To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world
By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
：wmay52@hotmail.com）
JAPANESE SQUAD SET FOR WORLD C'HIPS
TOKYO (June 23) - Japan's 21-member squad for the world championships
in Budapest this fall was finalized on the at the Meiji Nyugyo Cup national
invitational tournament.
The final day of the men's invitational meet at Yoyogi National Gymnasium
also included three wrestle-offs for the women's national team. The Japanese
team will feature five-time world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi, making her
10th straight appearance on the world team and tying Shoko Yoshimura's
record of 10 trips to the world championships.
The squad will also include five newcomers -- Yuki Iwasaki (greco-roman,
74 kg), Naoki Sawada (GR, 120), Kenichi Yumoto (FS, 60), Satoru Yamamoto
(FS, 84) and Eri Sakamoto (women, 67). The world championships will be
held in Budapest, Hungary from September 26 to October 2.
The Japanese national team representatives:
Greco-roman
55 kg - Masatoshi Toyota, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
60 kg - Makoto Sasamoto, ALSOK Shogo Keibi Hosho
66 kg - Masaki Imuro, Japanese Self Defense Forces
74 kg - Yuki Iwasaki, Ginsuiso club
84 kg - Shingo Matsumoto, Ichimiya Transport Co.
96 kg - Kenzo Kato, SDF
120 kg - Naoki Sawada, Tokuyama University club
----
Freestyle
55 kg - Tomohiro Matsunaga, ALSOK
60 kg - Kenichi Yumoto, Nippon Sports Science University
66 kg - Kazuhiko Ikematsu, K-Powers
74 kg - Kunihiko Obata, ALSOK
84 kg - Satoru Yamamoto, Okayama wrestling association
96 kg - Kiyotaka Kodaira, Tokyo MPD
120 kg - Akihito Tanaka, FEG
----
Women
48 kg - Makiko Sakamoto, Wako club
51 kg - Hitomi Sakamoto, SDF
55 kg - Saori Yoshida, ALSOK
59 kg - Ayako Shoda, Japan Beverage
63 kg - Kaori Icho, Chukyo Women痴 University
67 kg - Eri Sakamoto, CWU club
72 kg - Kyoko Hamaguchi, Japan Beverage
YOSHIDA RECEIVES JOC PRIZE
TOKYO (June 19) - Olympic champion Saori Yoshida received the JOC Prize
as one of Japan's outstanding Olympic athletes of 2004. The award was presented
to Yoshida at an Olympic commemorative party held at Tokyo's NHK Hall.
・I'm very happy to receive such a prestigious award for my efforts in
Athens,・said Yoshida, who won the gold medal at 55 kg in the Olympic debut
of women's wrestling. ・It early one year has passed since the Olympics
and I have the feeling I must work harder this year than last year. I look
forward to everyone's continuing support as we look ahead to the Universiade
in August.・
The Japanese Olympic Committee has created four types of awards to
honor people who have made notable contributions to the Olympic Movement
in Japan. The award for Japan's most outstanding athlete of the year went
to
Mizuki Noguchi, who won the gold medal in the women's marathon in Athens.
SHODA TO JOIN JAPAN BEVERAGE IN JULY
TOKYO (June 24) - Former 62-kg world champion Ayako Shoda, who qualified
for this year's world team at 59 kg, will join the Japan Beverage company
in July. The Toyo University graduate, who began wrestling as a youngster
in the Suita community center near Osaka, wrestled at Amino high school
in Kyoto before coming to Toyo.
Along with being the world champion at 62 kg in 1999, Shoda has also
won the Asian championship three times and the world university crown in
2004. Unable to overcome eventual gold medalist Kaori Icho for a berth
on last year's Olympic team at 63 kg, Shoda dropped to 59 kg and won the
Japan Queens Cup crown in March. Shoda earned the 59-kg berth on the world
team when national champion Hatsumi Nakanishi defaulted in their national
team wrestle-off. Also, as a recent graduate of Toyo, Shoda will also represent
Japan at the Universiade in Turkey in August.
The Japan Beverage wrestling club is headed up by Athens Olympics head
coach Akira Suzuki and includes six-time world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi,
four-time winner Seiko Yamamoto and national team veteran Norie Saito.
WOMEN TAKE 7 ASIAN JR TITLES, OZAWA WINS IN FS
JEJU, Korea (June 8-12) - The Japanese women won seven of eight gold
medals on offer in the Asian junior championships and Shigeki Ozawa claimed
Japan's first men's title in 20 years in the continental junior meet. Aichi
high school star Mio Nishimaki led the charge for the women with a pair
of falls on her way to the 63-kg title and was named the outstanding
wrestler of the women7s tourney.Also winning for Japan were Megumi Shindo
(44 kg), Yuki Katafuchi (48),
Nanae Suzuki (51), Mizuho Shibata (55), Kei Yamana (59) and Mami Shinkai (67).
China's Bu Fang prevented a Japanese sweep of the gold medals with
a 5-1, 4-0 win over Miki Tanaka in the five-wrestler round robin competition
at 72 kg. ・All of the wrestlers are getting stronger. If they continue
to get better, the battle of a place on the national team for the Beijing
Olympics (in 2008) will be real tough,・said head coach Kazuhito Sakae.
・The members of the senior national team cannot afford to be careless,・
Sakae added.
Meanwhile, Shigeki Osawa of Yamanashi Gakuin University won four hard-fought
matches at 60 kg in freestyle to become for the first Japanese male to
win in the Asian junior championships since 1985. In 1985, Ryo Kanahama
(52) and Takumi Ito (60) both won gold medals at the Asian junior championships
in Tokyo.
In addition to Osawa's gold, Japan also got a bronze medal from Aichi
high school student Shogo Maeda at 55 kg in freestyle.
In greco-roman, Ryo Minemura of Kanagawa University (55 kg), NSSU's Daiyu
Nagatomo and Katsunobu Takeuchi of Kokushikan University (120) won bronze
medals for Japan.
WEST JAPAN COLLEGE SELECT TEAM TO CANADA CUP
OSAKA (June 25) - The West Japan Collegiate Wrestling Federation will
dispatch a select team to Canada to take part in the annual Canada Cup
competition.
Fukuoka University wrestlers have taken part in the Canada Cup meet
on their own in the past, but federation officials decided to send an all-star
squad this year in an effort to improve the level of wrestling in western
Japan. The squad for the July 8-9 meet in Guelph, Ontario will include
11 men and four women.