To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world

                    

By William May
(Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public Information Committee
wmay52@hotmail.com


NISHIMAKI LEADS JAPAN TO 3 GOLD AT JR WORLDS




   VILNIUS, Lithuania (July 5-10) - Aichi high school student Mio Nishimaki won her second international title in a month and led Japan to three gold medals at the junior wrestling world championships.


   Nishimaki defeated 2004 European champion Helena Allandi of Sweden in the semifinals and Asia runner-up Geetika Jakhar of India in the finals for the title. Nishimaki of Shigakukan high school, an affiliate of wrestling powerhouse Chukyo Women's University, won the Asia junior title in June.

   Meanwhile, CWU's Kei Yamana and Mami Shinkai also bagged gold medals for Japan at 59 and 67 kg, respectively. Japan's three gold medals in Vilnius bettered the lone gold Japan won in 2003. And with a silver and a bronze, Japan also topped its 3-0-2 performance in 2001.

   In men's freestyle, Yasuhiro Inaba of Senshu University took the silver medal at 55 kg while Takushoku's Kohei Fujimoto (66 kg) and Noriyuki Takatsuka (60 kg) of Nihon University snared bronze medals. Inaba's silver medal in the junior world championships was the first for Japan since Mitsuhiro Amagai, then of Waseda University, won silver at the 1992 meet.

  It was also the first time since 1984 that Japan has won three medals in the junior world championships. It was also the first time for Japan to win three medals at the junior world meet since the championships were reorganized for wrestlers 18-20 years old in 1996. Prior to 1996, the junior world meet was limited to 17- and 18-year-old wrestlers while the espoir world championships featured 19- and 20-year-olds.

  In greco-roman, however, Japan was unable to match its success in freestyle as seven wrestlers could only manage a record of one win and nine losses between them.
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Individual results

Women's freestyle
44 kg - SHINTO, Megumi (3rd, 15 entries)
 1R - df. Virginija Kepalaite (LTU) by fall, 0:42
 2R - df. Natalya Vassilieva (RUS) by fall, 5:29
 SF - lost to Nguyen Thi Hang (VIE), 0-2
 F3 - df. Ana-Maria Pop (ROM), 2-0
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48 kg - KATAFUCHI, Yuki (did not place, 18 entries)
 2R - df. Chrissandi Papadopoulou (GRE) by fall, 1:55
 3R - lost to Sara Fulp-Allen (USA) by fall, 5:40
 r1 - lost to Lyudmila Balushka (UKR), 0-2
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51 kg - SUZUKI, Nanae (2nd, 22 entries)
 2R - df. Irina Kruhlenia (BLR) by fall, 3:25
 3R - df. Joanna Mills, (GBR) by fall, 1:11
 SF - df. Olga Gilova (RUS) by fall, 0:24
 F1 - lost to Aleksandra Kohut (UKR), 1-2
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55 kg - SHIBATA, Mizuho (5th, 21 entries)
 1R - df. Maria Carmen de la Luz (ESP) by fall, 0:23
 2R - df. Laura McDougall (CAN), 2-0
 3R - lost to Johanna Mattsson (SWE), 1-2
 r1 - df. Pia Rosenkranz (GER), 2-0
 F3 - lost to Alena Filipova (BLR), 1-2
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59 kg - YAMANA, Kei (1st, 17 entries)
 2R - df. Nguyen Thi Hai Yen (VIE), 2-0
 3R - df. Viktorija Grigoreva (LAT) by fall, 0:26
 SF - df. Natalya Sinishin (UKR) by fall, 3:46
 F1 - df. Yulia Ratkevich (BLR), 2-0
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63 kg - NISHIMAKI, Mio (1st, 18 entries)
 2R - df. Jackie Cataline (USA), 2-0
 3R - df. Olga Butkevich (UKR), 2-0
 SF - df. Helena Allandi (SWE) by fall, 1:54
 F1 - df. Geetika Jakhar (IND), 2-0
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67 kg - SHINKAI, Mami (1st, 15 entries)
 1R - df. Rachelle Pinet (CAN) by fall, 3:20
 2R - df. Irina Tsyrkevich (BLR), 2-0
 SF - df. Sandra Staehl (SWE) by fall, 3:50
 F1 - df. Heather Martin (USA), 2-0
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72 kg - TANAKA, Kie (7th, 14 entries)
 1R - lost to Ali Bernard (USA) by fall, 3:26
 r1 - lost to Vasilisa Marzaliuk (BLR) by fall, 3:18
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Freestyle
50 kg - NAGAE, Shota (9th, 18 entries)
 2R - df. Aykaz Vertepenyan (UKR), 2-0
 3R - lost to Koka Kotorashvili (GEO), 1-2
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55 kg - INABA, Yasuhiro (2nd, 26 entries)
 1R - df. Kim Yong-Up (KOR), 2-0
 2R - df. Khizri Duduev (BLR), 2-0
 3R - df. Mustafa Kartal (TUR), 2-0
 SF - df. Farkhad Urazimbetov (UZB), 2-1
 F1 - lost to Besik Kudukhov (RUS), 0-2
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60 kg - TAKATSUKA, Noriyuki (3rd, 30 entries)
 1R - df. Zhan Safyan (BLR) by fall, 3:13
 2R - df. Marcel Fornoff (GER), 2-0
 3R - df. Mohsen Jahanbakhshian (IRI), 2-0
 SF - lost to Vagiv Kaziev (RUS), 0-2
 F3 - df. George Bucur (ROM), 2-0
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66 kg - FUJIMOTO, Kohei (3rd, 29 entries)
 1R - df. Valdas Visagorskis (LTU), 2-0
 2R - df. Malkhaz Muziashvili (GEO), 2-1
 3R - df. Heinrich Barnes (RSA), 2-0
 SF - lost to Shamil Batirov (RUS), 0-2
 F3 - df, Panagiotis Makrinas (GRE), 2-0
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74 kg - AKIMOTO, Naoki (11th, 27 entries)
 1R - Altynbek Kadyrkulov (KGZ), 2-0
 2R - lost to Elnur Aliev (AZE), 0-2
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84 kg - MONMA, Naoki (11th, 20 entries)
 2R - df. Yoon Chan-Urk (KOR), 2-0
 3R - lost to Samatbek Tolubaev (KGZ), 0-2
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96 kg - SHIMONAKA, Takahiro (23rd, 23 entries)
 2R - lost to Riza Yildirim (TUR), 0-2
 r1 - lost to Zaliko Martiashvili (GEO), 0-2
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120 kg - ARAKIDA, Nobuyoshi (10th, 20 entries)
 2R - df. Surender (IND), 2-0
 3R - lost Maksim Mikhailevich (BLR), 0-2
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Greco-roman
50 - NAGAE, Shota (withdrew)
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55 kg - KURAMOTO, Kazuma (17th, 31 entries)
 1R - lost to Hamid Soryan Reihanpour (IRI), 0-2
 r1 - lost to Lee Jung-Baek (KOR), 0-2
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60 kg - KIDO, Yoshitaka (12th, 35 entries)
 2R - df. Pavels Orlovs (LAT), 2-0
 3R - lost to Emil Milev (BUL), 0-2
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66 kg - IKEMATSU, Rei (22nd, 34 entries)
 2R - lost to Aleksandrs Visnakovs (LAT), 0-2
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74 kg - NEZU, Takao (16th, 31 entries)
 1R - lost to Renato Kun (HUN), 1-2
 r1 - lost to Rustam Sindarov (UZB), 0-2
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84 kg - YANO, Masaaki (29th, 31 entries)
 1R - lost to Pavel Bashlakov (BLR) by fall, 3:17
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96 - YAMAGUCHI, Ryuji (24th, 25 entries)
 1R - lost to Marcin Olejniczak (POL), 0-2
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120 kg - NAKAMURA, Atsushi (10th, 17 entries)
 2R - lost to Panagiotis Papadopoulos (GRE), 0-2