ATHENS (August 26) - Results of bouts involving Japanese entries in the fourth session of the greco-roman wrestling competition August 24-26 at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall:
60 kg (22 entries, 7 pools) - SASAMOTO, Makoto
Pool D
1R - df. Sidney Guzman (PER) by TF, 11-0, 2:31
2R - bye
3R - df. Davor Stefanek (SCG), 9-1
QF - lost to Armen Nazarian (BUL), 5-3
Sasamoto fought two-time Olympic champion Nazarian evenly over the first 90 seconds, but got caught in a front headlock and was flipped to his back for three points. With 50 seconds remaining in the match, Sasamoto converted on a passivity call with a gut wrench to close the gap to 3-2. Sasamoto then went to his reverse waist lock and hoisted Nazarian in the air for a final throw. During the throw, Nazarian appeared to grab Sasamoto's leg and the referee signaled two points for the penalty. The mat chairman, however, called for a video review and replay officials ruled there was no infraction, giving Nazarian two points for exposure and the win. The loss relegated Sasamoto to the match for fifth place with Kazakhstan's Nurlan Koizhaiganov.
