To Our Friends in Wrestling Around the world

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public Information Committee
Kyodo World Services, senior sports writer：wmay52@hotmail.com）

August wrestling news

HOSOYA STOPS KITAMURA IN HS NAT’LS, NAMED OW


NARA (August 5-6) - Shotaro Hosoya of Saitama stopped Kyoto’s Kohei Kitamura in a third-round bout on his way to the 84kg title and was named the outstanding wrestler at the high school freestyle wrestling national championships. Hosoya of Hanabuki Tokuei high school gave up the first period to Kitamura, who won all five major high school and junior wrestling titles last year at 74kg. Hosoya, winner of the invitational title in March, however, came back to take the next two periods for the win at Nara’s Chuo Gymnasium.

Hosoya was joined by 60kg Tatsuya Kondo of Yawatahama Kogyo high school as spring-summer winners, while two first-year champions were crowned in the same meet for the first time in the history of the tournament.

Tatsuya Yamasaki of Tokyo’s Jiyugaoka Gakuen and Yuki Takahashi of Inabe Gakuen in Mie became the fourth and fifth first-year students to win in the prestigious high school tourney.

Takahashi defeated Kasumigaura’s Fumitaka Morishita, a silver medalist in July’s Asian junior championships, in the quarterfinals. Takahashi went on to become the first high school nationals wrestling champion from Mie Prefecture.

Individual champions
50kg - Tatsuya Yamazaki, Jiyugaoka Gakuen (Tokyo)
55kg - Yuki Takahashi, Inabe Sogo Gakuen (Mie)
60kg - Tatsuya Kondo, Yawatahama Kogyo (Ehime)
66kg - Kazuhiro Hanayama, Yawatahama Kogyo
74kg - Takayuki Murakami, Shimabara high school (Nagasaki)
84kg - Shotaro Hosoya, Hanabuki Tokuei (Saitama)
96kg - Soki Sakurai, Hachiyo Shoin (Chiba)
120kg - Kotaro Muraki, Kuri Higashi (Shiga)

KASUMIGAURA DEFENDS HIGH SCHOOL FS TEAM TITLE


NARA (August 3-4) - Defending champion Kasumigaura high school defeated Saitama’s Hanabuki Tokuei 5-2 in the championship final to claim its 20th overall team title at the high school national freestyle wrestling championships.

In a rematch of last year’s team final, Kasumigaura reeled off four straight wins to secure the championship for the Ibaraki school. Kasumi’s entry at 55kg Fumitaka Morishita was named the outstanding wrestler of the team competition.

Third-place trophies went to Akita Shogyo and Tamana Kogyo from Kumamoto.

TOKYO’S ABE GAKUIN CROWNS 4 IN GIRLS HS NAT’LS


SAKURA, Chiba (August 17) - Tokyo’s Abe Gakuin high school crowned four champions after advancing to six of the 10 championship finals at the female high school wrestling national championships.

Abe Gakuin’s Kasumi Utada, a silver medalist at the Asian cadet championships in 2007, won her second straight high school nationals title at 65kg.

Chukyo Women’s University affiliate Shigakkan high school in Aichi also claimed a pair of titles, including Asia cadet champion Chinami Abe at 49kg.

Individual champions
38kg - Minori Hasegawa, Bunkyo Daifu (Tokyo)
40kg - Haruka Ide, Doshisha Kori (Osaka)
43kg - Ai Nakatani, Hofu (Yamaguchi)
46kg - Yuki Irie, Ogura Shogyo (Fukuoka)
49kg - Chinami Abe, Shigakkan (Aichi)
52kg - Haruka Hirano, Abe Gakuin (Tokyo)
56kg - Kazuki Sakagami, Shigakkan
60kg - Kanako Murata, Abe Gakuin
65kg - Kasumi Utada, Abe Gakuin
70kg - Chihiro Hashimoto, Abe Gakuin

HANAYAMA ADDS GR CROWN TO HIGH SCHOOL FS C’SHIP


SAKURA, Chiba (August 17-19) - Kazuhiro Hanayama won his second high school wrestling national championship title in less than two weeks, adding the greco-roman crown at 66kg to the freestyle championship he won earlier in the month.

Hanayama’s teammate at Yawatahama Kogyo high school, Tatsuya Kondo, however, fell in his bid for a third national crown this year, losing in the 60kg final to Seiki Aoki from Shizuoka.

In the heavier weight categories, local favorite Soki Sakurai of Hachiyo Shoin high school in Chiba also claimed the greco-roman crown at 96kg after winning the freestyle nationals title earlier in the month.

Kasumigaura high school of Ibaraki snared a pair of titles with last year’s national sports festival champion Shun Kikuchi winning at 84kg and second-year student Katsutoshi Maekawa taking the 120kg crown.

Individual champions
50kg - Ryosuke Sugimoto, Nakatsu Shogyo (Gifu)
55kg - Keisuke Ikeda, Tatebayashi high school (Gunma)
60kg - Seiki Aoki, Hiryu high school (Shizuoka)
66kg - Kazuhiro Hanayama, Yawatahama Kogyo (Ehime)
74kg - Shinji Sakaki, Nihon Bunri Daifu (Oita)
84kg - Shun Kikuchi, Kasumigaura high school (Ibaraki)
96kg - Soki Sakurai, Hachiyo Shoin (Chiba)
120kg - Katsutoshi Maekawa, Kasumigaura

GIRLS TAKE 6 AT ASIAN CADET C’SHIPS


PUNE, India (July 31-August 2) - Chinami Abe won her third continental age-group title and Japanese girls won six of 10 gold medals at the Asia cadet wrestling championships. Abe, who now wrestles for Shigakkan high school in Aichi, took the title at 46kg to add to her triumphs at 38kg in 2006 and 2007.

Other Japanese winners were Arisa Tanaka (52kg, Saitama Sakae), Ayaka Ito (56kg, Shigakkan), Kanako Murata (60kg, Abe Gakuin), Sara Dosha (65kg, Isshi Juniors) and Chihiro Hashimoto (70kg, Abe Gakuin).

Haruka Ide (40kg, Doshisha Kori) and Riho Ota (49kg, Yanai Gakuen) won silver medals for Japan.

Meanwhile, the boys could only manage a lone bronze medal as Chiba junior high school student Naoki Asahina took a third place at 42kg in freestyle. The greco-roman boys had to settle for a pair of fifth-place finishes.

---