To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world

                    

By William May
(Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public Information Committee
wmay52@hotmail.com


TSURUMAKI UPSETS 2x OLYMPIAN, NAT'l C'SHIPS 2ND DAY



   TOKYO (December 22) −−Collegiate champion Tsukasa Tsurumaki upset former Olympic silver medallist Katsuhiko Nagata on Wednesday and went on to claim his first title in the Japanese national championships. Tsurumaki of Kokushikan University stopped Nagata in the greco-roman semifinals 2-0 (1-0, 1-0) at 74 kg and then edged defending champion Taichi Suga by the same margin at Tokyo's Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

  Tsurumaki, who hails from Yamagata Prefecture, won greco-roman crowns at this year's collegiate open and collegiate national championships. Nagata, meanwhile, won the silver medal at 69 kg at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and wrestled in last summer's Olympic Games in Athens by virtue of his 10th place finish in the 2003 world championships.

  In other results, freestyle Olympian Kunihiko Obata won his sixth straight national championship at 74 kg while club teammates Tomohiro Matsunaga and Shingo Hirai added individual titles at 55 kg in freestyle and greco-roman.
All three wrestlers compete for Japanese security company Sogo Keibi Hosho.

2nd day results:

Greco-roman

55 kg (11 entries)
Championship final
Shingo Hirai df. Bunsei Murakami, 2-1 (1-0, 0-1, 1-0)
(Hirai wins 1st title in GR. Also has 1 title in FS)

Semifinals
Shingo Hirai df. Munenori Wada, 2-0 (3-0, 1-0)
Bunsei Murakami df. Takumi Otsu, 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
----
74 kg (13 entries)

Championship final
Tsukasa Tsurumaki df. Taichi Suga, 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
(Tsurumaki wins 1st title)

Semifinals
Tsukasa Tsurumaki df. Katsuhiko Nagata, 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
Taichi Suga df. Hiroki Iwasaki, 2-1 (0-3, 1-0, 3-0)
----
84 kg (11 entries)

Championship final
Shingo Matsumoto df. Tetsuya Saikawa, 2-1 (0-1, 9-0, 4-0)
(Matsumoto wins 6th title in a row, 6th overall)

Semifinals
Shingo Matsumoto df. Hiroshi Ban by fall, 2:59
Tetsuya Saikawa df. Minoru Komukai, 2-1 (1-0, 0-1, 2-0)
----
Freestyle

55 kg (15 entries)
Championship final
Tomohiro Matsunaga df. Seshito Shimizu, 2-0 (5-0, 5-0)
(Matsunaga wins 1st title)

Semifinals
Tomohiro Matsunaga df. Takeshi Sugitani by fall, 0:25
Seshito Shimizu df. Yasuhiro Inaba, 2-1 (2-2, 2-0, 1-0)
----
74 kg (15 entries)

Championship final
Kunihiko Obata df. Ryuta Takahashi, 2-0 (1-0, 2-0)
(Obata wins 6th title in a row, 6th overall)

Semifinals
Kunihiko Obata df. Atsushi Kimura, 2-0 (1-0, 3-0)
Ryuta Takahashi df. Yuji Kudo, 2-1 (0-1, 1-1, 1-0)
----
84 kg (12 entries)

Championship final
Takao Isokawa df. Satoru Yamamoto, 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
(Isokawa wins 1st title)

Semifinals
Takao Isokawa df. Makoto Konishi, 2-0 (1-0, 2-1)
Satoru Yamamoto df. Shinya Matsumoto, 2-1 (0-1, 1-0, 1-0)
----
Women

48 kg (10 entries)
Championship final
Makiko Sakamoto df. Yuri Funatsu, 2-0 (6-0, 2-0)
(Sakamoto wins 2nd title, 1st in 2 years)

Semifinals
Makiko Sakamoto df. Airi Funatsu by TF, 2-0 (6-0, 8-0)
Yuri Funatsu df. Momoko Sera, 2-1 (3-1, 0-2, 3-2)