Japan Wrestling Federation News ― September 2024 (World U20/Beach Wrestling World U17/ Beach World Series)

※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。

Japan women win 3 golds, team title at World U20

The World U20 Championships were held Sept. 2-8 in Pontevedra, Spain. Japan came away with five golds — three in women’s wrestling and two in freestyle — while also capturing the women’s team title.

Winning golds in the women’s competition were Sowaka UCHIDA at 57kg, Sakura ONISHI at 59kg and Nana IKEHATA at 65kg.

Sowaka UCHIDA, left, becomes a world champion on a second age-group level by winning the women’s 57kg gold at the World U20 Championships. She won consecutive titles at U17 the past two years. (Photo from UWW website)

Uchida needed three wins to advance to the final, where she defeated 2023 Pan-American U20 silver medalist Daniela ROJAS (MEX) in the first period by 12-2 technical superiority.

Combined with back-to-back titles at the 2022 and 2023 World U17 Championships, it made Uchida a world gold medalist on a second age level. During that span, she also won the prestigious Klippan Lady tournament in Sweden twice and the Asian Youth Championships, giving her six titles in a row in global events.

Onishi needed just 43 seconds to dispose of last year’s bronze medalist Alexis JANIAK (USA) in the 59kg final with a 10-0 victory. She won all four of her matches by that score, with her semifinal victory lasting the longest at just 1:17. It was also her second age-group gold, having won at 53kg at last year’s U17 worlds.

Sakura ONISHI, left, follows her world U17 triumph from last year with a victory at 59kg at the U20 worlds (Photo from UWW website)

Ikehata defeated three Asian opponents, all by technical superiority, en route to the 65kg final, where she topped European U20 silver medalist and U17 champion Beyza AKKUS (TUR) 8-1. That point was the only one she gave up the entire tournament. It was Ikehata’s first world title after capturing Asian golds on the U15 and U20 levels.

Along with the three golds, which was one more than the team achieved last year, Japan got a silver medal from Haruna MORIKAWA at 50kg and bronze medals from Saki YUMIYA at 53kg and Nagisa ITO at 62kg.

Already a past Asian U15 and U17 champion, Nana IKEHATA, top, is now a world U20 gold medalist following her victory at 65kg. (Photo from UWW website)

That gave Japan the team title with 149 points over defending champion India, which was second with 130. It was a welcome result — after winning the Asian senior title, Japan’s women had subsequently come up short at the Asian U15, U17 and U20 and the World U17.

Meanwhile, Khaliun BYAMBASUREN (MGL), a student at Shigakkan University who was raised in Japan, took the silver medal at 55kg. She defeated Japan’s Karina HONDA in the semifinals.

Ono, Yamashita capture U20 freestyle golds

In freestyle, Masanosuke ONO followed up on his senior Asian bronze medal at 65kg by winning the World U20 title at 61kg, while Ryoya YAMASHITA struck gold at 70kg. Makoto HOSOKAWA won the silver medal at 65kg and Shingo ANDO a bronze at 74kg.

Masanosuke ONO takes a victory lap with coach Tatsuhiro YONEMITSU after winning the freestyle 61kg gold. Next up for Ono will be the senior Non-Olympic Weight World Championships in late October. (Photo from UWW website)

Ono made quick work of Ebrahim KHARI (IRI) in the 61kg final, scoring a takedown and four quick rolls for a 10-0 win in 25 seconds over the 2023 Asian U20 silver medalist at 57kg and Asian Games team member. In the semifinals, Ono defeated Marcus BLAZE (USA), the 2023 world U17 champion at 55kg.

Combined with the senior Asian bronze and a victory at the Yasar Dogu & Vehbi Emre tournament in Turkey in March, Ono has now medaled in three consecutive international tournaments.

At 70kg, Yamashita got past 2023 world U23 fifth-place finisher Goga OTINAS (GEO) and this year’s Asian U20 champion Ali KARAMPOUR (IRI) en route to the final, where he defeated European U20 champion Magomed BAITUKAEV (AIN) for the gold. Yamashita took a 2-0 lead into the second period, then added a takedown and roll for a 6-0 victory.

It marked the first time since 2019 that Japan’s freestyle team won two golds, and was the fifth straight tournament that it produced a champion, excluding in 2021 when it did not participate due to the pandemic.

Ryoya YAMASHITA celebrates winning the freestyle 70kg gold in his international debut. (Photo from UWW website)

Greco squad takes home 2 bronzes

In Greco-Roman, Kojiro HASEGAWA and Taizo YOSHIDA came away with bronze medals at 67kg and 82kg, respectively.

Yoshida, last year’s world U17 champion who surprisingly won the senior Asian gold this year, lost to senior European champion Alperen BERBER (TUR) in the semifinals, but came back to notch a 6-1 win in the bronze-medal match over Anri DAVITADZE (GEO).

Hasegawa, who lost in the second round last year, saw his bid for gold also end in the semifinals, where he fell to Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI), last year’s champion at 63kg. But he picked up his first international medal by beating Ramazan AKTAS (TUR) for the bronze.

In exceeding last year’s performance of a single bronze, the Greco team continued a streak of winning at least one medal dating back to 2015.

Greco bronze medalists Taizo YOSHIDA, left, and Kojiro HASEGAWA pose for a photo together upon their return to Japan.

Kojima wins gold at Beach Wrestling World U17

The Beach Wrestling World U17 and U20 Championships were held Sept. 19-20 in Katarini-Pierria, Greece. Japan came away with one champion in Reisa KOJIMA at women’s 50kg in the U17 tournament, while Minori ASANO took the women’s 60kg silver medal in the U20 competition.

Kojima won both of her matches in the preliminary group stage, then defeated Oleksandra KARBOVSKA (UKR) in the semifinals and Jayden KELLER (USA) in the final.

Reisa KOJIMA shows off her gold medal at the Beach Wrestling World U17 Championships.

Asano swept through all three of her preliminary group matches to enter the knockout phase, where she won close matches over Ukrainian opponents in both the quarterfinals and semifinals. A third Ukrainian, Halyna OLEKSIIVSKA (UKR) awaited in the final, and she defeated Asano by 3-0 technical superiority for the gold.

“It was disappointing to lose in the final, but it was a really great experience,” said Asano, who was competing in her first international beach event. “It would be great if beach wrestling gets more popular in Japan.”

Ex-national Greco champ Amano places 6th in Beach Series tourney

Katarini-Pierria was also the setting for the fourth stop on the Beach Wrestling World Series circuit, held Sept. 21-22. In the over-90kg division, Masayuki AMANO went 2-1 in his preliminary group, missing out on the knockout rounds and leaving him with a sixth-place finish.

A loss in his third and final preliminary group match prevented Masayuki AMANO, right, from advancing to the knockout rounds at over-90kg. (Photo from UWW website)

Amano, a former Emperor’s Cup national Greco-Roman champion who had appeared at both world and Asian championships, competed in two Beach World Series tournaments last year. Last June, he won the Greco 97kg gold at the Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships, making him, at 35 years 8 months 10 days, the oldest champion in the history of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Hirotaka ABE lost his qualifying match at 80kg, while Asahi IMAMURA lost both of his matches in his preliminary group at 90kg.

–Translation by Ken Marantz