By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public
Information Committee
：wmay52@hotmail.com）
YUMOTO GAINS OLYMPIC FS QUALIFICATION IN WARSAW
WARSAW (May 2-4) - Kenichi Yumoto won the 60-kg title at the Olympic qualification
tourney in Warsaw to give Japan its third ticket to this summer’s Beijing
Games in freestyle wrestling. Yumoto, however, will have to win the Meiji
Nyugyo Cup national invitational title on June 25-26 to secure his place
on the Japanese team for Beijing.
Yumoto was the 60-kg runner-up at the national championships in December and will face a special wrestle-off with national champion Noriyuki Takatsuka if he does not win the Meiji Nyugyo title.
In Warsaw, Yumoto had to come from behind in both the quarterfinals and
the semifinals for wins over up-and-coming Andrei Perpelita of Moldova
and Jo Tong-Hyok of DPR Korea to nail down the Beijing berth. With the
Olympic ticket in hand, Yumoto rolled 2-0, 6-1 in the final over Asia No.
8 Kim Jong-Dae of Korea.
Tomohiro Matsunaga (55 kg) and Kazuhiko Ikematsu (66 kg) qualified their weights for Japan at the Asian Championships in March and placed their names on the Japanese Olympic team roster.
Also in Warsaw, Takushoku University freshman Sosuke Takatani opened with a win over former Japanese collegiate champion Maximo Blanco of Venezuela (formerly of Nihon University), but fell in the quarterfinals and again in repechage.
Japan’s other three entries lost their opening matches in Warsaw, leaving Japan with only three freestyle entries for the Beijing Games.
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Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:
60 kg - YUMOTO, Kenichi (1st, 28 entries)
R1 - df. Ganzorig Mandakhnaran (MGL), 2-1 (2-1, 3-4, 2-0)
R2 - df. George Bucur (ROU), 2-0 (2-1, 4-1)
R3 - df. Andrei Perpelita (MDA), 2-1 (1-1x, 4-0, 4-1)
SF - df. Jo Tong-Hyok (PRK), 2-1 (0-1, 4-0, 1-0=2:02)
F1 - df. Kim Jong-Dae (KOR), 2-0 (2-0, 6-1)
74 kg - TAKATANI, Sosuke (7th, 29 entries)
R1 - df. Maximo Blanco (VEN), 2-1 (0-1, 1-0=2:03, 4-3)
R2 - df. Ramesh Kumar (IND) by fall, 2P=1:54 (1-2, 7-0)
R3 - lost to Ahmet Gulhan (TUR), 0-2 (0-1=2:02, 2-3)
r1 - lost to Abdulkhakim Shapiyev (KAZ), 1-2 (1-0=2:06, 2-3, 0-1=2:29)
84 kg - SUZUKI, Yutaka (21st, 27 entries)
R1 - bye
R2 - lost to Imants Lagodskis (LAT), 0-2 (2-4, 0-3)
96 kg - KODAIRA, Kiyotaka (16th, 21 entries))
R1 - lost to Edgar Yenokyan (ARM), 0-2 (1-5, 3-6)
120 kg - ARAKIDA, Nobuyoshi (17th, 19 entries)
R1 - bye
R2 - lost to Antoine Jaoude (BRA), 0-2 (0-2, 0-1)
JAPAN SHUT OUT IN ROME GR QUALIFIER
ROME (May 10-11) - Japan’s four entries in the first Olympic greco-roman qualification tourney for the Beijing Games failed to post a win.
55 kg - HASEGAWA, Kohei (20th, 25 entries)
R1 - lost to Vugar Ragimov (UKR), 0-2 (1-5=1:45, 1-2)
66 kg -FUJIMURA, Tsutomu (19th, 31 entries)
R1 - bye
R2 - lost to Tiziano Corriga (ITA), 1-2 (1-1x, 3-0, 0-3)
74 kg - TSURUMAKI, Tsutomu (22nd, 36 entries)
R1 - lost to Jure Kuhar (SLO), 1-2 (0-3, 3-0, 1-3)
120 kg - NAKAMURA, Atsushi (22nd, 22 entries)
R1 - bye
R2 - lost to Panagiotis Papadopoulos (GRE) by fall, 1P=1:11 (0-6)
r1 - lost to Anton Botev (AZE) by TF, 0-2 (0-7=1:17, 0-5=0:20)
YAMANASHI GAKUIN UPSETS NSSU FOR EAST JAPAN COLLEGE CROWN
TOKYO (May 9-11) - Yamanashi Gakuin University claimed its third East Japan
collegiate wrestling championship title with a 5-2 thumping of pre-tourney
favorite Nippon Sports Science University in the final. Yamanashi took
the first four bouts from NSSU in the final at Komazawa Gymnasium to wrap
up the victory quickly for the school’s first league title since 2001.
In the preliminaries, Waseda University finished second to NSSU in Group A with a 6-1 record, while Senshu University tied Yamanashi in Group B with a 6-1 mark, but was assigned second place with fewer individual wins (41-35) overall in the tourney.
Yamanashi’s only loss was a 4-3 opening day shocker to unheralded Gunma University, which finished fifth in Group B with a 3-4 record.
In the second division, Rikkyo University defeated the Self-Defense University 5-2 for its first championship title under the current East Japan collegiate competition system.
TOYOTA ADVANCES TO OLYMPIC WRESTLE-OFF, BUT JAPAN COMES UP SHORT
NOVI SAD, Serbia (May 23-24) - Masatoshi Toyota advanced to the special Olympic qualification wrestle-off at the final greco-roman qualifying tourney, but came up short as Japan was unable to advance anyone to the Beijing Games.
Toyota, who took a third place at 55 kg, fell in three periods to European bronze medalist Peter Modos of Hungary in the wrestle-off between third-place finishers for a berth in the Olympics in August.
At 74 kg, Tsukasa Tsurumaki also made a short run at an Olympic berth with a pair of wins, including a three-period effort against Swedish veteran Mohammad Babulfath. In the quarterfinals, however, Tsurumaki could not get past Arsen Julfalakyan of Armenia and the junior world champ’s powerful gut wrench.
The near-misses left the Japanese greco-roman team with only three qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics -- Makoto Sasamoto (60 kg), Shingo Matsumoto (84) and Kenzo Kato (96).
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Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:
55 kg - TOYOTA, Masatoshi (18 entries)
R1 - bye
R2 - df. Mariusz Los (POL), 2-0 (2-0, 3-0)
R3 - df. Anar Zeinalov (EST), 2-1 (1-4, 2-1, 1x-1)
SF -lost to Yuri Koval (UKR), 0-2 (2-4, 0-4)
F3 - df. Shakhin Gasymov (TJK), 2-0 (2-1, 6-0=1:30)
Olympic Wrestle-off - lost to Peter Modos (HUN), 1-2 (2-1, 0-2, 1-1x)
74 kg - TSURUMAKI, Tsukasa (27 entries)
R1 - df. Graham Keitani (FSM), 2-0 (3-0, 6-0=2:00)
R2 - df. Mohammad Babulfath (SWE), 2-1 (0-3, 2-0, 1x-1)
R3 - lost to Arsen Julfalakyan (ARM), 2-0 (2-0, 3-0)
120 kg - SHINJO, Hirokazu (20 entries)
R1 - bye
R2 - lost to Revaz Chelidze (GEO), 0-2 (0-5, 0-3)
RITSUMEIKAN WINS 3RD STRAIGHT WEST JAPAN COLLEGE CROWN
OSAKA (May 23-24) - Ritsumeikan University of Kyoto edged arch-rival Tokuyama
University 4-3 at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium for its third straight West
Japan collegiate wrestling championship title. The triumph was Ritsumeikan’s
14th overall in the semi-annual championships. Third-place went to Nihon
Bunri University from Oita while Chukyo Gakuin University in Gifu was fourth.
Fukuoka University won the second division with a 6-0 mark.
TOMIYAMA VOWS BEST EFFORTS FOR MEDALS IN BEIJING
TOKYO (May 26) - National team director Hideaki Tomiyama voiced disappointment
with Japan’s results in the men’s Olympic qualifying tournaments, but vowed
that Japan would make its best efforts to win at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Japan qualified only six wrestlers in men’s freestyle and greco-roman for
the Beijing Games, the nation’s poorest showing since a qualification system
for the Olympics was first put in place for the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
“There has to be a reason that we have fallen from nine entries in Athens
to six in Beijing,” Tomiyama said in a recent interview. He did not appear
ready, however, to try and offer an explanation. “The coaches have done
their best these past four years,” Tomiyama said, quickly adding “We’re
not finished with our efforts for the Beijing Games. We are going to do
our best to win medals at the weights where we are qualified.”
Japan is qualified at 55, 60 and 66 kg in freestyle as well as 60, 84 and
96 in greco-roman. Yuji Takada, chairman of the JWF board of directors,
suggest that the wrestlers might be lacking “intensity”.
Takada pointed out that there were a number of veterans on the Japanese
national team, adding “Really the best time for intense training is in
the early 20’s. I think Russia is a good example of this.” Takada’s remarks
are a signal that the Japanese wrestlers aiming for a berth at the 2012
Olympics in London can expect more intense training under a new line-up
of national team coaches.
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Japan’s record under the Olympic qualification system:
WARSAW (May 2-4) - Kenichi Yumoto won the 60-kg title at the Olympic qualification
tourney in Warsaw to give Japan its third ticket to this summer’s Beijing
Games in freestyle wrestling. Yumoto, however, will have to win the Meiji
Nyugyo Cup national invitational title on June 25-26 to secure his place
on the Japanese team for Beijing.
YAMANASHI GAKUIN UPSETS NSSU FOR EAST JAPAN COLLEGE CROWN