To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world
By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
：wmay52@hotmail.com）
M. Sakamoto leaves CWU for Wako WC
WAKO, Saitama (April 1) - Chukyo Women’s University freshman Makiko
Sakamoto has left Japan’s top female wrestling team to join older sister
Hitomi at practice with the Japan Self Defense Forces (SDF) club. The younger
Sakamoto, widely considered Japan’s future at 48 kg, expects to take the
SDF entrance exam in the fall and formally join the Japanese military team
next spring. “I want to practice with Hitomi. And together we will aim
for the Beijing Olympics,” Sakamoto said after a winter tour of Russia.
“I’m really grateful Mr. (Kazuhito) Sakae for all he did at CWU to make
me a national champion, but the feeling that I want to be with my sister
and aim for Beijing together keeps getting stronger.”
CWU and national team head coach Sakae was philosophical about Sakamoto’s
departure from the team. “We have to respect Makiko’s wishes and we hope
the SDF coaches will teach her well,” Sakae said. “Along with her older
sister, we hope that one plus one equals three, or even four. And even
though she will be practicing with the SDF team, I will see her at national
team training camps and I will still train her with the goal of becoming
a world and Olympic champion.”
Meanwhile, the head coach of the Wako wrestling club, Kenji Fujikawa
remarked “I want to thank Mr. Sakae for letting us have his student. I’m
eager to get to work with her, but I also feel a sense of responsibility.”
“First, we will aim for the world championship title this year. And then,
do our best to win the gold medal in Beijing and repay our debt to Mr.
Sakae.”
Sakamoto won the national championship title at 48 kg last December
and followed up with the Japan Queens Cup crown in March to secure berths
on the Japanese national team for the World Cup as well as the Asian and
world championships. This year’s World Cup meet will be held May 20-21
in Tourcoing, France with the Asian championships a week later in Wuhan,
China. The world championships are set for this fall in Budapest. Sakamoto
has also indicated a desire to wrestle in the junior world championships
in Lithuania in July.
JOC SELECTS JWWF PRESIDENT AS VICE PRESIDENT
TOKYO (April 1) - The head of the Japan Women’s Wrestling Federation
(JWWF) was elected a vice president of the Japanese Olympic Committee by
the JOC executive board.
Kiyoko Ono had been serving as head of the JOC’s athlete performance
enhancement subcommittee. Meanwhile, Tomiaki Fukuda, president of the Japan
Wrestling Federation, was named chairman of the JOC’s committee for the
establishment of a national training center.
MURASHIMA TO REPLACE HAMAGUCHI FOR ASIAN C’SHIPS
TOKYO (April 12) - Japan Queens Cup runner-up Ayako Murashima was named
to the Japanese national team for the Asian championships in May after
Kyoko Hamaguchi decided to sit out the May 28-29 meet in Wuhan, China.
Concerns have been raised about recent anti-Japanese demonstrations in
China to protest Japan’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security
Council and the approval of some controversial high school history textbooks.
ASIA CADET MEET SET FOR END OF JULY IN OARAI
TOKYO (April 8) - The Asian cadet wrestling championships, for wrestlers
16 and 17 years old, will be held July 28-30 in the Ibaraki seaside town
of Oarai. Competition in boys’ freestyle will be held on July 28 with
greco-roman set for the following day. The girls’ events will be contested
on July 30.
This will be the fifth Asian cadet meet for boys since FILA did away
with the world championships in 2000 and urged the creation of continental
meets for the young wrestlers. The meet will be the third for girls. As
host country, Japan will be allowed to enter two wrestlers in each weight
category.
FS ASIA CUP MEET TO BE HELD IN MONGOLIA
TOKYO (April 20) - The men’s and women’s freestyle Asia Cup meet
is set for November 25-27 in the Mongolian capital city of Ulan Bator,
according to FILA’s official homepage. The site and dates for the greco-roman
Asia Cup competition is not yet listed.
The first Asia Cup meet was held in Kazakstan in 2003. The Japanese
women finished second to China.
FIVE CWU WRESTLERS WIN AT JOC CUP
YOKOHAMA (April 23) - Up-and-coming Mio Nishimaki led the charge as
five women from Chukyo Women’s University and its affiliate high school
took junior titles on the first day of the JOC Cup junior-cadet national
championships.
Nishimaki of Shigakkan high school in Aichi easily defeated Eriko Tanaka
of Waseda University for the 63-kg crown at Yokohama’s Bunka Gymnasium.
Junior titlists were:
44 kg - Megumi Shindo, Sakai Women’s Junior College
48 kg - Yukiko Katabuchi, Doshisha University
51 kg - Nanae Suzuki, Waseda University
55 kg - Miho Shibata, Chukyo Women’s University
59 kg - Kei Yamana, CWU
63 kg - Mio Nishimaki, Shigakkan high school
67 kg - Mami Shinkai, CWU
72 kg - Miki Tanaka, CWU
TAKATSUKA RECLAIMS JOC CUP JR NATIONAL TITLE
YOKOHAMA (APRIL 24) - Nihon University sophomore Noriyuki Takatsuka
needed three periods to prevail over former high school teammate Shigeki
Ozawa, but held on to reclaim the 60-kg freestyle title at the JOC Cup
junior-cadet national championships.
Takatsuka gave up the first period to Ozawa, now a freshman at Yamanashi
Gakuin University, but then bounced back to take the final two periods
at Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium to win the crown he also won in 2003. Takatsuka,
who won all four major national high school titles in 2003, and Ozawa,
who claimed three last year, were teammates at Kasumigaura high school
in Ibaraki.
Meanwhile, Norikatsu Saikawa, a collegiate national champion last year
as a freshman at Nippon Sports Science University, handily won the 84-kg
greco-roman crown. Winners in the junior division will represent Japan
at the junior world championships in Lithuania in July.
Winners in the junior divisions were:
Freestyle
50 kg - Shota Nagae, Kokushikan Univeristy
55 kg - Yasuhiro Inaba, Senshu University
60 kg - Noriyuki Takatsuka, Nihon University
66 kg - Kohei Fujimoto, Takushoku University
74 kg - Naoki Akimoto, NU
84 kg - Junki Kadoma, Nippon Sports Science University
96 kg - Takahiro Shimonaka, KU
120 - kg - Shinken Arakida, Kosei Gakuin high school
Greco-roman
50 kg - Kazuhito Nagatsuka, Toyo University
55 kg - Isshin Kuramoto, Takushoku
60 kg - Yoshitaka Kido, Tokuyama University
66 kg - Rei Ikematsu, Nihon Bunri University
74 kg - Takao Nezu, Waseda University
84 kg - Norikatsu Saikawa, NSSU
96 kg - Ryuji Yamaguchi, Takushoku
120 kg - Atsushi Nakamura, Takushoku