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）

SASAMOTO MVP 2ND STRAIGHT YEAR AT JAPAN INVITATIONAL


　　TOKYO (June 12-14) - Makoto Sasamoto breezed through the 60-kg category in greco-roman and was named the most outstanding wrestler of the Japan invitational tournament for a second year running.　Sasamoto, who finished seventh at 58 kg at last year's world championships in Patras Greece, rolled 7-0 over Mitsuo Tomiya in the final at 60 kg to secure a berth on the national team for the world championships in Moscow and the Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea this fall.

　　In freestyle, two-time Olympic team member Tatsuo Kawai lost to Ritsumeikan University student Katsutoshi Semba in the final at 84 kg for his first loss in Japan since falling to Hidekazu Yokoyama in the 82-kg final in the 1994 national championships.

　　Sydney Olympian Chikara Tanabe was named the outstanding wrestle of the freestyle competition after winning the 55-kg crown for his first invitational title in three years. Shingo Matsumoto was picked the outstanding wrestler of the greco-roman meet after winning the 84-kg title. The invitational served as a national team selection meet for the Asian Games and world championships this fall. In cases where the winners in last December's national championships were different from the invitational winner, a special wrestle-off was held for the national team.

　　The freestyle national team is scheduled to travel to Russia in July for joint training with some local Russian teams and then compete in an international meet there.　The greco-roman team, meanwhile, will travel to South Korea for training with the Korean national team.
−−−−
Finals results

Freestyle

55 kg
Chikara Tanabe def. Shingo Hirai 5-0

60kg
Ryosuke Ota def. Kenji Inoue 7-2

66 kg
Kazuhiko Ikematsu def. Kiyofumi Kanabuchi 3-0

74 kg
Kunihiko Obata def. Yuji Kudo 7-4

84 kg
Katsutoshi Semba def. Tatsuo Kawai 4-3, O.T. 6:29

96 kg
Yoshihiro Nakao def. Kiyotaka Kodaira 4-0

120 kg
Akihito Tanaka def. Hisashi Fujita 9-4
----
Greco-roman

55 kg
Takashi Yasuhara def. Tomoya Murata 4-0, O.T. 6:38

60 kg
Makoto Sasamoto def. Mitsuo Tomiya 7-0

66 kg
Masaki Imuro def. Mitsuo Hirai 2-1, O.T. 9:00

74 kg
Katsuhiko Nagata def. Taichi Suga 4-0

84 kg
Shingo Matsumoto def. Hideki Kinoshita by fall 1:51 (9-0)

96 kg
Kenzo Kato def. Nobuaki Ota 4-0

120 kg
Hirotoshi Segawa def. Masanori Muroya 4-0
----
Wrestle-off results

Freestyle

55 kg
1st round
Shingo Hirai (national champion, 58 kg) def. Tomohiro Matsunaga (NC, 54) 5-3

2nd round
Chikara Tanabe (invitational champion) def. Hirai 11-5

66 kg
1st round
Kazuyuki Miyata (NC, 69) def. Kiyofumi Kanabuchi (NC, 63) 4-2, O.T. 6:37

2nd round
Kazuhiko Ikematsu (IC) def. Miyata by injury default, 0:38 (0-1)

84 kg
Katsutoshi Semba (IC) def. Tatsuo Kawai (NC 85) by injury default
----
Greco-roman

55 kg
Tomoya Murata (NC 54) def. Takashi Yasuhara (IC) 3-1, O.T. 6:33

96 kg
Yusuke Morikaku (NC 97) def. Kenzo Kato (IC) 4-0
----
National teams for world championships and Asian Games:

Freestyle: 55 Chikara Tanabe, 60 Ryosuke Ota, 66 Kazuhiko Ikematsu, 74 Kunihiko Obata, 84 Katsutoshi Semba, 96 Yoshihiro Nakao, 120 Akihito Tanaka
Greco-roman: 55 Tomoya Murata, 60 Makoto Sasamoto, 66 Masaki Imuro, 74 Katsuhiko Nagata, 84 Shingo Matsumoto, 96 Yusuke Morikake, 120 kg Hirotoshi Segawa
YOSHIDA, ICHO, HAMAGUCHI NAMED TO ASIAN GAMES SQUAD

　　TOKYO (June 30) - Saori Yoshida, Kaori Icho and Kyoko Hamaguchi were named to the Japanese national team for the women's wrestling competition at the Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea this fall. The selections were based on the results of the Japan Queen's Cup competition in April and wrestle-off matches at the women's national team training camps this spring. Yoshida, who owns three straight wins over world champion Seiko Yamamoto this year, was selected as Japan's entry at 55 kg. Icho, a 17-year-old high school student from Aomori Prefecture, has won the JQC crown twice and is Japan's choice at 63 kg.

　　Three-time world champion Hamaguchi, FILA's female wrestler of the year in 1998, will wrestle at 72 kg. Women's wrestling will be making its debut at the Asian Games and will be contested at the four weights designated for the event's Olympic debut in Athens in 2004. Entries from one country in the Asian Games, however, are limited to three categories. Japan's seven entries for the women's world championships in Greece this fall will be decided in July after the conclusion of the national team training camps.
MATSUNAGA, 4 WOMEN WIN TITLES AT STUDENT WORLD C'SHIPS

　　EDMONTON, Canada (June 21-25) - Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga defeated Iran's Babak Nourzad to win the 55-kg freestyle crown at the world university championships while the Japanese women came away with four of the seven titles up for grabs. Matsunaga's triumph gave Japan its second world university champion after Makoto Sasamoto won the 58-kg greco-roman championship at the Tokyo meet two years ago.

　　Japan also got bronze medal performances from Masahiko Nagashima of Aoyama Gakuin University at 66 kg in freestyle while the Japanese team finished fourth overall.

　　In greco-roman, Ikuo Usuda of Takushoku University grabbed a bronze medal at 66 kg with a 3-1 win over Cui Peng of China. Usuda fell to evental champion Bunyamin Emik of Turkey by technical fall in the semifinals.

　　In the women's event, making its debut at the world university championships, three-time world champion Seiko Yamamoto did not give up a point in her four matches and led a quartet of Japanese wrestlers to individual championship titles. Japan, however, could only manage a third-place finish in the team race because of a injury default at 67 kg.

　　Mika Noguchi won by fall over five-time world champion Zhong Xiue of China in the final for the title at 48 kg.
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Results of Japanese entries:

Freestyle

55 kg (9 entries) - MATSUNAGA, Tomohiro (Nippon Sport Science
University, 1st)
1R - won by fall, Kim Hyo-Sub, Korea
2R - won by fall, Michael Stitt, Canada
3R - bye
SF - won 8-2, Ghenadie Tulbea, Moldova
FINAL - won 6-1, Babak Nourzad, Iran
----
69 kg (8 entries) - MATSUO, Daishi (NSSU, 6th)
1R - won 4-1, Mustafa Biger, Turkey
2R - lost by technical fall 0-10, Jung Hyo-Sub, Korea
3R - lost 2-5, Chris Fleeger, U.S.
----
66 kg (12 entries) - NAGASHIMA, Masahiko (Aoyama Gakuin University, 3rd)
1R - bye
2R - won 7-3, Ilhami Orhan, Turkey
3R - won 3-2, Rob Lang, Canada
SF - lost 0-6, Ali Reza Dabir, Iran
FINAL (3RD) - won 4-3 Ahto Raska, Estonia
----
74 kg (9 entries) - NAGASHIMA, Kazuyuki (Waseda University, 6th)
1R - bye
2R - lost 2-3, Andrew Hrovat, U.S.
3R - won by technical fall 10-0, Daniel Dancak, Slovakia
R1 - lost 3-5, Xu Xuanchong, China
R2 - bye
R3 - lost by fall, Kim Youn-Ho, Korea
----
84 kg (8 entries) - SEMBA, Katsutoshi (Ritsumeikan University, 5th)
1R - won by fall, Nandana Jayabahu, Sri Lanka
2R - lost by fall, Damion Hahn, U.S.
3R - won 4-3, Sergei Kolesnikov, Israel
----
96 kg (8 entries) - TANAKA, Akihito (Senshu University, 5th)
1R - lost 1-7 Hamid Saifi, Iran
2R - lost by technical fall 0-10, Steve Snyders, Canada
3R - won 4-3, Mark Cocker, Britain
----
120 kg (6 entries) - SAWADA, Naoki (Takushoku University, 5th)
1R - bye
2R - lost 0-9, Abdol Reza Kargar, Iran
3R - lost 1-3, Li Jinlong, China
----
Greco-roman

55 kg (7 entries) - MURAKAMI, Bunsei (Takushoku, 6th)
1R - won 6-4, Ernesto Salazar, Mexico
2R - lost by technical fall 1-14, Hassan Rangraz, Iran
3R - lost by technical fall 0-10, Wang Hui, China
----
60 kg (11 entries) - YANAGAWA, Ikuhiro (NSSU, 7th)
1R - won 3-2, Morgan Le Moroux, France
2R - lost by technical fall 2-16, Aghbolagh Ali Ashkani, Iran
3R - lost by technical fall 0-12, Ai Lineur, China
----
66 kg (13 entries) - USUDA, Ikuo (Takushoku, 3rd)
1R - won 6-2, Fred Harrison, Canada
2R - won by technical fall 10-0, Armando Zamudio, Mexico
3R - bye
SF - lost by technical fall 0-11, Bunyamin Emik, Turkey
FINAL (3RD) - won 3-1, Cui Peng, China
----
74 kg (11 entries) - IWASAKI, Yuki (NSSU, 7th)
1R - lost by technical fall 0-11, Alah Mikhalovich, Belarus
2R - won by technical fall 10-0, Cam Weatherby, Canada
3R - lost 1-3, Seyed Hossein Marasheian, Iran
----
84 kg (7 entries) - TAMORI, Takeo (Yamanashi Gakuin University, 4th)
1R - bye
2R - lost by technical fall 0-10, Nazami Avluca, Turkey
3R - won 9-6, Chris Maynes, Canada
FINAL (3rd) - lost by technical fall 0-10, Tuomo Mantyla, Finland
----
96 kg (9 entries) - KATO, Kenzo (Daito Bunka University, 8th)
1R - lost 0-3, Han Dezhi, China
2R - lost 0-3, Rasoul Jazini Dorcheh, Iran
3R - bye
----
120 kg (7 entries) - FUKUDA, Hiroki (YGU, 6th)
1R - bye
2R - lost by technical fall 0-10, Ali Reza Gharibi, Iran
3R - lost 0-7, Paul Devlin, U.S.
----
Women

48 kg (9 entries) - NOGUCHI, Mika (Chukyo Women's University, 1st)
1R - won by fall, Elizabeth Short, U.S.
2R - bye
3R - won by fall, Maria Barraza, Mexico
SF - won 5-1, Belinda Chou, Taiwan
FINAL - won by fall, Zhong Xiue, China
----
51 kg (5 entries, round robin) - ICHO, Chiharu (CWU, 1st)
1R - won by technical fall 11-0, Kera Pemberton, U.S.
2R - won by technical fall 11-0, Liliana Rosales Alcantar, Mexico
3R - won 5-1, Gao Yanzhi, China
4R - won 6-2, Lindsay Belisle, Canada
5R - bye
----
55 kg (5 entries, round robin) - YAMAMOTO, Seiko (Nihon University, 1st)
1R - won by fall, Sarah Tolin, U.S.
2R - bye
3R - won by technical fall 11-0, Saira Martinez Zoldana, El Salvador
4R - won 5-0, Dong Mei, China
5R - won by technical fall 10-0, Tonya Verbeek, Canada
----
59 kg (8 entries) - YOSHIDA, Saori (CWU, 1st)
1R - won by fall, Erica Vargas, Mexico
2R - won by fall, Filomena Curatella, Italy
3R - won by technical fall 12-0, Meryem Selloum, Canada
FINAL - won 8-2, Su Huihua, China
----
63 kg (9 entries) - SUGA, Ayako (Nihon, 6th)
1R - won by default, Han Jin-Young, Korea
2R - lost by fall, Malgorzata Bassa, Poland
3R - bye
R1 - lost by fall, Viola Yanik, Canada
R2 - lost 0-3, Nadia Moussaoui, France
----
67 kg (3 entries) - No Japanese entry
----
72 kg (3 entries, round robin) - MURASHIMA, Ayako (CWU, 3rd)
1R - lost by technical fall 0-10, Pam Wilson, Canada
2R - lost by fall, Samantha Branka, U.S.
3R - bye