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)
IKEMATSU WINS 1ST ALL-JAPAN TITLE (ROUND-UP)
TOKYO (December 21-22) - World bronze
medalist Kazuhiko Ikematsu won his first
championship crown at the national wrestling
championships and nailed down a berth on
the Japanese Olympic team for Athens next
summer.Ikematsu turned back determined collegiate
challenger Takayuki Suzuki 3-1 in the 66-kg
freestyle finals at Yoyogi National Gymnasium
for his first all-Japan title even though
he has won the national team trials the last
three years.
Ikematsu, who won the bronze medal at
the world championships in September, was
also awarded the Emperor’s Cup as Japan’s
top wrestler for 2003. The Japan Wrestling
Federation indicated before the national
championships that Ikematsu, who turns 24
on December 26, would be their likely choice
for the Olympic team.
The victory by the Nippon Sports Science
University instructor, Japan’s first world
medalist since 1995, justified the early
JWF selection. Chikara Tanabe (55 kg) and
Kunihiko Obata (74) also won their respective
weights in freestyle to secure spots on next
year’s Japanese Olympic team.
In greco-roman, however, Katsuhiko Nagata,
a silver medalist at the Sydney Games in
2000, was upset in the finals at 74 kg by
former national team member Taichi Suga.
Nagata, who finished 10th at the world championships
in October, will now look ahead to the national
invitational tourney and team trials in April
for another chance to book his ticket to
Athens.
Meanwhile, in women’s wrestling, Saori
Yoshida prevailed in a battle of world champions
at 55 kg to grab the inside track from Seiko
Yamamoto in their duel for an Olympic team
berth. Yoshida was named the outstanding
wrestler of the women’s tourney, while Tanabe
was selected the outstanding freestyle wrestler.
Shingo Matsumoto (84) was the tournament’s
outstanding greco-roman wrestler.
Also, Kyoko Hamaguchi (72) won her eighth
consecutive national championship title to
surpass the previous record of seven straight
in women’s wrestling held by Yayoi Urano
and Ryoko Sakamoto. The overall record for
consecutive national titles in Japanese wrestling
is 14, held by greco-roman ironman Yasutoshi
Moriyama.
Mariko Shimizu also equaled the record
for appearances in the championships with
an unprecedented 17th consecutive trip to
the nationals. Shimizu tied Toshio Asakura’s
overall record for appearances in the championships
and moved ahead of Asakura’s mark of 16
straight trips to the all-Japan meet.