TAKADA FETED TO MARK ENTRY TO FILA HALL OF FAME
ATHENS (August 28) - Yuji Takada, widely considered one of the top technicians in modern wrestling history, was feted at a gala affair to mark the former Olympic champion's entrance into the FILA international wrestling hall of fame. Takada, who won four world titles and the freestyle 52-kg title at the 1976 Montreal Games, was presented with a medal to mark his admission to the hall of fame.
The celebration, held at a hotel in Athens on the occasion of the 2004 Olympic Games, saw five former Olympic and world champions, and a host of other contributors to the development of wrestling in attendance. Newly crowned Olympic champions Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho were also presented with special medals to mark their achievement as gold medalists in the debut of women's wrestling at the Olympic Games.
"From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of the people who made my entry to the hall of fame possible. I am elated at this prestigious honor,・Takada told the party's guests. Takada, who now serves as executive director of the Japan Wrestling Federation, added that he would continue to work hard for the development of wrestling in Japan. He hailed Japan's four medalists in women's wrestling and the five place-winners in the men's events, saying "When you look at the state of wrestling in the world today, (these wrestlers) did well to uphold the tradition of Japanese wrestling.・
-----
KASUMIGAURA 3-PEAT FOR TEAM TITLE AT HS NATIONALS
KURASHIKI, Okayama (August 3) - Kasumigaura high school of Ibaraki Prefecture downed Aomori's Kosei Gakuin in the final 5-2 to win its third straight team title at the high school national championship meet. The team championship in the summer wrestling classic was Kasumigaura's 17th overall. Third place went to Ritsumeikan Uji high school of Kyoto and Kanoya Chuo of Kagoshima.
-----
FUKUDOME WINS 3RD TITLE OF THE SEASON
KASUMIGAURA, Okayama Prefecture (August 6) - Kazutoshi Fukudome won his third national title of the season when he took the 50-kg crown at the high school wrestling national championships. Fukudome of Kasumigaura high school also won titles at the high
school invitational in March and the junior national championships in April. Aoi Otsuki, meanwhile, added a third jewel to his championship crown at 74 kg following the March invitational and the cadet nationals in April. Otsuki of Nihon Bunri University's affiliate high school was also named the outstanding wrestler of the championships.
Other invitational champions who doubled up in Kurashiki were Shigeki Ozawa (60 kg, Kasumigaura), Shu Miyahara (66 kg, Akita Shogyo), Toshio Kobayashi (84 kg, Nagano Ueda Nishi), Ryota Ogura (96 kg, Kasumigaura) and Shinren Arakida (120 kg, Kosei Gakuin). Ozawa, the winner at 58 kg last year, won his second title at the national championship meet. Miyahara, meanwhile, is the son of Akira Miyahara, a two-time world silver medalist and a member of the 1980 Olympic team that boycotted the Moscow Games over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
-----
H. YAMAMOTO WINS AT BELOGLAZOV INT'S
TOKYO (August 2) - Reigning national champion Hidenori Yamamoto won the 60-kg title at the Beloglazov international meet in Kaliningrad, Russia on July 23-25. Meanwhile, Kiyotaka Kodaira took seventh place at 96 kg with a win against two losses, while Koji Obara fell to a pair of losses at 66 kg.
