To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world

                    

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


MATSUNAGA LEADS JAPANESE 1-2-3 FINISH AT DAN KOLOV





   PLOVDIV, Bulgaria (March 25-26) - Tomohiro Matsunaga led a 1-2-3 finish by Japanese wrestlers at 55 kg on the first day of the Dan Kolov international freestyle wrestling tournament.

   Matsunaga, forced to sit out the Uzbekistan Cup competition with an injury two weeks earlier, defeated compatriots Hideki Taoka and Yasuhiro Inaba as he continued his two-year run of titles at international opens. Matsunaga was also named Dan Kolov’s outstanding foreign wrestler for a second straight year.

   Inaba, who also lost to Matsunaga in December’s national championships final, finished second and Taoka grabbed a bronze medal for the Japanese.

   Kohei Fujimoto, meanwhile, took a fifth at 66 kg for Japan.On the second day of competition, Kunihiko Obata took a silver medal at 74 kg while Noriyuki Takatsuka earned a bronze at 60 kg.


Results of Japanese entries:

55 kg - MATSUNAGA, Tomohiro (1st, 7 entries)
1R - df. Hideki Taoka (JPN), 2-1 (3-0, 0-1, 2-0)
SF - df. Erdinc Kirbiyik (TUR), 2-1 (0-2, 1-0, 6-0=0:59)
F1 - df. Yasuhiro Inaba (JPN), 2-0 (5-0, 5-2)
----
55 kg - INABA, Yasuhiro (2nd, 7 entries)
1R - df. Krasimir Krastanov (BUL), 2-0 (1x-1=caution, 1x-1=last point)
SF - df. Maksim Petrov (BUL), 2-0 (3-1, 5-0)
F1 - lost to Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN), 0-2 (0-5, 2-5)
----
55 kg - TAOKA, Hideki (3rd, 7 entries)
1R - lost to Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN), 1-2 (0-3, 1-0, 0-2)
F3 - df. Erdinc Kirbiyik (TUR) by fall, 2P=1:53)
----
60 kg - TAKATSUKA, Noriyuki (3rd, 15 entries)
1R - bye
2R - df. Shenol Ahmed (BUL), 2-0 (2-0, 3-0)
SF - lost to Anatolie Guidea (BUL), 0-2 (0-2, 0-1)
F3 - df. Rumen Kolev (BUL), 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
----
60 kg - YUMOTO, Kenichi (dnp, 15 entries)
1R - df. Deli Nikolay Vasilevich (MLD), 2-1 (3-0, 1-2, 1-0)
2R - lost to Petru Toarca (ROM) by fall, 1P=2:00
----
66 kg - FUJIMOTO, Kohei (5th, 14 entries)
1R - df. Kesanidis Halambos (GRE), 2-0 (3-0, 2-0)
SF - lost to Tamboulak Artysh (RUS), 0-2 (0-1, 0-6=1:45)
F3 - lost to Martin Emilov (BUL) by fall, 1P=1:32
----
74 kg - OBATA, Kunihiko (2nd, 14 entries)
1R - df. Manuel Garcia (PUR), 2-0 (1-0, 3-0)
2R - DF. Dimitar Kossev (BUL), 3-0, 7-0=0:48)
SF - df. Stefan Gheorghita (ROM), 2-1 (3-0, 0-1, 1-0)
F1 - lost to Mihail Ganev (BUL), 0-2 (0-6=1:43, 0-1)
----
74 kg - NAGASHIMA, Kazuyuki (dnp, 14 entries)
1R - df. Goran Atanavos (MKD), 2-0 (3-1, 6-0=1:25)
2R - lost to Mihail Ganev, 1-2 (0-1, 2x-2=big point, 1-1x=last point)
r1 - lost to Hakki Ceylan (TUR), 0-2 (0-4, 0-4)