By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
：wmay52@hotmail.com）
July wrestling news
KANEKO, URANO TO BE INDUCTED IN WRESTLING HALL OF FAME
TOKYO (July 11) - Mexico City Olympic gold medalist
Masaaki Kaneko and six-time world champion Yayoi Urano will be among this
year’s inductees to the international wrestling Hall of Fame.
Wrestling’s world governing body FILA notified the Japan
Wrestling Federation that Kaneko and Urano will be inducted into the Hall
of Fame, located in the United States in Stillwater, Oklahoma. They are
the fourth and fifth Japanese wrestlers to be inducted into the Hall.
Urano (currently, Odagaki) is the second woman to be honored.
Kaneko was the featherweight (63 kg) freestyle world champion
in 1966 and 1967 and then won the Olympic gold medal in Mexico City.
Urano, meanwhile, was one of the pioneers of female
wrestling in Japan and in the world, winning an unprecedented six world
championship titles between 1990 and 1996 along with a runner-up performance
in 1992. Urano’s performance over the years (6 gold,
1 silver) is currently second only to Canada’s Christine Nordhagen (6-1-1),
who last year became the first woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The international wrestling Hall of Fame was inaugurated
in 2004 with Japan’s Yuji Takada among the first class of inductees. Takada
was a five-time world champion as well as a gold medalist at the 1976 Montreal
Olympics.
Japan’s lone two-time Olympic gold medalist Yojiro Obata
(formerly, Uetake) was inducted two years ago, while 1956 Melbourne Olympic
gold medalist Shozo Sasahara was in last year’s class of inductees.
Awards ceremonies for the inductees will be held in September at the
world
championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
SASAMOTO MAKES QUICK EXIT AT 66 KG IN
GEORGIA
TBLISI, Georgia (July 14) - Makoto Sasamoto made a quick
exit from the 66-kg competition at the Kartosia and Balavadzc tournament,
after losing in the first round to local favorite Mukhran Machutadze.
Sasamoto fell 1-2 in the first round to Machutadze,
who finished in fifth place at the European championships in April, and
did not advance to the consolation brackets. Sasamoto, who normally competes
at 60 kg, has been hampered with some niggling injuries and was unable
to make his normal weight.
Meanwhile, Shingo Matsumoto, who is also training in
Europe with Sasamoto, is bothered with a knee injury and sat out the competition
at 84 kg.
NAGASHIMA MVP AT SHAKAIJIN NAT’L C’SHIPS
SAKURA, Chiba (July 7-8) - Kazuyuki Nagashima won at
74 kg in freestyle and was named the outstanding freestyle wrestler at
the shakaijin national championships at Sakura municipal gymnasium.
Also in freestyle, Kunihiko Obata, who failed to make
the national team for the first time in six years, moved up to 84 kg and
triumphed, sparking speculation that he may continue his career at the
heavier weight.
In the women’s competition, Chikako Matsukawa won at
55 kg in her first year in the non-student open competition and was named
the women’s MVP.
On the opening day, Yoshi Fujimura defeated Self Defense
Forces teammate Noritomo Eto in the final at 74 kg and was named the outstanding
greco-roman wrestler.
Individual winners
Freestyle
55 kg - Toshiaki Kugo, Tokyo MPD club
60 kg - Kazunori Tani,
Nichidai club
66 kg - Shinya Odate, Japan Self Defense Forces
74 kg -
Kazuyuki Nagashima, Clean-up
84 kg - Kunihiko Obata, ALSOK Sogo Keibi
96
kg - Jun Aisawa, Toyo Suisan
120 kg - Koichiro Nishida, Fukui wrestling
association
Women
48 kg - Yuko Motohashi, S-Operation
51 kg -
Makiko Sakamoto, Japan SDF
55 kg - Chikako Matsukawa, Japan Beverage
59 kg
- Yu Sekine, Japan SDF
63 kg - Kayoko Kudo, Japan SDF
67 kg - no
entries
72 kg - Asuka Sano, Japan SDF
Greco-roman
55 kg - Kohei
Hasegawa, Yaesu Fukuichi
60 kg - Yuki Takeda, Yamaguchi Wrestling
Association
66 kg - Hiroshi Shimomura, Japan SDF
74 kg - Tsutomu Fujimura,
Japan SDF
84 kg - Atsushi Kano, Kano Construction
96 kg - Ken Sogabe,
Tokushima Wrestling Association
120 kg - Naoki Sawada, Tokuyama University
staff
JAPANESE JRS WIN 5 AT ASIAN JR C’SHIPS
MANILA (July 6-8) - Japanese wrestlers won five gold
medals at the junior Asian wrestling championships in the Philippines.
Japan’s junior women led the way with victories in three
of the eight weight categories, equaling last year’s gold medal haul. The
Japanese men, meanwhile, took two gold medals in freestyle. Winning for
the women were Waseda University first-year student Nodoka Nishi (48 kg),
Mika Kunieda (55) of Doshisha University and Mizuka Kajita (59) of Chukyo
Women’s University.
In freestyle, Yasuhiro Morita of Nippon Sports Science
University and Teppei Monya of Nihon University led the charge for the
Japanese men at 55 kg and 60 kg respectively. The victories gave Japan
a freestyle champ for a third straight year after Shigeki Ozawa in 2005
and Nobuyoshi Arakida last year.
Manabu Kamata of Chukyo Gakuin University added a silver
at 74 kg and Fukuoka high school student Yo Morita secured a bronze medal
at 50 kg as Japanese freestylers surpassed last year’s performance of 1
gold, 1 silver
and 2 bronze.
The Japanese were less successful in greco-roman as
Masaharu Kaji (50) of Aoyama Gakuin University and Masaki Chikada (96)
of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto bagged a pair of bronze medals. Tsubasa
Ogata (55, NSSU) and Ryuta Kono (120, AGU) had to settle for fifth place
after losses in the consolation finals.
WOMEN’S TEAM MEMBERS GIVE
TO LOCAL QUAKE RELIEF
TOKAMACHI, Niigata (July 21-28) - Members of the women’s
national made donations to help with the recovery of the area of Niigata
hit by a strong earthquake on July 16.
The women’s training camps are held in Tokamachi about
40 kilometers from the city of Kashiwazaki, located near the epicenter
of the temblor. “(Kashiwazaki) was heavily damaged and as the city next
Tokamachi we cannot think of the people their as strangers,” said women’s
national team head coach Kazuhito Sakae.
“We do not want our athletes to think that the only
thing is to become strong in wrestling. We want them to grow up to understand
the difficulties of life and become people who can empathize with others,”
said Sakae. The wrestlers and coaches reportedly collected about 100,000
yen in donations.
About 35 wrestlers endured one week of especially hard
training, known as the “Tiger’s Den,” in preparation for the world championships
coming up in September.
JWF ANNOUNCES FOR JR WORLD
C’SHIPS
TOKYO (July 28) - The Japan Wrestling Federation announced
its team for the junior world championships to be held August 21-26 in
Beijing, the host city of next year’s Olympic Games. The JWF selections
were mostly winners at the junior national championships in April.
Japan’s entries at each weight:
Greco-roman
50 kg - Masaharu Kaji, Aoyama
Gakuin University
55 kg - Tatsuya Tomioka, Nippon Sports Science
University
60 kg - Yuji Okamaoto, Takushoku University
66 kg - Kazuhiko
Naruse, NSSU
74 kg - Hiroshi Uesako, Senshu University
84 kg -
Masaaki Yano, Senshu
96 kg - Tsukiaki Nakatani, Senshu
120 kg - Shinichi
Hirakasa, Senshu
Freestyle
50 kg - Kensuke Otani, Amino high school
(Kyoto)
55 kg - Tsuyoshi Aoki, Kokushikan University
60 kg - Yoshisumu
Yano, Ritsumeikan University
66 kg - Kazuki Morikawa, Yamanashi Gakuin
University
74 kg - Sosuke Takaya, Amino
84 kg - Atsushi Matsumoto,
NSSU
96 kg - Kengo Kamei, Nihon Bunri University
120 kg - no entry
Women
44 kg - Yurie Sakamoto, Daito Bunka University
48 kg - Fuyuko
Mimura, Amino
51 kg - Ai Shimizu, Saitama Sakae high school
55 kg - Yuka
Watanabe, NSSU
59 kg - Akiko Shimizu, Japan Self Defense Forces
63 kg -
Kayako Kudo, Japan SDF
67 kg - Emi Taira, International Pacific
University
72 kg - Hiroe Suzuki, Ritsumeikan University
SAKURAI WINS
BEACH WRESTLING TITLE
TOKYO (July 30) - Norihiro Sakurai defeated the two previous championships and became “King of the Beach” at Japan’s third beach wrestling national championships.
Sakurai, wrestling unattached, defeated 2005 king Seiji
Shinozaki in the semifinals and then upended defending champion Boris Mujikov
in the heavyweight final. Junior national team member Atsushi Matsumoto
won the middleweight crown while men’s invitational title winner at 60
kg Shigeki Ozawa won the lightweight championship.
Meanwhile, Yuri Kai won the women’s lightweight title
and Erika Matsukawa took the middleweight championship.
