To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world

                    

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


MATSUMOTO WINS RECORD 7TH STRAIGHT MEIJI NYUGYO CUP CROWN





   TOKYO (June 3-4) - Shingo Matsumoto breezed to three easy wins at 84 kg in greco-roman and a record seventh straight title in the Meiji Nyugyo Cup invitational wrestling championships. Matsumoto was named the outstanding wrestler of the competition at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo for a second straight year. Matsumoto's championship tied him with Sydney Olympic silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata for the most titles overall (7) in the event that also serves as Japan's world team qualifier for men.

   Meanwhile, Makoto Sasamoto won his sixth straight invitational title in greco-roman at 60 kg and Masaki Imuro won his fifth straight at 66 kg. In freestyle, Kunihiko Obata earned his fifth straight berth on the Japanese squad for the world championships at 74 kg.

   At 55 kg, Hideki Taoka upset national champion Tomohiro Matsunaga in the semifinals of the tournament and again in the national team wrestle-offs, both 2-1 decisions, to earn his first trip to the world championships. Taoka was named the outstanding freestyle wrestler of the meet.

   Also, earning berths on the Japanese freestyle team for the first time are Noriyuki Takatsuka (60), Takafumi Kojima (66), Shinya Matsumoto (84) and Katsuya Kitamura (120).
Winners at the national championships in December earned berths on the world team with follow-up victories in the invitational.

  When a national champion was unable to win the invitational crown, a special wrestle-off with the two titleholders was held to determine Japan's representative at the world championships.
----
Results of individual championship and national team wrestle-off matches:

Freestyle

55 kg
Championship final
Hideki Taoka df. Masashi Saito by fall, 1P=1:59
(Taoka wins 1st invitational title)

National team wrestle-off
Taoka df. Tomohiro Matsunaga, 2-1 (2-4, 2-0=2:11, 3-1)
----
60 kg
Championship final
Noriyuki Takatsuka df. Ryosuke Ota, 2-0 (3-0=2:04, 1-0)
(Takatsuka wins 1st invitational title)

National team wrestle-off
Takatsuka df. Kenichi Yumoto, 2-1 (0-2=2:08, 2-0, 4-0)
----
66 kg
Championship final
Takafumi Kojima df. Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu, 2-0 (1-0=2:08, 3-0=2:00)
(Kojima wins 1st invitational title)

National team wrestle-off
Kojima df. Tsukasa Sato, 2-0 (4-0, 1-0)
----
74 kg
Championship final
Kunihiko Obata df. Kazuyuki Nagashima, 2-0 (1-0=2:08, 1-0=2:10)
(Obata wins 2nd straight, 5th overall invitational title; qualifies for world team)
----
84 kg
Championship final
Shinya Matsumoto df. Takao Isokawa by fall, 2P=1:22
(Matsumoto wins 1st invitational title; qualifies for world team)
----
96 kg
Championship final
Kiyotaka Kodaira df. Yoshitsugu Yoneyama, 2-0 (1-0=2:15, 1-0)
(Kodaira wins 3rd straight, 5th overall invitational title; qualifies for world team)
----
120 kg
Championship final
Katsuya Kitamura df. Nobuyoshi Arakida, 2-0 (1-0=2:13, 6-0=1:55)
(Kitamura wins 1st invitational title; qualifies for world team)
----
Greco-roman

55 kg
Championship final
Shingo Hirai df. Masatoshi Toyota, 2-0 (3x-3, 2-1)
(Hirai wins 1st invitational title)

National team wrestle-off
Toyota df. Hirai, 2-1 (2-1, 1-1x, 4-1)
----
60 kg
Championship final
Makoto Sasamoto df. Kenta Iwasaki, 2-1 (1-1x, 3-0, 6-0=1:20)
(Sasamoto wins 6th straight invitational title; qualifies for world team)
----
66 kg
Championship final
Masaki Imuro df. Noritomo Eto by injury default, 2P=1:40
(Imuro wins 5th straight invitational title; qualifies for world team)
----
74 kg
Championship final
Taichi Suga df. Tsukasa Tsurumaki by disq., 3P=1:36 (5-7, 3-1, 5-0)
(Suga wins 2nd invitational title, 1st in five years; qualifies for world team)
----
84 kg
Championship final
Shingo Matsumoto df. Shinobu Komukai, 2-0 (8-0=1:58, 6-0=1:30)
(Matsumoto wins 7th straight invitational title, qualifies for world team)
----
96 kg
Championship final
Ryuji Yamaguchi df. Kenzo Kato, 2-0 (3-1, 1x-1)
(Yamaguchi wins 1st invitational title)

National team wrestle-off
Kato df. Yamaguchi by fall, 1P=0:57
----
120 kg
Championship final
Katsuaki Suzuki df. Naoki Sawada, 2-1 (0-6=1:30, 3-0, 3-0)
(Suzuki wins 4th invitational title, 1st in two years; qualifies for world team)