Japan Wrestling Federation News ― December 2024 (Emperor’s Cup)

※本記事は日本レスリング協会に掲載されていたものです。

The Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships was held Dec. 19-22 at Tokyo’s Yoyogi No. 2 Gym. Of Japan’s 11 medalists, including eight gold-medal winners, at the Paris Olympics last summer, only one — Nonoka OZAKI — participated.

Ozaki, who won a bronze medal in Paris at women’s 68kg, dropped down to her usual weight class of 62kg and won her fourth career title. And she also took home the Emperor’s Cup as the most outstanding wrestler for the second straight year.

Ozaki, who won a bronze medal in Paris at women’s 68kg, dropped down to her usual weight class of 62kg and won her fourth career title.

Ikuei University teammates Ami ISHII and Moe KIYOOKA, who won gold medals at the Non-Olympic Weight Category World Championships in October, each won titles in an Olympic division as they got an early start on the competitive path to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Ozaki uncertain of weight class 4 years from now

Ozaki, the world champion at 62kg in 2022 and at 65kg in 2023, had won a dramatic playoff with Ishii to earn the ticket to the Paris Olympics at 68kg. At the Emperor’s Cup, she was competing at 62kg for the first time since winning a silver medal at the Asian Games in October last year.

Nonoka OZAKI, the women’s 62kg champion, was awarded the Emperor’s Cup as the most outstanding wrestler for a second straight year. (photo by Takeo YABUKI)

In the final, Ozaki had little trouble putting away Inter-High champion Shirin TAKEMOTO, completing a 10-0 victory in 3:18. In winning all three of her matches without conceding a point, Ozaki added to her title at 68kg from last year and ones at 62kg in 2020 and 2021.

“I had lost weight after the Paris Olympics, so I thought that 62kg was the most suited for me to compete in here, so that’s the one I entered,” Ozaki said.

Still, she said she cannot yet say for sure that she will stay at that weight up to the Los Angeles Olympics. “I haven’t even thought yet of whether I will be at 62kg four years from now,” she said.

Ishii, who won her first world title at 72kg at the non-Olympic worlds in Tirana, has left no doubt she will be aiming to get to Los Angeles at 68kg. She returned to that weight class at the Emperor’s Cup and regained the title she won in 2022.

With limited entries at 68kg, Ishii easily topped her Nordic round-robin group to advance to the final, where she overwhelmed Asian 65kg champion Mahiro YOSHITAKE 10-0 for her third career title overall. She also won at 62kg in 2019.

World 72kg gold medalist Ami ISHII, left, cruised to victory over Asian 65kg champion Mahiro YOSHITAKE in the women’s 68kg final. (photo by Takeo YABUKI)

Kiyooka, coming off a successful title run at 55kg at the non-Olympic worlds, dropped down to 53kg and won all three matches without surrendering a point for her third straight crown. She had won consecutive titles at 55kg in 2022 and 2023.

Kiyooka stated that she will aim to make the next Olympics at 53kg, the weight class in which Akari FUJINAMI won the gold medal in Paris. Fujinami has announced she will move up to 57kg.

Moe KIYOOKA, right, made a successful drop to the women’s 53kg weight class, with the aim of staying there through the Los Angeles Olympics. (photo by Takeo YABUKI)

Former world champions snare women’s titles

It was a good tournament for a number of former world champions, all of whom came up short in qualifying for the Paris Olympics.

Miwa MORIKAWA, the 2022 world champion at 65kg who finished third at this year’s non-Olympic worlds, regained the title in that weight class, which she had won in 2020 and 2021 prior to an unsuccessful quest for Paris at 68kg.

At 72kg, 2021 world champion Masako FURUCHI returned to that weight class and won her second career title and first in four years.

Haruna MURAYAMA, who won her third career world title last year at 55kg after an unsuccessful Olympic bid at 53kg, won her first national title since 2019 and third overall with a dramatic victory in the 55kg final.

Murayama scored a 4-point takedown in the last three seconds for a 6-3 victory over 18-year-old world U20 champion Sowaka UCHIDA.

Remina YOSHIMOTO, who won the 2021 world title at 50kg in the absence of Tokyo Olympic champion Yui SUSAKI, had little trouble successfully defending her 50kg title and winning a fourth overall.

Susaki, like all of the other Paris Olympic medalists except for Ozaki, sat out the tournament, which is serving as the first of two domestic qualifiers for this year’s World Championships.

Yoshimoto’s fellow Shigakkan University alumnus Sara NATAMI won the 57kg title, but her big win came in the semifinals, when she stunned two-time defending champion Sae NANJO with a victory by fall.

Natami, a two-time former champion at 59kg, along with Yoshimoto are among the inaugural members of the Osaka-based wrestling club of KeePer Technical Laboratory that was formed last year.

Current Shigakkan senior Nodoka YAMAMOTO, a world U23 bronze medalist, captured her first Emperor’s Cup title at 76kg.

Sakamoto picks up 1st national title ahead of U.S. collegiate journey

In men’s freestyle, with neither the Olympic medalists nor world 61kg champion Masanosuke ONO (foot injury) taking part, the stage was set for new faces to make their marks.

One who emerged was 19-year-old Rin SAKAMOTO, who has taken the rare step of going to college in the United States, where he will attend powerhouse Oklahoma State University. Sakamoto will officially enroll in January, but has been practicing with the Cowboys since the fall.

Sakamoto returned to Japan for the Emperor’s Cup and came away with the gold at 57kg for his first senior national title. He overcame making the transition from American folkstyle back to freestyle with a flamboyant performance in which he outscored four opponents 36-14.

Rin SAKAMOTO, who has set out on a quest for collegiate success in the U.S., captured his first Emperor’s Cup title with an unexpected victory at freestyle 57kg. (photo by Takeo YABUKI)

That included a 7-4 semifinal win over Rikuto ARAI, winner at last spring’s Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships, before topping national collegiate champion Daito KATSUME 4-0 in the final.

“In America, all I did was folkstyle in practice, so it was hard to adjust to freestyle,” said Sakamoto, who assessed himself a grade of “50” out of 100.

With the eventual goal of becoming an NCAA champion, Sakamoto said he will concentrate solely on folkstyle for the time being, while also aiming to someday make a Japanese national team to an international tournament.

He can earn a ticket to the World Championships with a victory at the Meiji Cup in June, which will be held after the U.S. college season ends. At last year’s Meiji Cup, Sakamoto became just the second male high schooler to win that tournament, which was started in 1997, when he triumphed at 61kg.

In other action, world silver medalist Yoshinosuke AOYAGI won his third straight title at 70kg, while 2022 world U23 champion Tatsuya SHIRAI claimed an elusive title at 86kg. Asian champion Arash YOSHIDA won his second straight crown at 97kg.

Yoshida completes historic Emperor’s Cup-Meiji Cup double

In Greco-Roman, rising star Taizo YOSHIDA added the Emperor’s Cup title at 82kg to the one he won last May at the Meiji Cup, making him the first male high schooler in history to win both of Japan’s senior national tournaments.

Yoshida’s 5-0 victory in the final over 31-year-old former two-time champion Yuya OKAJIMA — a repeat of the Meiji Cup final — made him the fourth male high school champion in Emperor’s Cup history and, at 18 year 7 months 25 days, the fourth youngest ever.

Yoshida, who will join powerhouse Nippon Sports Science University after graduating from Takamatsu Kita High School in March, has already made his mark on the senior level. He won the Asian gold in April, and finished an impressive fifth at the World Championships.

Taizo YOSHIDA, left, made history by winning the Greco 82kg title while still in high school. (photo by Takeo YABUKI)

At 67kg, Katsuaki ENDO, who won last year’s Asian Games gold but missed out on qualifying for the Paris Olympics, regained the Emperor’s Cup crown he won in 2021 as he begins his quest to make the Los Angeles Games.

In the final, Endo swept to an 8-0 victory over Kaisei TANABE, denying Tanabe the chance of becoming the first wrestler to complete a freestyle-Greco double in 51 years. Tanabe won the freestyle 65kg title the previous day.

Champions List

Freestyle
57kg: Rin SAKAMOTO (Cowboy Wrestling Club)
61kg: Takara SUDA (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.)
65kg: Kaisei TANABE (Nippon Sports Science Univ.)
70kg: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (Clean-up)
74kg: Hikaru TAKADA (SDF PTS)
79kg: Ryonosuke KAMIYA (Nippon Sports Science Univ.)
86kg: Tatsuya SHIRAI (Saga Prefecture Sports Assn.)
92kg: Takeshi ISHIGURO (MTX Gold Kids)
97kg: Arash YOSHIDA (Nihon Univ.)
125kg: Taiki YAMAMOTO (SDF PTS)

Greco-Roman
55kg: Yuhei YAMAGIWA (Nippon Sports Science Univ.)
60kg: Kaito INABA (Shiga Prefecture Sports Assn.)
63kg: Godai MITANI (Ikuei Univ.)
67kg: Katsuaki ENDO (Towa Engineering)
72kg: Issei HONNA (Ikuei Univ.)
77kg: Kodai SAKURABA (SDF PTS)
82kg: Taizo YOSHIDA (Takamatsu Kita H.S.)
87kg: So SAKABE (SDF PTS)
97kg: Yuri NAKAZATO (Saga Prefecture Sports Assn.)
130kg: Yuta NARA (Metropolitan Police Dept.)

Women
50kg: Remina YOSHIMOTO (KeePer Technical Laboratory)
53kg: Moe KIYOOKA (Ikuei Univ.)
55kg: Haruna MURAYAMA (SDF PTS)
57kg: Sara NATAMI (KeePer Technical Laboratory)
59kg: Sakura ONISHI (Nippon Sports Science Univ.)
62kg: Nonoka OZAKI (Keio Univ.)
65kg: Miwa MORIKAWA (ALSOK)
68kg: Ami ISHII (Ikuei Univ.)
72kg: Masako FURUICHI (SDF PTS)
76kg: Nodoka YAMAMOTO (Shigakkan Univ.)