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By William May
（Japan Amateur Wrestling Federation, Public Information Committee：wmay52@hotmail.com）
July wrestling news
SHODA NAMED 59KG REP FOR MOSCOW WORLD C'SHIPS
TOKYO (July 29) – The Japan Wrestling Federation named four-time former world champion Ayako Shoda to fill the 59kg slot as it revealed its roster for the upcoming world championships in Moscow and the Asian Games in November.
Shoda won the national championship crown last December, but needed to win in a special world team wrestle-off after losing in the All-Japan Invitational in May. Despite her win in the wrestle-off, the JWF held off officially naming her to the world team until seeing her performance in some training camp matches.
The JWF also announced its team for the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in November. The men's line-up will be the same as Moscow, but current world champion Mio Nishimaki will step in for Kaori Icho at 63kg in the women's competition which is limited to the four Olympic weight categories.
KURAMOTO, KOJIMA OW AT SHAKAIJIN C'SHIPS
YAMAGATA, Yamagata (July 3-4) – Tadafumi Kojima won the battle of former national team members and was named the outstanding freestyle wrestler at the All-Japan Shakaijin Championships for non-student senior level wrestlers in Japan.
Kazuma Kuramoto, meanwhile, moved up a weight to win the 66kg crown in greco-roman and was named the outstanding wrestler in the classic style. And, hometown favorite Tsubasa Ogata cruised to the 55kg title at Yamagata municipal sports center.
In freestyle, Kojima, an Asia Games silver medalist four years ago, edged 2007 world team member Takayuki Suzuki for the title at 74kg.
On the female side, FILA Golden Grand Prix runner-up Ayano Suzuki breezed to the 48kg crown and was named the women's outstanding wrestler,
In the freestyle team competition, ALSOK Sogo Keibi Security and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department repeated as champions in the industrial and club team divisions, respectively. Tokyo's Yoyogi Club won the overall women's team title.
Winners in the team and individual competitions:
Team
Men's freestyle
Industrial teams: ALSOK Sogo Keibi
Club teams: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Club
Women's freestyle
Industrial-Club Team: Yoyogi club, Tokyo
Individual
Men's freestyle
55kg – Yasuhiro Morita, Yamaguchi prefectural association
60kg – Seshito Shimizu, Team Reversal
66kg – Kohei Fujimoto, Tokyo MPD
74kg – Tadafumi Kojima, K-Powers
84kg – Ryuta Takahashi, Japan Self Defense Forces
96kg – Yoshitaka Shimoyashiki, News Deri club
120kg- Norihiro Sakurai, Honmagumi club
Women's freestyle
48kg – Ayano Suzuki, Japan Beverage
51kg – Hiromi Sakurai, Yoyogi club
55kg – Chikako Matsukawa, Japan Beverage
59kg – Eriko Nakata, Fontenu club
63kg – Kayoko Shimada, Japan SDF
67kg – Kayoko Kudo, Japan SDF
72kg – Shiori Tateko, Oji driving school club
Greco-roman
55kg – Tsubasa Ogata, Yamagata club
60kg – Yoshitaka Kido, Japan SDF
66kg – Kazuma Kuramoto, Japan SDF
74kg – Hiroyuki Shimizu, Japan SDF
84kg – Kosuke Sumi, Japan SDF
96kg – Hiroki Fukuda, Japan SDF
120kg – Ken Sogabe, Nichia Kagaku Kogyo club
SUITA RECLAIMS SCHOOLBOYS, SCHOOLGIRLS TEAM TITLE
HIROSHIMA (July 23-25) – Wrestlers from the Suita community wrestling school claimed eight titles at the 27th annual schoolboys schoolgirls championships to reclaim the title as Japan's top kids wrestling club.
The championships were held outside of Tokyo for the first time in five years and featured 1,200 wrestlers from 159 clubs in 46 prefectures.
Suita crowned eight champions to regain the team title for the first time in three years. Tokyo's Gold Kids, coached by former world champion Akiko Narikuni (nee, Iijima), slipped into second place with seven champions while Tokyo's AACC and Osaka's Enjoy Club were this with six titles each/
Toshiya Abe of the Mito Sports Kids Club won the 34kg crown for sixth graders for his seventh straight kids title, while fifth grader Jintaro Motoyama of the Yokkaichi Juniors won the 39kg crown for his sixth straight title.
Meanwhile, Kaisei Tanabe, the eldest son of Athens Olympic bronze medal winner Chikara Tanabe, won among boys in the second grade division.
TANIOKA 7TH, OGATA 9TH AT PYTLASINSKI INT'L
RACIBORZ, Poland (July 31-August1) – Yasuyuki Tanioka notched a pair of wins at 60kg to snare a seventh place finish in the prestigious Pytlasinski international greco-roman wrestling tournament.
Tanioka, of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces team, defeated compatriot Takumi Yokoyama in the opening round and the edged Russian veteran Vyacheslav Dzhaste in the second round.
In the quarterfinals, however, Tanioka had difficulty dealing with the aggressive arm-control attacks of Tarik Belamandi (FRA) and fell in straight sets. The young French wrestler lost in the semifinals, eliminating Tanioka from medal contention.
Tsubasa Ogata, meanwhile, notched a win at 55kg before losing a close quarterfinal bout to former world bronze medalist Krystian Fris (SRB). Fris lost in the semifinals to Beijing Olympic champion Nazir Mankiev (RUS), knocking the Japanese shakaijin champion out of the medal chase.
Japan's other three entries in this annual warm-up to the world championships lost in their opening matches and did not get the chance to wrestle in the consolation brackets.
Notably, world team member Norikatsu Saikawa appeared to have Theodoros Tounousidis (GRE) on the ropes heading into the final 30 seconds of their bout at 84kg. He let the Beijing Olympian off the hook with a couple of tactical errors, however, and had to settle for 17th place overall.
55kg – OGATA, Tsubasa (9th, 17 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Anders Ronnigen (NOR), 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)
R3 – lost to Krystian Fris (SRB), 0-2 (0-1, 0-2)
60kg – TANIOKA, Yasuyuki (7th, 19 entries)
R1 – df. Takumi Yokoyama (JPN), 2-0 (2-0, 5-0)
R2 – df. Vyacheslav Dzhaste (RUS), 2-1 (1-0, 0-1, 1-0)
R3 – lost to Tarik Belamandi (FRA), 0-2 (0-1, 0-4)
60kg -YOKOYAMA, Takumi (18th, 19 entries)
R1 – lost to Yasuyuki Tanioka (JPN), 0-2 (0-2, 0-5)
74kg – KANAKUBO, Takehiro (25th, 28 entries)
R1 – lost to Ruslan Belkhorev (RUS), 0-2 (0-1, 0-3)
84kg – SAIKAWA, Norikatsu (17th, 28 entries)
R1 – lost to Theodoros Tounousidis (GRE), 1-2 (3-0, 2-3, 1-4)
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