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)
WOMEN WIN 7 IN EUROPEAN, MEN’S TOURS CANCELED
TOKYO (March 18) - A five-member squad of Japanese women
won seven titles in two European meets in
early March, but the men’s freestyle and
greco-roman teams had their own spring tours
cancelled because of the impending war in
the Middle East.
The decision to cancel the tours was
made by the Crisis Management Project of
the Japan Wrestling Federation as the war
between a U.S.-led coalition of forces and
Iraq appeared imminent. It was the first
time since the Persian Gulf War of 1991 that
the Japanese wrestling federation cancelled
the tours of its squads.
The men’s greco-roman team had been
scheduled to travel to Greece on March 18
for a training camp with a local team and
for the Acropolis tourney on March 28-30.
The men’s freestyle team was set to travel
to Belarus on March 25 for the Medved tournament
in Minsk on March 29-30 and then move to
Bulgaria for the April 5-6 Dan Kolov meet.
Earlier in the month, the Japanese women
won three championship titles at the Klippan
Ladies Open in Sweden and four at the Poland
Open in Lodz a week later. (Reports of the
competitions were filed separately.) Reigning
world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi turned away
all challengers at 72 kg to win back-to-back
titles on the tour. She was joined by world
silver medalist Chiharu Icho (51 kg) and
three-time former world champion Seiko Yamamoto.
Kaori Icho, who won the world title last
year at 63 kg, however, rebounded from a
loss in the Klippan meet to snare the Poland
Open crown.
MURASHIMA WINS IN CHINA MEET
GUILIN, China (March 13-14) - Ayako Murashima
rebounded from an early loss by pin to win
the 72-kg title at the Guilin women’s international wrestling
festival. The festival included clinics for
coaches and referees as well as joint training
and competition in the four women’s weight
categories designated for the 2004 Olympic
Games in Athens.
FILA president Raphy Martinetti and vice-president
Tomiaki Fukuda attended the festival. Japanese
veteran Shoko Yoshimura was injured during
the training session and missed the competition
at 48 kg.
48 kg - Shoko Yoshimura, TBC Tokyo club (injured)
1. Yang Zuying, China; 2. Tang Liqiong,
China; 3. Nguyen Thi Thu, Vietnam
55 kg - Chikako Matsukawa, Toyama Ichiko
HS (7th, 13 entries)
1R - pinned Dai Shiju, China
2R - lost by tech. sup. to Lee Na-Lae,
Korea
3R - bye
1. Chen Tainxian, China; 2. Xu Yanhui,
China; 3. Zhang Qingqian, China
63 kg - No Japanese entry
1. Qiong Ji, China; 2. Yun So-Young, Korea;
3. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh,Vietnam
72 kg - Ayako Murashima, Chukyo Women’s
College (1st, four entries)
1R - bye
2R - lost by fall to Dou Li, China (open
entry)
3R - pinned Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Vietnam
4R - def. Kim Kyung Mi, Korea 8-3
5R - def. Bachtiguli, China 4-1
1. Ayako Murashima, Japan; 2. Kim Kyung-Mi,
Korea; 3. Nguyen Thi Hong
Hanh, Vietnam
SASAHARA RETIRES AT JWF PRESIDENT
TOKYO (March 15) - Shozo Sasahara formally announced his
intention to
retire as president of the Japan Wrestling
Federation at a meeting of the
JWF board of directors in Tokyo. Sasahara,
who has served as JWF president since 1989,
recommended FILA vice president Tomiaki Fukuda
as his successor. The JWF board promptly
adopted the recommendation.
Fukuda, who has served as chairman of
the JWF board of directors, took
over as president on April 1.
TAKADA NAMED NEW CHAIRMAN OF JWF BOARD
TOKYO (March 22) - Yuji Takada was elected chairman of the
board of directors of the Japan Wrestling
Federation at a meeting of the board along
with the JWF national council. The directors
and council met to discuss wrestling’s budget
and operations for fiscal 2003 and the selection
of a new slate of JWF directors.
The meeting also formally approved the
promotion of Tomiaki Fukuda from
chairman of the board to JWF president following
the decision of the
directors a week earlier. Takada, a five-time
world champion who won the gold medal at
52 kg in the freestyle competition at the
1976 Montreal Olympics, is currently the
head coach at Yamanashi Gakuin University.
Along with Takada, Yusaku Imaizumi and
Mamoru Shimizu were elected as managing directors.
With the success of the Japanese women last
year, the Japanese Olympic Committee increased
its support of the JWF, which along with
other factors saw its budget increased by
about 100 million yen to 380 million yen.
The meeting also recognized the importance
of this year’s schedule with an eye on
winning gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games
in Athens. Among the measures approved by
the council and directors was the launch
in April of an “Athens Olympics Performance
Enhancement Headquarters.”
ONO RETURNED TO JOC BOARD
TOKYO (March 26) - The president of the Japan Women’s Wrestling Federation
Kiyoko Ono was returned to the board of directors
for Japanese
Olympic Committee. In the March 26 vote by
the JOC council, JOC president Tsunekazu
Takeda was reelected for another two-year
term and incoming Japan Wrestling Federation
president Tomiaki Fukuda won another term
on the JOC board. Ono, who had been on the
JOC board from 1999 to 2000, had served as
a JOC supervisor the last two years.
KASUMIGAURA WINS NAT’L HS INVITATIONAL
NIIGATA, Japan (March 28) - Kasumigaura high school of Ibaraki Prefecture
defeated Kanoya Chuo of Kagoshima 6-1 to
win the national high school wrestling invitational
tournament at Niigata Municipal Gymnasium.
Kasumigaura won its 13th team title in the
spring wrestling classic. The Ibaraki school,
which last won in 2000, was eliminated in
the third round in 2001 and lost in the quarterfinals
last year.
Third-place trophies went to Yamagata
Shogyo and Kosei Gakuin of Aomori. Last year’s
champion, Numazu Gakuen of Shizuoka, fell
5-2 in the third round to Kosei Gakuin.
In the individual competition, Kasumigaura’s
Noriyuki Takazuka, who won five national
high school titles last year, kicked off
the new wrestling year in Japan by winning
the 63-kg crown by fall over Fumiya Itakura
of Akita Keihodai high school. Takazuka’s
teammate at Kasumigaura, Yasuhiro Inaba gave
the team champions a second individual title
at 58 kg.
Individual champions:
50 kg - Makoto Anbu, Tsuchiura Nichidai (Ibaraki)
54 kg - Ken Kikuchi, Akita Shogyo
58 kg - Yasuhiro Inaba, Kasumigaura (Ibaraki)
63 kg - Noriyuki Takazuka, Kasumigaura (Ibaraki)
69 kg - Koichiro Asa, Kanoya Chuo (Kagoshima)
76 kg - Go Kudo, Kosei Gakuin (Aomori)
85 kg - Yoichi Yamagata, Nichidai Fujisawa
(Kanagawa)
120 kg - Takahiro Shimonaka, Ikeda (Tokushima)
HAMAGUCHI, WRESTLERS RECEIVE MINISTRY AWARDS
TOKYO (March 24) - Kyoko Hamaguchi led
a host of wrestlers and wrestling coaches
as recipients of sports achievement awards
presented by the Japanese Ministry of Sport
and Science.
The recipients included Hamaguchi and
fellow 2002 world champions Saori Yoshida
and Kaori Icho as well as 2001 world champions
Hitomi Sakamoto and Seiko Yamamoto. Saburo
Sugiyama, Hideaki Tomiyama, Akira Suzuki,
Kazuhito Sakae and Heigo Hamaguchi were recognized
for their coaching.
For outstanding performances in international
meets, Asian Games gold medalists Shingo
Matsumoto, Saori Yoshida and Kyoko Hamaguchi
were recognized along with Chiharu Icho,
a silver medalist at last year’s world meet.
Hideo Fujimoto, Akira Suzuki and Heigo Hamaguchi
were also honored for their coaching in this
category. Kyoko Hamaguchi delivered the address
for all of the athletes present at the awards
ceremony.