To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world
By William May
(Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
Kyodo World Services, senior sports writer:wmay52@hotmail.com)
TANABE EARNS 6TH AT FS WORLD C'SHIPS
TEHERAN (September 5-7) - Tokyo police
officer Chikara Tanabe earned asixth place
for Japan at the freestyle wrestling world
championships in Tehran for Japan's first
top 10 finish in the world championships
since Takahiro Wada won a silver medal in
1995. Tanabe was the only wrestler to advanced
out of the preliminary pool groupings, but
then lost 5-3 to 1999 world silver medalist
Adam Achilov of Uzbekistan in the first round
of the championship bracket.
Host Iran won the team title with 43
points, followed by Russia (42) and Cuba
(34). Japan finished in 21st place with five
points.
----
Japanese results:
55 kg - TANABE, Chikara (6th, 24 entries)
1R - defeated Hector Luis Camacho, Venezuela
10-0, 1:45
2R - defeated Ivan Velkov Dyorev, Bulgaria
3-2, 7:39
3F - bye
QF - lost to Adam Achilov, Uzbekistan 5-3
Medal winners: Gold - Rene Montero Rosales,
Cuba; Silver - Namik
Abdullaev, Azerbaijan; Bronze - Alexander
Zakharuk, Ukraine
----
60 kg - OTA, Ryosuke (27 entries)
1R - lost to Yandro Miguel Quintana Ribalta,
Cuba 6-0
2R - bye
3R - Aram Markarjan, Armenia 3-2
Medal winners: Gold - Harun Dogan, Turkey;
Silver - Aram Markarjan,
Armenia; Bronze - Purevbaatar Oyunbuleg,
Mongolia
----
66 kg - IKEMATSU, Kazuhiko (31 entries)
1R - defeated Li Chuan, China 7-0
2R - bye
3R - lost to Ali Reza Dabir, Iran 6-4
Medal winners: Gold - Elbrus Tedeev, Ukraine;
Silver - Ali Reza Dabir,
Iran; Bronze - Zaur Botaev, Russia
----
74 kg - OBATA, Kunihiko (29 entries)
1R - lost to Mehdi Hajizadeh Jouibari, Iran
5-2
2R - lost to Eusebiu Diaconu, Romania 4-1
3R - bye
Medal winners: Gold - Mehdi Hajizadeh Jouibari,
Iran; Silver - Magomed
Isagaschiev, Russia; Bronze - Ahmet Guelhan,
Turkey
----
84 kg - SEMBA, Katsutoshi (25 entries)
1R - defeated Gabor Kapuvari, Hungary by
fall, 4:55 (5-7)
2R - bye
3R - lost to Yoel Romero Palacio, Cuba by
fall, 4:20 (0-7)
Medal winners: Gold - Adam Saitiev, Russia;
Silver - Yoel Romero
Palacio, Cuba; Bronze - Majid Khodaee(イラン)
----
96 kg - NAKAO, Yoshihiro (23 entries)
1R - lost to T. Enkhtuya, Mongolia 4-1
2R - lost to Vadim Tasoev, Ukraine
3R - bye
Medal winners: Gold - Eldari Kurtanidze,
Georgia; Silver - Alireza
Heydari, Iran; Bronze - Vadim Tasoev, Ukraine
----
120 kg - TANAKA, Akihito (24 entries)
1R - lost to Ruslan Shikhsafiyev, Kazakhstan
7-5
2R - bye
3R - defeated Antoine Bakhoun, Senegal 11-2
Medal winners: Gold - David Musulbes, Russia;
Silver - Alexis Rodriguez
Valera, Cuba; Bronze - Aydin Polatci, Turkey
SASAMOTO MISSES PLACE IN GR WORLD C'SHIPS
MOSCOW (September 20-22) - Makoto Sasamoto
won his preliminary poolgroup but lost in
the first round of the championship bracket
at 60 kg and
had to settle for 11th place at the greco-roman
wrestling world championships. Sasamoto,
who finished seventh at 58 kg the year before
in Patras Greece, lost by technical fall
to Asledin Khudoyberdiev of Uzbekistan in
the quarterfinal round. Details are available
in items posted earlier on this
website.
Japan's five other entries in the championships
did not advance out of there groups, although
Tomoya Murata posted an upset win over 1999
world silver medalist Ha Yae-Yeon of South
Korea in the preliminaries at 55 kg. Japan
has failed to win a medal in greco-roman
in the world championships since 1995, when
Hiroshi Kado took a silver at 48 kg in Prague.
FUKUDA RE-ELECTED TO FILA BUREAU IN MOSCOW
MOSCOW (September 19) - Tomiaki Fukuda,
chairman of the board of directors of the
Japan Wrestling Federation, was elected to
a second six-year term on the FILA Bureau
at the FILA Congress in Moscow. Also elected
to the Bureau were Theodoros Hamakos of Greece,
Mikhail Mamiachvili of Russia, Csaba Hegedus
of Hungary, Tzeno Tzenov of Bulgaria and
Larry Sciacchetano of the United States.
Also at the Congress meeting, Milan Ercegan
stepped down as FILA president after 30 years
and FILA vice president Raphael Martinetti
was uncontested in the vote for new president.
Martinetti said that he plans to meet with
the president of the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge in October
to discuss an IOC report calling for the
elimination of one of the disciplines of
wrestling -- freestyle or greco-roman.
He called for the cooperation of IOC
vice president Vitaly Smirnov, who was present
at the congress, in trying to save both styles
of wrestling in the Olympic Games.
NAITO RECEIVES FILA GOLDEN WHISTLE AWARD
MOSCOW (September 22) - Japan's Yoshimitsu
Naito received the Golden Whistle Award from
FILA at the greco-roman wrestling world championships
as one of wrestling's top referees. The last
Japanese official to receive the award was
Mitsuo Tomioka, who was awarded the prize
at the 1995 freestyle world championships
in Atlanta.
AKAISHI RETURNS HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN
TOKYO (September 24) - Former world and
Olympic silver medalist Kosei Akaishi returned
to Japan after six weeks of instructing the
Afghan wrestling team in preparation for
the Asian Game, which got under way in Pusan,
South Korea on September 29. Akaishi, who
won the silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics, traveled to South Korea for the
games after just a brief stay in Japan.
NSSU WINS COLLEGIATE DUAL MEET CROWN
TOKYO (September 20) - Nippon Sports
Science University (NSSU) defeated Senshu
University 5-2 in the finals of the collegiate
dual meet championship tournament to win
its third straight dual meet crown and 23rd
overall. The competition featured 14 teams
in a single-elimination tournament bracket
at Komazawa Gymnasium in Tokyo. Yamanashi
Gakuin Univeristy defeated Takushoku University
4-3 for third place.
MELBOURNE GOLD MEDALIST IKEDA DIES
TOKYO (September 12) - Mitsuo Ikeda,
welterweight champion at the 1956 Melbourne
Olympics, died of throat cancer in Tokyo.
Ikeda was born in Hokkaido in 1935 and wrestled
at Chuo University in Tokyo. He won the Japanese
welterweight title in 1953 and won gold medals
in Melbourne along with Shozo Sasahara, currently
president of the Japan Wrestling Federation.