To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

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

FUKUDA RE-ELECTED TO FILA BUREAU




BEIJING (August 10) – Tomiaki Fukuda, president of the Japan Wrestling Federation, was re-elected to the board of the directors of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), at the federation’s biennial general assembly on the eve of the wrestling competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Fukuda was the top vote-getter for five seats on the FILA Bureau, receiving 78 votes from 104 delegates casting ballots. Fukuda, first elected to the FILA Bureau in 1996, will serve a third six-year term on FILA’s board of directors.

Elected with Fukuda were Csaba Hegedus (HUN), Mikhail Mamiashvili (RUS), Tzeno Tzenov (BUL) and Akhroldian Ruziev UUZB).

Prior to the voting for the FILA Bureau seats, congress delegates gave Raphael Martinetti a second term as FILA president by acclamation.

TOMIYAMA HONORED FOR INDUCTION TO FILA WRESTLING HALL OF FAME



BEIJING (August 21) – Los Angeles Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion Hideaki Tomiyama was among the class of 2008 inductees to the international wrestling Hall of Fame honored at a banquet following the wrestling competition at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Tomiyama, the freestyle gold medalist at 57kg at the 1984 Games, is the sixth Japanese wrestler to be inducted into the Hall of Fame after Yuji Takada, Yojiro (Uetake) Obata, Shozo Sasahara, Masaaki Kaneko and Yayoi (Urano) Odagaki.

Tomiyama, a professor at his alma mater Nihon University, served as the JWF national team director from 2001 and has seen Japan’s male wrestlers win a pair of bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Games; a silver and bronze in Beijing as well as a silver and two bronze medals in the world championships.

K. ICHO’S GOLD MEDAL FINAL PULLS IN 26.0% VIEWERSHIP RATING



TOKYO (August 19) – Kaori Icho’s gold medal final at 63kg at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games drew a 26% viewership rating in the East Japan region and 21.3% in West Japan. Icho’s final with Alena Kartashova (RUS) was aired at 6:10 p.m. on August 17 by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK).

The evening before (August 16), Saori Yoshida’s triumph over Xu Li (CHN) in the 55kg gold medal final drew a 24.9% rating in East Japan and 21.2% in West Japan.

Statistics regarding wrestling at the Olympics prior to the Beijing Games are not readily available, but the women’s World Cup meet in October 2004 drew a spot viewership ranking of 14.6% with an average of 8.8% for Nippon Network Television Corporation (NTV).

Japanese wrestling officials and fans believe that the 26% ranking is probably the highest ever for the sport on Japanese television.

MUJIKOV WINS IN FS, GR; NSSU WRESTLERS WALK OFF WITH 8 OPEN TITLES



SAKAI, Osaka (August 28-31) – Yamanashi Gakuin heavyweight Boris Mujikov defeated junior world bronze medalist Nobuyoshi Arakida of Senshu University twice over three days to claim the greco-roman and freestyle titles at the collegiate open wrestling championships.

Wrestlers from Nippon Sports Science University, spurred on by the success of NSSU alums Tomohiro Matsunaga and Kenichi Yumoto at the Beijing Olympics, won four titles each in the greco-roman and freestyle competition at Kanaoka Park Gymnasium.

Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu of Takushoku University, meanwhile, repeated as champion at 66kg in freestyle and was named the most outstanding wrestler both styles.

Top-seeded Shu Miyahara defeated 2007 senior nationals runner-up Sosuke Takatani (Takushoku) in the 74kg freestyle final to become Meiji University’s first collegiate open champion in 16 years. He also joined his father, Akira, as collegiate open champion.

The elder Miyahara won the collegiate open title four years in a row, and later won silver medals in the 1978 and 1979 freestyle world championships at 68kg. He was also a member of the 1980 Japanese Olympic team that was forced to sit out the Moscow Games under a U.S.-led boycott.

Results of individual championship finals:

Men’s freestyle
55kg – Yasuhiro Morita (NSSU) df. Yuhei Ishiyama (NSSU), 2-0
60kg – Yuta Horaguchi (NSSU) df. Kei Matsumoto (Waseda), 2-0
66kg – Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu (Takushoku) df. Shota Shidochi (NSSU), 2-0
74kg – Takashi Miyahara (Meiji) df. Sosuke Takatani (Takushoku), 2-0
84kg – Atsushi Matsumoto (NSSU) df. Tomoaki Arai (Takushoku), 2-1
96kg – Keiki Shimoyashiki (NSSU) df. Wataru Kurokawa (NSSU) by fall, 2P=1:03
120kg – Boris Mujikov (YGU) df. Nobuyoshi Arakida (Senshu), 2-0
OW – Shu Miyahara, Meiji University


Men’s greco-roman
55kg – Tsubasa Ogata (NSSU) df. Tatsuya Tomioka (NSSU), 2-0
60kg – Ryota Sato (NSSU) df. Kazuma Kuramoto (YGU), 2-1
66kg – Kazumi Taniguchi (NSSU) df. Tomohiro Inoue (NSSU), 2-0
74kg – Takehiro Kanakubo (NSSU) df. Shuhei Kuraya (NSSU)
84kg – Shinnosuke Omagari (AGU) df. Kazuo Okumura (Takushoku), 2-1
96kg – Yuji Yamamoto (YGU) df. Tsukiaki Nakatani (Senshu), 2-1
120kg – Boris Mujikov (YGU) df. Nobuyoshi Arakida (Senshu), 2-1

RESULTS FROM WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY C’SHIPS



SAKAI, Osaka (August 28) – Results from the women’s wrestling university national championships at Kanaoka Park Gymnasium in Sakai, Osaka:

Championship finals
48kg – Fuyuko Mimura (Nihon Univ.) df. Nami Uchida (Toyo Univ.), 2-0
51kg – Megumi Maehara (Kansai Univ.) df. Reika Oyama (Chukyo Women’s Univ.), 2-0
55kg – Mizuho Shibata (CWU) df. Yuka Watanabe (Nippon Sports Science Univ.), 2-0
59kg – Kei Yamana (CWU) df. Kaya Tsuda (Pacific Rim Univ.), 2-0)
63kg – Mio Nishimaki (CWU) df. Karina Takahashi (Waseda Univ.) by fall, 2P=0:43
67kg – Yoshiko Inoue (CWU) df. Chiaki Kajimoto (KU) by fall, 2P=0:50
72kg – Hiroe Suzuki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) df. Yuka Masuo (CWU), 2-0
OW – Kei Yamana, Chukyo Women’s University

KASUMIGAURA WINS 19TH NAT’L HS TEAM TITLE



HIGASHI MATSUYAMA, Saitama (August 1-2) – Kasumigaura high school of Ibaraki prefecture edged local favorite Hanaharu Tokuei 4-3 to win its first team title in three years and 19th overall at the national high school freestyle wrestling championships.

Kasumigaura 60kg member Naoki Iwabuchi was named the outstanding wrestler of the team tournament.

Kasumigaura defeated another local favorite Saitama Sakae 5-2 in the semifinals while Hanasaki Tokuei edged spring invitational winner Kyoto Hachiman 4-3.

Defending national team champion Akita Shogyo fell to another local favorite Saitama Sakae high school 4-3.

MORISHITA COMPLETES FATHER-SON C’SHIP DOUBLE



HIGASHI MATSUYAMA, Saitama (August 3-4) – Fumitaka Morishita of Kasumigaura (Ibaraki) high school won the 50kg title and completed the father-son double at the high school freestyle wrestling national championships.

Morishita, who avenged a loss in the spring invitational to Mamoru Handa, was also the only individual champion from dual meet winner Kasumigaura.

Morishita’s father, Toshiharu, won the national high school championship title in 1982. The Morishita double was the second time the son of a former champion won the high school crown.

The first father-son duo began with Eikatsu Yoshida winning the national title in 1969 for Aomori’s Hachinohe Dennami high school and his son Eitoshi winning in 1998 for Kanoya Chuo high school from Kagoshima.

In other finals, Takahiro Inoue of Hyogo’s Inoue high school defeated defending Yukitaro Tanaka of Kyoto Hachiman high school for the 60kg title and did not give up a single point throughout the competition.

Inoue was also the national high school invitational champion in March. Also doubling up on the spring and summer titles were Takuma Igarashi (55kg) of Akita Shogyo, Kohei Kitamura (74kg) of Kyoto Hachiman and Ryuji Yamamoto (96kg) of Hiryu high school of Shizuoka.


Individual championship finals
50kg – Fumitaka Morishita (Kasumigaura) df. Mamoru Handa (Amino), 2-0 (5-0, 1-1)
55kg – Takuma Igarashi (Akita Shogyo) df. Asahi Tanida (Numazu Johoku), 2-1 (2-2, 4-0, 2-0)
60kg – Takahiro Inoue (Ikuei, Hyogo) df. Yukitaro Tanaka (Kyoto Hachiman), 2-0 (3-0, 1-0)
66kg – Gaku Akasawa (Hanabuki Tokuei) df. Takuma Oishihara (Amino), 2-1 (0-1, 1-0, 2-0)
74kg – Kohei Kitamura (Kyoto Hachiman) df. Koshun Hasegawa (Kajima Gakuen), 2-0 (5-2, 6-0)
84kg – Shoji Hirakawa (Mii) df. Kengo Sasaki (Kurashiki), 2-0 (3-0, 1-0)
96kg – Ryuji Yamamoto (Hiryu) df. Katsutoshi Kanazawa (Taneichi), 2-1 (0-4, 1-0, 1-0)
120kg – Yuta Yokose (Numazu Johoku) df. Kotaro Muraki (Kuri Higashi), 2-0 (1-0, 3-0)

WINNERS AT WOMEN’S WRESTLING HIGH SCHOOL NAT’L C’SHIPS



SAKAI, Osaka (August 17) – Winners from the women’s wrestling high school national championships at Kanaoka Park Gymnasium in Sakai, Osaka:

40kg – Misaku Karino, Shimabara Shonan HS, Nagasaki
43kg – Sakura Ueno, Amino HS, Kyoto
46kg – Miki Akeo, Amino HS, Kyoto
50kg – Arisa Tanaka, Saitama Sakae HS
54kg – Yu Horiuchi, Amino HS, Kyoto
58kg – Yurika Ito, Amino HS, Kyoto
63kg – Keijun Utada, Abe Gakuin HS, Tokyo
68kg – Shiori Tachihikari, Abe Gakuin HS, Tokyo
72kg – Chiaki Iijima, Abe Gakuin HS, Tokyo

WINNERS AT HIGH SCHOOL GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING NAT’L C’SHIPS



SAKAI, Osaka (August 17-19) – Winners at the greco-roman wrestling high school nationals championships at Kanaoka Park Gymnasium in Sakai, Osaka:

50kg – Tomoaki Nakano, Yaezu Chuo HS, Shizuoka
55kg – Yuji Togawa, Kagawa Chuo HS, Kagawa
60kg – Takahiro Inoue, Hyogo Ikuei, Hyogo
66kg – Kazuhiro Hanayama, Hachimanhama Kogyo HS, Ehime
74kg – Kohei Kitamura, Kyoto Hachiman HS
84kg – Toru Yokose, Morioka Kogyo HS, Iwate
96kg – Katsutoshi Kanazawa, Taneichi HS, Iwate
120kg – Seiji Saiki, Ikuei HS, Hyogo

HIRAKAWA WINS JAPAN’S 1ST MEDAL JR WORLD GRECO-ROMAN



ISTANBUL, Turkey (July 29-30) – Shinichi Hirakawa of Senshu University won Japan’s first medal in greco-roman at the junior wrestling world championships, claiming the bronze medal by fall over last year’s Asia cadet champion Murat Ramonov (KGZ).

Hirakawa, only 15th in last year’s junior world meet, opened with a pair of wins, including a 2-0 decision of European junior bronze medalist Kamil Blonski (POL), before falling to eventual champion Riza Kayaalp (TUR) in the semifinals. Kayaalp was a member of Turkey’s Olympic team in Beijing.

Japan has not had a medalist in greco-roman at the junior world championships since 1996 when the meet was combined with the espoir world championships (for wrestlers 19, 20 years old). Yasushi Miyake took a silver medal at 68kg in the 1985 espoir championships.

Also, Masayuki Amano of Chuo University finished fifth place after a loss in the bronze medal match to European junior champion Robert Papp (ROU). In addition to his three wins, Amano dropped a hard-fought battle 1-2 to eventual silver medalist Aldas Lukosaitis (LTU).

Japan’s other six entries in greco-roman lost their opening matches and did not have a chance in the consolation rounds.

In the team scoring, Japan finished in ninth place overall with 14 points. Turkey was the team winner with 59 points followed by Iran (50) and Azerbaijan (33).



Men’s greco-roman

50kg – MATSUBARA, Daichi (Daito Bunka Univ.) 14th, 19 entries
55kg – SUZUKI, Masato (Meiji Univ.) 29th, 30 entries
60kg – YOKOYAMA, Takumi (NSSU) 20th, 28 entries
66kg – TOMIZUKA, Takuya (NSSU) 27th, 34 entries
74kg – WATANABE, Tomoaki (NSSU) 33rd, 34 entries
84kg – AMANO, Masayuki (Chuo Univ.) 5th, 30 entries
96kg – NAKATANI, Tsukiaki (Senshu Univ.) 20th, 22 entries
120kg – HIRAKAWA, Shinichi (Senshu Univ.), 3rd, 19 entries

MIMURA, HORIUCHI STRIKE GOLD AT JR WORLDS



ISTANBUL, Turkey (July 31-August 1) – Fuyuko Mimura and Yu Horiuchi won gold medals and three teammates added bronze medals as Japan marked a big improvement over last year’s performance at the junior women’s wrestling world championships.

Mimura of Nihon University defeated 2007 Asia senior champion Jyldyz Eshimova-Turtbayeva (KAZ) 2-0 in the final at 48kg to complete her set of junior world championships hardware with a gold medal after a bronze in 2006 and a silver last year.

Horiuchi of Amino high school in Kyoto edged Ekaterina Krasnova (RUS) in the 51kg final for the championship. It was the third straight year that Krasnova has finished second in the junior world meet.

Also for the Japanese women, Akiko Shimizu (55kg) of the Japan Self Defense Forces team, Ayaka Sato (63) of Shigakukan high school in Aichi and Chiaki Iijima (67) of Abe Gakuin high school in Tokyo took bronze medals.

The two gold and three bronze medals were a marked improvement over last year’s lone silver medal won by Mimura, but Japan still finished in second place behind Russia, 61-52, in the team standings.



Women’s freestyle
44kg – FUJIKAWA, Chiaki (Saitama Sakae HS) 14th, 18 entries
48kg – MIMURA, Fuyuko (Nihon Univ.) 1st, 19 entries
51kg – HORIUCHI, Yu (Amino HS, Kyoto) 1st, 24 entries
55kg – SHIMIZU, Akiko (Japan SDF) 3rd, 18 entries
59kg – WATARI, Rio (Shigakukan HS, Aichi) 9th, 18 entries
63kg – SATO, Ayaka (Shigakukan HS, Aichi) 3rd, 15 entries
67kg – IIJIMA, Chiaki (Abe Gakuin HS, Tokyo) 3rd, 15 entries
72kg – MASUO, Yuka (Chukyo Women’s Univ.) 5th, 15 entries

ARAKIDA PREVENTS SHUT OUT WITH BRONZE IN JR FREESTYLE



ISTANBUL, Turkey (August 2-3) – Nobuyoshi Arakida of Senshu University notched three wins against one loss to claim a bronze medal at the men’s freestyle wrestling junior world championships.

Arakida’s 2-1 win over Clayton Jack of the United States in the bronze medal match at 120kg gave Japan its first medal in the junior freestyle world meet in two years.

In the team standings, Japan had to settle for 13th place with 10 points. Russia won the freestyle team title with six champions and 69 points, followed by Iran (49) and Georgia (41).

Men’s freestyle
50kg – no Japanese entry (25 entries)
55kg – SUTO, Manabe (Nihon Univ.) 13th, 26 entries
60kg – MATSUMOTO, Kei (Waseda Univ.) 10th, 28 entries
66kg – ISHIDA, Tomotsugu (Waseda Univ.) 13th, 33 entries
74kg – TAKETOMI, Takashi (Waseda Univ.) 20th, 30 entries
84kg – MATSUMOTO, Atsushi (NSSU) 17th, 35 entries
96kg – NAITO, Mitsuyoshi (Nihon Univ.) 10th, 22 entries
120kg – ARAKIDA, Nobuyoshi (Senshu Univ.) 3rd, 18 entries