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)
U.S. TO REPLACE SWEDEN IN WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
TOKYO (September 24)
- The United States will replace Sweden in
the World Cup of women’s wrestling to be
held October 11-12 in Tokyo. Organizers of
the event announced that Sweden, runner-up
in the team standings at last year’s world
championships in Greece, had asked to pull
out of the competition after a series of
injuries at this year’s world meet in New
York.
In place of Sweden, the
United States will send its world championships
squad that won a gold medal, four silver
and two bronze in New York. The U.S. team
tied Japan in the team standings with 62
points, but had to settle for the second-place
trophy on the basis of Japan’s larger number
of gold medals (5).
Meanwhile, organizers
also announced that former FILA female wrestler
of the year Hitomi Sakamoto will be replaced
on the Japanese squad at 51 kg by Asian championships
gold medalist Ninako Hattori.
The Japanese squad, seeking
its third straight World Cup title, is holding
a training camp from September 25 to October
at its Tokamachi site in Niigata Prefecture.
FUKUDA TO KEY POST WITH OLYMPIANS TO ATHENS
TOKYO (September 22) -
Tomiaki Fukuda, president of the Japan Wrestling
Federation, was elected general manager of
the Japanese delegation for next year’s
Olympic Games in Athens, the Japanese Olympic
Committee announced.
Fukuda will be attending
his fourth Olympics as an official with the
Japanese delegation. Fukuda was the
head coach of Japan’s freestyle team for
the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and was a member
of the JOC headquarters staff for the Japanese
delegation at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and
again for the 2000 Games in Sydney.
The Japanese chef de mission
will be JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda and
the deputy chief of the Japanese delegation
will be JOC executive director Tsutomu Hayashi.
The Athens Games are set
for August 13-19, 2004.
NIHON UNIV. WINS COLLEGIATE DUAL MEET TITLE
TOKYO (September 22) -
Nihon University upended three-time defending
champion Nippon Sports Science University
in the second round and rolled to its ninth
collegiate dual meet championship.
Nihon University, or Nichidai,
romped 6-1 over Senshu University at Komazawa
Gymnasium to claim its first championship
since 1997. Kokushikan University took third
and Chuo University was fourth. Takushoku
University, which won the East Japan Collegiate
Championship title in May fell in the second
round 3-4 to Senshu.
CORRECTION: ISOKAWA 11TH FROSH TO WIN OPEN
TITLE
TOKYO - We reported in
last month’s wrestling news that Takao Isokawa
of Takushoku University was the 10th freshman
to win in the collegiate open wrestling championships.
We have learned since
then that Toshiaki Ishikawa of Nihon University
also won a title as a first-year student
in 1977, making this year’s 84-kg champion
Isokawa the 11th freshman to win in the collegiate
open. We apologize for any inconvenience
that may have resulted from this error.
(Note: The names of previous
champions in the collegiate open have been
recorded without reference to their academic
year. We, therefore, have had to rely
on the memories of persons connected with
the different competitions to complete our
records. We understand that there may be
more freshman winners in the 1960s and 1970s
and ask people who might have information
regarding this question to contact the Japan
Wrestling Federation.)
The list of freshman champions
in the collegiate open as we currently know
it: Akira Miyahara (Meiji University, 1971),
Katsuhiko Uno (Nippon Physical Education
College, 1971), Toshiaki Ishikawa (Nihon
University, 1977), Satoru Goizuka (Daito
Bunka University, 1979), Tamon Honda (NU,
1982), Takashi Kobayashi (NU, 1982), Kosei
Akaishi (NU, 1983), Kazuyuki Fujita (NU,
1989), Hisashi Fujita (Yamanashi Gakuin University,
1998), Kunihiko Obata (YGU, 1999), Takao
Isokawa (Takushoku University, 2003).