To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world
By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
：wmay52@hotmail.com）
July wrestling news
SASAHARA NAMED TO INT'L WRESTLING HALL OF FAME
TOKYO (July 11) - Melbourne Olympic gold medalist Shozo Sasahara was
named one of this year's inductees into the international wrestling Hall
of Fame.
Sasahara, who won his gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Games, will join
fellow Japanese Olympic champions Yuji Takada (inducted in 2004) and Yojiro
Obata (2005) in the Hall in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Takada was the 52-kg
freestyle gold medalist at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and Obata, formerly
Uetake, was a two-time gold medalist at 57 kg in Tokyo (1964) and Mexico
City (1968).
Sasahara, who hails from Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan, began
wrestling at Chuo University years of practicing kendo. Long recognized
as one of wrestling's master technicians, Sasahara won the 1954 world championships
title before claiming the gold medal in Melbourne. His signature technique
was the'leg grapevine。ア in par terre.
Sasahara coached the Japanese teams at the 1960 and the 1964 Olympics.
In 1987, he became the chairman of the board for the Japan Amateur Wrestling
Federation. He served as JWF president from April 1989 to March 2003. Sasahara
also served as a vice president with the international wrestling federation,
FILA, and with the Japanese Olympic Committee.
Sasahara will be presented his award for his induction to the Hall of
Fame at the September 24-October 1 world championships in Guangzhou, China.
Also to be inducted are:
Freestyle
Soslan Andiev, Soviet Union (1976, 1980 Olympic champion, 4x world champion),
Leri Chabelova, Soviet Union-Russia (1992 Olympic champion, 5x world champion)
Kim Il, DRP Korea (1992, 1996 Olympic champion)
Greco-roman
Frank Andersson, Sweden (4x world champion, 1984 Olympic bronze medalist)
Nikolai Balboshin, Soviet Union (1976 Olympic champion, 5x world champion)
Maik Bullman, East Germany-Germany (1992 Olympic champion, 3x world champion)
Islam Dugushiev, Soviet Union-Russia-Azerbaijan (4x time world champion,
1992 Olympic silver medalist)
Women
Christine Nordhagen-Vierling, Canada (6x world champion)
ARAKIDA, MINEMURA WIN ASIA JR CROWNS
TOKYO, July 18 - Ryo Minemura and Nobuyoshi Arakida won titles for the
men and Kei Yamana made it two in a row for the women in the Asian junior
wrestling championships in Abu Dhabi. Minemura of Kanagawa University opened
with a triumph at 55 kg in greco-roman for Japan and Arakida closed the
competition with the freestyle title at 120 kg.
In the female competition, Japan continued its domination as Yamana of
Chukyo Women's Universtiy repeated as champion and Japan won three of the
eight titles on offer.
Final placement of Japanese wrestlers:
Freestyle
50 kg - no entry (6 entries)
55 kg - Nagae Shota, 5th (7 entries)
60 kg - Kaoru Anzawa, 3rd (9 entries)
66 kg - Kazuki Morikawa, 2nd (8 entries)
74 kg - Aoi Otsuki, 5th (6 entries)
84 kg - Daisuke Fujimoto, 3rd (7 entries)
96 kg - Tetsuro Asami, 5th (7 entries)
120 kg - Nobuyoshi Arakida, 1st (5 entries)
Greco-roman
50 kg - Kota Otani, 5th (7 entries)
55 kg - Ryo Minemura, 1st (10 entries)
60 kg - Ryota Sato, 5th (10 entries)
66 kg - Tomohiro Inoue, 5th (9 entries)
74 kg - Shin Kikuchi, 8th (8 entries)
84 kg - Masaaki Yano, 7th (8 entries)
96 kg - Masaki Chikada, 5th (6 entries)
120 kg - Shinichi Hirakawa, 3rd (6 entries)
Women
44 kg - Asahi Kato, 5th (5 entries)
48 kg - Tomomi Kawamura, 2nd (5 entries)
51 kg - Megumi Maehara, 1st (3 entries)
55 kg - Mika Kunieda, 3rd (6 entries)
59 kg - Kei Yamana, 1st (4 entries)
63 kg - Marina Takahashi, 2nd (3 entries)
67 kg - Hiroe Suzuki, 1st (5 entries)
72 kg - no entry (3 entries)
S. YAMAMOTO HANGS UP THE SHOES, TO WED IN JANUARY
TOKYO (July 29) - Four-time former world champion Seiko Yamamoto has
decided to hang up her wrestling shoes and will marry a member of the Japanese
national handball team.
Yamamoto announced that she leave Japan Beverage at the end of July and
support her future husband, Hideaki Nagashima, in his bid to help Japan
qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Yamamoto denied, however, that she
was retiring from wrestling because of her pending marriage. "I have
lost the desire to continue wrestling," Yamamoto said. "I would
continue to wrestle if I had the feeling -- even if I was married."
In recent years, Yamamoto has been plagued with a number of niggling
injuries and failed in her bid to qualify for the Athens Olympics at 55
kg. In March, she also lost to Ayako Shoda in a national team wrestle-off
at 59 kg for this year's world championships.
Regarding the possibility of making a comeback, Yamamoto remarked "I
don't want to say 'absolutely not.' If I feel like it, I might try again."
Seiko is the youngest of three children of Munich Olympian Ikue Yamamoto.
Seiko's older sister Miyu was a pioneer in Japanese female wrestling, while
brother Norifumi has been making his mark in the mixed martial arts. Seiko
won her first world championship at 51 kg in 1999 and then added back-to-back
titles at 55 kg in 2000 and 2001. Her fourth world crown came in 2003 at
59 kg.
One of the few women to own a victory over Saori Yoshida, Yamamoto failed
in her bid to qualify for the 2004 Olympic team by unseating the eventual
Athens gold medalist.
NORIFUMI "KID" YAMAMOTO TAKES A SHOT 2008 OLYMPICS
TOKYO (July 22) - Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto has announced he
will take a break from his career in the mixed martial arts for a chance
to wrestle in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Yamamoto will make his bid
at 60 kg and train at his alma mater of Yamanashi Gakuin. His first test
will come in November at the Shakaijin Open (for non-student seniors) and
the national championships next January.
"I've always had a dream about going to the Olympics. And now, at
29, this is my last chance to make this challenge," Yamamoto told
reporters at a Tokyo hotel. "I know if I don't try it know, I will
regret it the rest of my life."
Asked about his plans to take a break from his budding pro career to
focus on wrestling, Yamamoto remarked 'Wrestling is not something so easy
that I can expect to win while still doing mixed martial arts." "Further,
it would be rather rude to my opponents and the fans if I only practiced
wrestling and still fought in the MMA ring."
A handful of pro wrestlers and fighters in Japan have attempted to make
comebacks in "amateur wrestling" in the past, but have had only
very limited success. Yamamoto dismissed the comparison to other pros,
saying "The others have nothing to do with me. I'm doing this because
there is the possibility (of success) and I am confident (I can succeed)."
Yamamoto's former coach at YGU Yuji Takada hailed his protege's return
to the mat and reasoned that the new rules will help the former collegiate
champion. "In the past it was two 3-minute periods mostly on the mat.
But now it is a 2-minute, 3-set system mostly on the feet," said Takada.
"In the past there was also a question about Yamamoto's stamina and
defense in par terre, but the rules work in his favor now," added
Takada, who is chairman of the board of directors for the Japan Wrestling
Federation.
Yamamoto was a two-time junior high school national champion in Japan
and finished sixth at the cadet world championships for wrestlers 15-16
years old. He went to high school in the United States and then matriculated
at YGU where he won the Japanese collegiate open and collegiate national
championships crowns in 1999 as a senior.
Yamamoto's best showing at the All-Japan national championships was a
second place finish to Hiroki Sekikawa, also in 1999.
FS HOPEFULS IN RUSSIA FOR TRAINING, BELOGLAZOV INT'L
TOKYO (July 27) - Japanese national freestyle team hopefuls departed
for Kaliningrad, Russia for two weeks of training at an international training
camp and to compete in the Beloglazov International on August 4-6. Before
departing, head coach Hajime Wakui said "We have a number of young
wrestlers and they have a lot to learn. We hope this trip will serve as
a stimulus to the wrestlers in many ways."
In 2003, Chikara Tanabe won the Beloglazov title at 55 kg while Kazuhiko
Ikematsu (66 kg) and Hidekazu Yokoyama (84) were runners-up as each of
the wrestlers used the experience as a springboard to the world championships
and Olympics.
Members of the squad include:
Coach - Takahiro Wada
55 kg - Hidenori Taoka, Tomohiro Matsunaga
60 kg - Noriyuki Takatsuka
66 kg - Takafumi Kojima, Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu
74 kg - Kunihiko Obata, Kazuyuki Nagashima
84 kg - Shinya Matsumoto
GR ACE MATSUMOTO ON SOLO TRAINING TOUR OF EUROPE
TOKYO (July 23) - Greco-roman ace Shingo Matsumoto embarked on a month-long
solo training tour of Europe in preparation for this year's world championships
in China. Matsumoto is scheduled to train with the Hungarian national team
for two weeks before joining the Japanese national team in Turkey on August
10. Matsumoto and the Japanese team are then scheduled to travel to Poland
for the prestigious Pytlasinski International meet August 24-26 in Poland.
Because it is difficult to find suitable training partners in Japan,
Matsumoto, who wrestles at 84 kg, made a two-month training tour of Europe
in 2003. At that time, Matsumoto was joined by national team coach Hiroshi
Kado who was on a year-long sabbatical in Ukraine.
This year's journey, however, is a solo tour and is being seen as a chance
for Matsumoto to strengthen his competitive resolve as well as his technique.
"Pytlasinski is one month before the world championships, so I want
to see what the results of the training in Hungary and Turkey will be,"
Matsumoto said. "Last year, I had a poor training camp in Sugadaira
before the world championships. This year I feel good. I want to train
hard in Europe and do my best at the world championships (in Guangzhou,
China)."
JAPAN GR TO TRAVEL TO TURKEY, POLAND
TOKYO (July 6) - The Japanese greco-roman national team leave for Turkey
on August 9 for two weeks of training in Turkey and then travel to Poland
for the prestigious Pytlasinski International in Warsaw August 24-26.
The Japanese delegation will include:
Head coach - Hiromichi Ito
Coach - Hiroshi Kado
55 kg - Masatoshi Toyota, Shingo Hirai
60 kg - Makoto Sasamoto
66 kg - Masaki Imuro
74 kg - Taichi Suga, Tsukasa Tsurumaki
84 kg - Shingo Matsumoto
96 kg - Kenzo Kato
NAGAO WINS AT CANADA CUP
TOKYO (July 7-8) - Musashi Nagao of Kinki University led a group of West
Japan collegians to the Canada Cup competition in Guelph, Canada and came
away with the championship title at 55 kg.
WINNERS OF ALL-JAPAN SHAKAIJIN C'SHIPS
HIGASHI IZU, Shizuoka (July 1-2) - Winners at the All-Japan Shakaijin
(non-student seniors) Wrestling Championships at Higashi-Izu Municipal
Sports Center:
Men's freestyle
55 kg - Takeshi Sugitani, Japan Self-Defense Forces
60 kg - Seshito Shimizu, Clean-up
66 kg - Kiyoshi Kuroda, SDF
74 kg - Kazuhiko Ikematsu, K-Powers
84 kg - Hiroshi Shibata, Yamaguchi
96 kg - Masahide Hanada, Wakayama
120 kg - Yoichi Akiba, Gunma
Women's freestyle
51 kg - Makiko Sakamoto, SDF
55 kg - Hitomi Sakamoto, SDF
59 kg - Yu Sekine, SDF
63 kg - Chie Ishii, Dream Stage Entertainment
Men's greco-roman
55 kg - Takumu Otsu, Starts
60 kg - Yasuyuki Tanioka, SDF
66 kg - Hiroshi Shimomura, SDF
74 kg - Hideki Goto, Nihon Bunri Univ., instructor
84 kg - Mitsuhiro Ota, Oita
96 kg - Ken Sogabe, Kokushikan club
120 kg - Tetsuya Shato, Nippon Sports Science Univ., OB
Team competition
Industrial division - ALSOK Sogo Keibi Hosho
Club division - Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Women's division - Japan Beverage
MUJIKOV WINS BEACH WRESTLING TITLE
OARAI, Ibaraki (July 30) - Boris Mujikov of Yamanashi Gakuin University
won the senior heavyweight title at the Don Quixote Cup All-Japan Beach
Wrestling Championships and was named the senior men's outstanding wrestler.
Ken Numajiri of Kokushikan University won the lightweight title and
Hisashi Aoyama of Toyo University was the senior men's middleweight champion.
