsumoto
added a pair of titles in cadet nationals
as well as the high school greco-roman crown
to his list of national titles to bring his
total of individual championships at the
national level to 10. "This is already
old news. I still have the national sports
festival (in October)," Matsumoto said
after the meet. "I want to look beyond
Japan and take aim at the rest of the world.
The Athens Olympics in 2004 might be difficult,
but I definitely want to wrestle in the next
Olympics in Beijing."
The other champions in the high school nationals
were:
50 kg - Tsunehira Hasegawa (Yaezu Chuo high
school, Shizuoka)
54 kg - Kenichi Yumoto (Wakayama Kogyo, Wakayama)
58 kg - Noriyuki Takatsuka (Kasumigaura,
Ibaraki)
63 kg - Yasuke???? Iwai (Amino, Kyoto)
69 kg - Shinji Jinno (Hokujo, Ehime)
76 kg - Shinya Matsumoto (Amino, Kyoto)
85 kg - Takao Isokawa (Nihon Bunri, Oita)
130 kg - Tomofumi Akiyama (Numazu Gakuen,
Shizuoka)
The team championship went to host
Kasumigaura high school which won its 15th
national championship meet title overall
with a 4-3 win over Kanoya Chuo of Kagoshima
Prefecture. Third place honors went to Tamana
Kogyo of Kumamoto and Akita Shogyo.