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)
MARCH WRESTLING NEWS SASAMOTO WINS HUNGARY
GRAND PRIX
NYIREGYHAZA, Hungary (March 2-3) - Makoto Sasamoto defeated an East Asian
Games gold medalist and European champion
at the Hungarian Grand Prix greco-roman tournament
to claim his second title on the Japanese
national team's winter tour of Europe. Sasamoto,
who won the inaugural Demokritia Tournament
in Greece in February, edged Kang Kyung-Il
of South Korea 3-0 in the semifinals at 60
kg and then came back with a 9-6 victory
over Petr Svehla of the Czech Republic for
the championship.
Also for Japan, Masaki
Imuro took sixth place at 66 kg and Taichi
Suga was seventh at 74 kg.
National team coach Hiroshi
Kado remarked after the tournament "The
tournament featured some of the top wrestlers
in the world with Russia, Turkey, Korea,
Poland and Hungary among the 22 countries
taking part."
"For Sasamoto, this was
a big victory since he defeated last year's
gold medalist from the East Asian Games (in
Osaka) and the European champion from the
Czech Republic."
In the semifinal against
Kang, Sasamoto got a gut wrench in the first
period for a 2-0 and then was awarded a third
point when his opponent did not take the
correct clinch position to start the overtime
period. During the course of the semifinal,
Sasamoto was put in the par terre position
twice and held off the scoring attempts of
Kang, who had defeated Sasamoto 4-2 last
May for the East Asian Games crown.
In the final, Sasamoto
spotted Svehla six points in the first period
but came back with a penalty point and front
headlock to cut the deficit to three points
midway through the second period.
Sasamoto then converted
from the par terre position with a high-arching
reverse waist-lock and throw for six points
and the victory.
Japanese results
55 kg - MURATA, Tomoya
(12th, 13 entries
1R - lost 0-3, 6:08 to Igor Kurylo, Ukraine
2R - bye
3R - lost 0-6 Ozdemir Bayram, Turkey
----
60 kg - SASAMOTO, Makoto
(1st, 15 entries)
1R - won 5-0 Henadzi Besarabi, Belarus
2R - won 5-1 Aleksei Ogorodnikov, Russia
3R - bye
SF - won 3-0 Kang Kyung-Il, Korea
FINAL - won 9-6 Petr Svehla, Czech Republic
----
66 kg - IMURA, Masaki
(6th, 27 entries)
1R - bye
2R - won 3-2 James Shillow, U.S.
3R - won 3-1 Andris Jaros, Czech Republic
QF - lost TF 0-11, 2:40 Sergei Kolitarev,
Russia
----
74 kg - NAGATA, Katsuhiko
(23rd, 27 entries)
1R - bye
2R - lost 0-2, OT 9:00 Michal Jaworski, Poland
3R - lost 2-5 Daniel Khalilov, Russia
----
74 kg - SUGA, Taichi (7th,
27 entries)
1R - bye
2R - won by fall 2:30 Altay Mahmut, Turkey
3R - won 3-2 Christian Eyer, France
QF - lost 0-7 Sergy Krapyvkin, Ukraine
----
84 kg - MATSUMOTO, Shingo
(17th, 32 entries)
1R - won 3-1 Bojan Mijatov, Yugoslavia
2R - bye
3R - lost 3-8 Marcin Letki, Poland
MATSUMOTO 2ND, MURATA 3RD IN MILAN TROPHY
FAENZA, Italy (March 9-10) - Shingo Matsumoto capped Japan's tour of
Europe with a second place in the Milan Trophy
tournament while Tomoya Murata added a third
place. Makoto Sasamoto, seeking a third
straight title in Europe, lost to Germany's
Eduard Kratz and failed to advance beyond
his preliminary group.
Matsumoto, runner-up in
last year's Asian championships, handed 2000
junior world champion at 76 kg Istvan Szabo
of Hungary a 4-0 defeat in a semifinal bout
at 84 kg. In the title match, Matsumoto scored
three quick points with an arm throw to open
the match but then fell 4-3 to Kim Jung-Sub
after the Korean wrestler chipped away at
Matsumoto's lead and scored with a late one-point
gut wrench for the win.
At 55 kg, Murata
lost 7-6 to Korea's Kim Dae-Won in the semifinals,
but stormed back for a 4-0 win against Jan
Hocko of the Czech Republic in the consolation
final for third place.
In other action, Sasamoto
was involved in a controversial decision
and came out on the short end of a 3-2 decision
with Kratz, a fifth-place finisher in the
1999 junior world championships. Sasamoto
came back for a pair of technical falls to
snare sixth place overall.
Katsuhiko Nagata, meanwhile,
sat out the competition after injuring his
knee at the training camp in Hungary.
Japanese results:
55 kg - MURATA, Tomoya (3rd,
15th entries)
1R - bye
2R - won TF 12-0, 5:36 Vinzenzo Pira, Italy
3R - won 3-2 Tibor Olah, Hungary
SF - lost 6-7 Im Dae-Won, Korea
3/4 FINAL - won 4-0 Jan Hocko, Czech Republic
----
60 kg - SASAMOTO, Makoto (6th,
17 entries)
1R - lost 2-3 Eduard Kratz, Germany
2R - won TF 12-0, 4:59 Robert Sollie, Norway
3R - won TF 12-0, 3:26 Joaquin Martinez,
Spain
----
66 kg - IMURA, Masaki (21 entries)
1R - bye
2R - lost 2-3, OT (time not available) Ivan
Kron, Switzerland
3R - lost TF 0-10, 3:30 Seref Eroglu, Turkey
----
74 kg - SUGA, Taichi (23 enttries)
1R - won 6-2 Michal Hanak, Czech Republic
2R - bye
3R - lost 0-6 Srymoi Kogut, Poland
----
84 kg - MATSUMOTO, Shingo (2nd,
20 entries)
1R - won by fall 0:45 Ivanov Stoianov, Bulgaria
2R - won 7-0 Nabil Elnarde, France
3R - won by fall 4:34 Kosta Kostanjevic,
Croatia
SF - won 4-0 Istvan Szabo, Hungary
FINAL - lost 3-4 Kim Jung-Sub, Korea
MATSUNAGA, MIYATA 2ND IN YASAR DOGU, FS TEAM
SHUTOUT AT YARIGIN
TOKYO - The Japanese freestyle team, meanwhile,
was less successful on its tour of Europe.
Tomohiro Matsunaga (55 kg) and Kazuhiko Miyata
(66) each compiled 4-1 records to earn runner-up
honors at the Yasar Dogu tourney in Ankara,
Turkey, March 2-3.
The following week in
Krasnoyarsk, Russia, however, the Japanese
team failed to place anyone in the upper
ranks at the Ivan Yarigin meet.
JWF GIVES 5 MIL. YEN FOR WOMEN'S TRAINING
CAMP
TOKYO (March 18) - The Japan Wrestling Federation has decided
to budget 5 million yen (about $37,600) for
training camps this summer for the world's
top women's wrestlers in preparation for
this year's Asian Games, world championships
and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
The Federation will also pay the cost for
hotel accommodations for the foreign wrestlers.
The training camps will be held in late July
at the National Sports Science Center and
the Nihon University training camp site in
Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture.
About 65 of the world's top female wrestlers
will be invited to the camps, including three-time
world champion Seiko Yamamoto and Kyoko Hamaguchi,
seeking to regain the world championship
crown.
NUMAZU GAKUEN WINS 1ST HS INVITATIONAL CROWN
NIIGATA (March 27-29) - Numazu Gakuen high school of Shizuoka
Prefecture improved on last year's second-place
finish in the national high school invitational
wrestling tournament with a 5-2 victory over
Akita Shogyo in the championship final.
Meanwhile, Shinya Matsumoto
of Amino high school in Kyoto Prefecture
won the invitational championship at 76 kg
for a second straight year.
After five of the individual
titles went to wrestlers from Kyoto last
year, this year the championships were more
evenly distributed with only two titles going
to Kyoto and two to Kanoya Chuo in Kagoshima
Prefecture.
TEAM RESULTS
Championship final
Numazu Gakuen (Shizuoka) 5-2 Akita Shogyo
(Akita)
Semifinals
Numazu Gakuen (Shizuoka) 4-3 Kanoya Chuo
(Kagoshima)
Akita Shogyo (Akita) 4-3 Ginan Kogyo (Gifu)
Quarterfinals
Kanoya Chuo (Kagoshima) 6-2 Kasumigaseki
(Ibaraki)
Numazu Gakuen (Shizuoka) 4-3 Tadotsu Kogyo
(Kagawa)
Akita Shogyo (Akita) 6-1 Gifu Kogyo (Gifu)
Ginan Kogyo (Gifu) 4-3 Tamana Kogyo (Kumamoto)
----
Individual finals
Individual
50 - Kyo Yamaguchi, Kyoto dec. Hajime
Yumoto, Wakayama
54 - Kenichi Yumoto, Wakayama TF Kazuhiko
Tomita, Kagoshima
58 - Noriyuki Takatsuka, Ibaraki dec.
Daigo Fujinaga, Kyoto
63 - Hiroaki Suzuki, Kagoshima dec.
Masaaki Inoue, Gifu
69 - Naoki Akimoto, Akita def. Eiji
Takagi, Gifu
76 - Shinya Matsumoto, Kyoto fall
Shigeo Watanabe, Ehime
85 - Takao Isokawa, Oita default Ryoichi
Yamagata, Kanagawa
130 - Akira Iwamoto, Kagoshima by fall Tomoshi
Akiyama, Shizuoka