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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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.