By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
：wmay52@hotmail.com）
YUMOTO WINS WRESTLE-OFF FOR OLYMPIC BERTH
TOKYO (June 25-26) - Kenichi Yumoto won a special Olympic team wrestle-off
at the Meiji Nyugyo Cup national invitational to secure his spot on the
Japanese squad for the Beijing Games in August. Yumoto defeated national
champion Noriyuki Takatsuka 1-0, 1-0 at Yoyogi Gymnasium for the freestyle
berth at 60 kg, which Yumoto won for Japan in May.
Yumoto could have secured the berth outright with a championship title in the invitational, but lost his opening match as the title went to Takatsuka. In the wrestle-off, Yumoto won from the clinch in the first period and then spun behind for a late point in the second.
Yumoto’s twin brother, Shinichi, also won his first title at 55 kg and
was named the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament. Former national
team member Kunihiko Obata won his first national title since moving up
to 84 kg in freestyle and Kohei Hasegawa reprised his performance from
the national championships in December to win the 55-kg crown in greco-roman.
Obata and Hasegawa were named the outstanding wrestlers in their respective
styles.
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Results of the championship finals:
Greco-Roman
55 - Kohei Hasegawa df. Shingo Hirai, 2-1 (2-0, 1-1x, 2-0)
60 - Hideo Kitaoka df. Yasuyuki Tanioka, 2-1 (1-2, 3-1, 6-0=1:37)
66 - Hiroyuki Shimizu df. Yuji Okamoto, 2-1 (2-0, 1-2, 2-1)
74 - Naoto Kasai df. Yuichi Tanaka, 2-0 (3-1, 1x-1)
84 - Mitsuhiro Ota df. Mitsuru Yoshida, 2-0 (4-0, 7-0=1:27)
96 - Yuji Yamamoto df. Shoichi Kitazono, 2-0 (3-1, 4-0)
120 - Hirokazu Shinjo df. Atsushi Nakamura, 2-1 (1x-1, 0-3, 1x-1)
SHODA WINS WRESTLE-OFF FOR SPOT ON WORLD C’SHIP SQUAD
TOKYO (June 26) - Ayako Shoda regained her spot on the women’s national
team at 59 kg in a special wrestle-off with reigning national champion
Mizuho Kajita. Shoda made a bid for the Japanese Olympic team at 72 kg
at the all-Japan national championships in December, but was defeated by
Kyoko Hamaguchi while Kajita claimed the title at 59 kg.
In April, Shoda regained the 59-kg crown at the Japan Beverage Cup women’s
national championships, forcing a wrestle-off with Kajita for a position
on the Japanese squad for the world championships in October. In the wrestle-off,
Shoda won 4-0, 1-0. In October, the three-time world champion will be wrestling
in her fourth straight and fifth overall world championship meet.
JWF HONORS RETIRING NAT’L TEAM MEMBERS
TOKYO (June 26) - A former Olympic team member and a one-time Asian Games
bronze medalist were among five retiring veteran wrestlers honored by the
Japan Wrestling Federation on the final day of Meiji Nyugyo Cup men’s national
invitational tournament.
Tokyo police officer Masatoshi Toyota, Japan’s entry at 55 kg at the 2004 Athens Games, and fellow greco-roman veteran Masaki Imuro, a bronze medalist at the 2006 Asian Games, were honored along with freestyle world team members Yutaka Suzuki (84 kg), Kiyotaka Kodaira (96) and Akihito Tanaka (120).
SASAMOTO WINS, ALL JAPANESE TAKE MEDALS AT GERMAN GP
DORTMUND, Germany (June 21-22) - Makoto Sasamoto defeated Athens Olympic
silver medalist Roberto Monzon of Cuba to take the 60-kg crown in greco-roman
at the German Grand Prix tournament, Japan’s final international test before
the Olympic Games in August.
Sasamoto, runner-up at the 2007 world championships, edged the eight-time
Pan American champion 2-1 in a hard-fought match-up dominated by defensive
points. The only offensive points came on a gut wrench by Sasamoto near
the end of the third period. Sasamoto’s victory also paced Japan’s five
other entries, including four wrestlers headed to Beijing, to medal-winning
performances.
In greco-roman, Kenzo Kato won his first medal at an international competition with a bronze at 96 kg, while Shingo Matsumoto defeated 2005 world champion Alim Selimov of Belarus for a bronze medal at 84 kg.
In freestyle, Tomohiro Matsunaga (55) and Kazuhiko Ikematsu (66) both had
to settle for silver medals as both were stymied offensively in their championship
matches. Takayuki Suzuki, the squad’s lone non-Olympic entry, pulled down
a bronze medal at 74 kg in his first international competition since moving
up one weight class.
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Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:
Freestyle
55 kg - MATSUNAGA, Tomohiro (2nd, 8 entries)
R1 - df. Marcin Pawlak (POL) by fall, 1P=1:55 (F4-0)
SF - df. Christoph Ewald (GER), 2-0 (7-0=1:45, 7-0=1:43)
F1 - lost to Bayaraa Naranbaatar (MGL), 0-2, 0-3, 0-1=2:06)
66 kg - IKEMATSU, Kazuhiko (2nd, 11 entries)
R1 - df. Rudiger Kabus (GER), 2-0 (6-0=1:52, 4-0)
R2 - df. Martin Buhz (GER), 2-1 (1-3, 6-0=1:53, 2-0)
SF - df. Buyanjav Bazorig (MGL), 2-1 (1-0=2:19, 1-4, 1-0=2:04)
F1 - lost to Paata Nozadze (RUS), 1-2 (1-3, 1-0, 0-4)
74 kg - SUZUKI, Takayuki (3rd, 9 entries)
R1 - bye
R2 - df. Ma Jijun (CHN), 2-0 (2x-2=last point, 2-0)
SF - lost to Krystian Brzozowski (POL), 0-2 (3-4, 1-3)
F3 - df. Steven Gottschling (GER), 2-0 (2-1, 4-0)
Greco-Roman
60 kg - SASAMOTO, Makoto (1st, 7 entries)
R1 - bye
SF - df. Edgar Barsegjan (POL), 2-1 (3-0, 1-2, 5-0)
F1 - df. Roberto Monzon (CUB), 2-1 (1-1x, 1x-1, 3-0)
84 kg - MATSUMOTO, Shingo (3rd, 15 entries)
R1 - df. Alo Toom (EST), 2-1 (4-1, 0-3, 2-0)
R2 - df. Attila Batky (SVK), 2-1 (1x-1, 1-1x, 3-2)
SF - lost to Andrey Baranovski (BLR), 0-2 (0-4, 0-4)
F3 - df. Alim Selimov (BLR), 2-0 (2-1, 1x-1)
96 kg - KATO, Kenzo (3rd, 8 entries)
R1 - lost to Vladzimir Berdzik (BLR), 0-2 (0-6=1:00, 4-6)
F3 - df. Andrzej Deberny (POL), 2-1 (2-1, 0-5, 1x-1)
TSURUMAKI TAKES 3RD AT GOLDEN GP MEET
TOKYO (June 29) - Tsukasa Tsurumaki took a third place at the Golden Grand
Prix competition June 27 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Tsurumaki, who finished third
in the Hungarian Grand Prix meet in March, lost in the semifinal to 2006
GGP champion Ilgar Abdulov of Azerbaijan, but rebounded for a win in the
bronze medal match.
Results of individual bouts:
74 kg - TSURUMAKI, Tsukasa (3rd, 11 entries)
R1 - df. Samed Chopsiyev (AZE), 2-0 (2-1, 1x-1)
R2 - df. Rafiq Huseynov (AZE), 2-1 (1-1x, 4-2, 1x-1)
SF - lost to Ilgar Abdulov (AZE), 2-1 (1-1, 1-1, 0-5)
F3 - df. Ramazan Shahin (TUR) by fall, 1P (time not available)
GABER TO TRAIN IN JAPAN BEFORE BEIJING OLYMPICS
TOKYO (June 24) - Athens Olympic gold medalist Karam Gaber and the Egyptian
wrestling team along with squads from Tunisia and Denmark will train in
Japan prior to the August 8-24 Beijing Games. Gaber, who won the gold medal
in greco-roman at 96 kg, will lead an Egyptian squad that includes four
greco-roman wrestlers along with two men and one woman in freestyle wrestling.
Meanwhile, 2006 world champion Mohamad Abdel Fatah, who did not qualify for the Beijing Games, will join the Egyptian delegation as a sports journalist -- his listed profession on the FILA Database website.
The Egyptian team is scheduled to arrive in Japan after July 10, practice
at the Sugadaira highlands in Nagano from the 14th and then leave for Beijing
around the 30th.
Two female wrestlers from Tunisia are scheduled to be in Japan until August 10 and then head for Beijing, while a Denmark’s three greco-roman entries and one partner are scheduled to arrive in Japan on July 30 and leave for the Chinese capital on August 7.
NTV SHOW ON FEMALE WRESTLING EDGES NHK NEWS IN SUNDAY A.M. SLOT
TOKYO (June 4) - A Sunday morning talk show on the Nippon Television Network
(NTV) outscored the normally dominant news program of the Japan Broadcasting
Corporation (NHK) on June 1 with a discussion of Japanese female wrestling.
Although aired at 7 a.m., the program hosted by popular Japanese comedian
Joji Tokoro pulled down a 10.2% viewership rating with a discussion and
analysis why Japanese female wrestling is so successful.
The program, which edged NHK’s news program by 0.1% in the viewership ratings,
featured Japanese national team coach Kazuhito Sakae as well as Olympic
and world champion Saori Yoshida. Television analysts said that the success
of the program was a reflection of growing interest in Japan’s female wrestlers
in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in August.
NTV has been a strong supporter of Japanese female wrestling in recent years and will broadcast the women’s world championships in Tokyo in October.
IKEMATSU WINS AT GREAT BRITAIN CUP
TOKYO (June 12) - Japanese Olympic team members Kazuhiko Ikematsu and Tomohiro
Matsunaga kicked off a pre-Olympic training tour in Europe with medal-winning
performances at the Great Britain Cup wrestling tournament. Ikematsu posted
three wins at 66 kg for the championship and was named the tournament’s
outstanding wrestler.
Matsunaga, meanwhile, was wrestling up a weight at 60 kg and had to settle
for second place. Also, Takayuki Suzuki, getting used to his new weight
category of 74 kg, advanced to the finals, but fell 1-1, 0-1 to Hungarian
Olympic qualifier Gabor Hatos.
JAPAN TO SEND ’07 COLLEGIATE CHAMPS TO WORLD UNIV. MEET
TOKYO (June 28) - Japan will send a squad comprising several collegiate
champions from 2007 to the world university championships in Thessaloniki,
Greece, July 9-13. The competition is held every two years and in 2006
Japanese wrestlers won a bronze medal in men’s freestyle, two bronze in
greco-roman as well as two gold and three silver in the women’s events.
TOKYO (June 25-26) - Kenichi Yumoto won a special Olympic team wrestle-off
at the Meiji Nyugyo Cup national invitational to secure his spot on the
Japanese squad for the Beijing Games in August. Yumoto defeated national
champion Noriyuki Takatsuka 1-0, 1-0 at Yoyogi Gymnasium for the freestyle
berth at 60 kg, which Yumoto won for Japan in May.
SHODA WINS WRESTLE-OFF FOR SPOT ON WORLD C’SHIP SQUAD
DORTMUND, Germany (June 21-22) - Makoto Sasamoto defeated Athens Olympic
silver medalist Roberto Monzon of Cuba to take the 60-kg crown in greco-roman
at the German Grand Prix tournament, Japan’s final international test before
the Olympic Games in August.