2024.11.03

Japan Wrestling Federation News ― October 2024 (Non-Olympic Worlds/World U23/World Veterans)

※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 World U23 Championships were held Oct. 21-27 in Tirana, Albania, followed by the Non-Olympic Weight Categories World Championships on Oct. 28-31 at the same venue.

Japan won one gold in freestyle and two in women’s wrestling at the world U23, then came away with one freestyle and three women’s golds at the Senior World Championships for the four weight classes in each style that are not on the Olympic program.

Two Japanese medaled at both competitions. Ami ISHII won the U23 gold at 68kg, then followed with a victory at 72kg for her first senior world title. Yoshinosuke AOYAGI, a bronze medalist at 70kg at the world U23, won the silver medal in the same weight class at the non-Olympic worlds.

Kinjo becomes 1st Japanese to win world title after giving birth

At the non-Olympic worlds, two-time Olympic champion Risako KINJO won her fourth career world gold and first since giving birth in May 2022 with a victory at 59kg, making her the first-ever mother from Japan to win a world title.

Also reaching the top step of the women’s medal podium were Moe KIYOOKA at 55kg and Ishii at 72kg. Miwa MORIKAWA took a bronze medal at 65kg, giving Japan medals in all four weight classes.

Japan’s newly crowned women’s world champions, from left, Moe KIYOOKA, Risako KINJO and Ami ISHII. (photos by Sachiko HOTAKA)

Kinjo, who opted not to retire after missing out on the Paris Olympics, won the 59kg title with a 4-2 victory over Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL), a world champion a decade ago at 60kg. That gave Kinjo her fourth world title and fifth medal overall in five trips to the World Championships. Combined with her victories at the 2016 Rio and 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she is now a six-time global champion.

Kiyooka went unscored upon in four matches to win the gold at her first Senior World Championships. That made her one of only a handful of wrestlers who have completed the Grand Slam of all four world age-group titles, having previously won on the cadet (U17) level in 2019 and both U20 and U23 in 2022.

Her victory came about two months after older brother Kotaro won a gold medal at freestyle 65kg at the Paris Olympics, making them the first-ever brother-sister combination to hold global titles. There have previously been two pairs of sisters who have done so — Miyu and Seiko YAMAMOTO and Chiharu and Kaori ICHO.

Ishii, Kiyooka’s teammate at Ikuei University, added her first senior gold to the U23 title she won the previous week by defeating 2023 bronze medalist Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) 8-6 in the 72kg final.

Japan easily won the team title with 90 points, well ahead of China, which had the other champion and finished second with 53. It was the 10th straight title for Japan dating back to 2013, excluding 2016 when the competition was limited to two weight classes.

Risako KINJO shoots for a takedown in the 59kg final, which she won to become the first Japanese mother to win a world title. (photo by Sachiko HOTAKA)

Ono becomes Japan’s 3rd-youngest male world champion

Yamanashi Gakuin University’s Masanosuke ONO, winner of the world U20 gold in September, added the senior world title at 61kg to become Japan’s third-youngest male champion in history, while Aoyagi placed second at 70kg.

Ono faced a stiff test right off the bat, and he passed with flying colors when he routed Tokyo Olympic and two-time former world 57kg champion Zavur UGUEV (AIN/Russia) 10-2 in the first round. After chalking up 12-0 and 11-0 wins over his next two opponents, he knocked off defending champion Vito ARUJAU (USA) 12-0 in the semifinals.

In the final, Ono made it four victories in a row by technical superiority, needing just 1:21 to defeat 2022 world U23 57kg silver medalist Ahmet DUMAN (TUR) 10-0 to capture the gold in his senior world debut.

At 20 years 8 months 21 days, Ono is only surpassed by Takuto OTOGURO and Yuji TAKADA as Japan’s youngest-ever world champion. Otoguro was 19 years 10 months 9 days when he triumphed in 2018, which eclipsed the longstanding record of Takada, who was 20 years 6 months 14 days at the time of his victory in 1974.

Masanosuke ONO became Japan’s third-youngest male world champion with a victory at freestyle 61kg. (photo by Sachiko HOTAKA)

Aoyagi, a former teammate of Ono’s at Yamanashi Gakuin and the Asian silver medalist this year, came up just short of a senior world title when he lost 5-3 to two-time former Asian champion Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ).

In the team standings, Japan and Georgia finished tied with 55 points after both had one gold, one silver and one fifth place. But Georgia won the title based on the placing of their non-scoring wrestler — Georgia’s wrestler at 61kg ranked 12th while Japan’s at 92kg ranked 23rd.

While there are no official team standings at the Olympics, combining the results from Paris with those in Tirana would have put Japan on top with 133 points, topping the 124 of Iran, which placed third in Tirana.

The freestyle team, coaches and staff celebrate a historic second-place finish in the team standings. (photo by Sachiko HOTAKA)

In Greco-Roman, teenager Taizo YOSHIDA was Japan’s highest finisher with a fifth place at 82kg.

Yoshida, who became Japan’s youngest-ever male champion at the Senior Asian Championships in April when he won the gold at 17 years 11 months 23 days, was only the third teenager to represent Japan at a Senior World Championships, and the first-ever in Greco-Roman.

Japan places 2nd at World U23 freestyle, misses women’s title for 1st time

Japan had its best-ever finish in the team standings in freestyle at the World U23 Championships when it placed second, while also missing out on the women’s title for the first time ever.

In freestyle, Kota TAKAHASHI won the gold at 74kg with a 3-1 victory in the final over Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ), a bronze medalist at last year’s Asian Games.

Kaiji OGINO took the silver at 65kg, losing 14-2 in the final to defending champion Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN/Russia).

Japan also got bronze medals from Aoyagi, Masaki SATO at 79kg and Yudai TAKAHASHI — Kota’s older brother — at 86kg to place second in the team standings with 102 points, a big jump from last year’s fifth-place finish.

It marked the nation’s highest-ever finish in freestyle at the world U23 since the tournament was inaugurated in 2017, and since that time, was also the best by a Japanese team in either men’s style across all age groups, exceeding third-place finishes in freestyle at both the 2022 Senior World Championships and at this year’s World U20 Championships.

The last time a Japanese men’s team finished second in freestyle was at the 1967 Senior World Championships in India.

Recent success has been on all levels. This year, Japan also won the freestyle team title at the Asian U15 Championships and finished second at the Senior Asian Championships, before stunning the wrestling world with two gold medals at the Paris Olympics. While there is no team score at the Olympics, the results would have put Japan second behind Iran.

Koto TAKAHASHI followed his victory at the Senior Asian Championships in April by winning the world U23 title at freestyle 74kg. (photo by Sachiko HOTAKA)

In Greco-Roman, however, Japan dropped from seventh a year ago to 11th after being limited to a silver medal at 63kg by Komei SAWADA and a bronze at 55kg by Kohei YAMAGIWA. The team took three bronzes in 2023.

For the women, anything less than the team title can be regarded as underachieving. And with just two gold medals, from Yu SAKAMOTO at 53kg and Ishii at 68kg, this year’s team finished as runnerup with 129 points, seven behind the United States, which had three champions.

Japan also got a silver medal from Ruka NATAMI at 57kg and bronzes from Umi ITO at 50kg, Himeka TOKUHARA at 59kg and Nodoka YAMAMOTO at 76kg.

The six combined medals equaled the total from last year, but five were golds in 2023. Since the start of the world U23 in 2017, Japan had never failed to win the women’s title, excluding 2021 when it did not enter a team during the pandemic.

Sakamoto, appearing in an international tournament for the first time since winning the Asian U20 gold in July 2022, defeated Serena DI BENEDETTO (CAN), who finished seventh last year, by 11-0 technical superiority in the final. It was her first world title on any level.

Ishii captured the 68kg gold with an 8-1 victory in the final over defending champion Nesrin BAS (TUR), who appeared at the Paris Olympics at 62kg. It was her second straight international win after winning the gold at the 2023 Asian Championships, and gave her a second age-group world title after winning a U20 gold in 2022.

Ito came up short of defending her title at 50kg when she was dealt a stunning loss in the semifinals by 2022 Pan American U20 champion Sage MORTIMER (USA), who was losing 12-4 when she secured a victory by fall. Tokuhara, looking to add to the title she won in 2022, lost to defending champion Solomii VYNNYK (UKR) 5-2 in the 59kg semifinals.

Yu SAKAMOTO, appearing in an international tournament for the first time in 2 years 4 months, struck gold at 53kg at the World U23 Championships. (photo by Sachiko HOTAKA)

Brother of former Olympic champion wins 2nd straight Veterans title

The World Veterans Championships was held Oct. 8-13 in Porec, Croatia. Japan sent a contingent of 13 wrestlers, all in freestyle, and came away with one gold and four bronzes.

Masanori SAKAMOTO captured the lone gold, winning at 70kg in the Division B (41-45 years old) category for his second career title and first in five years. In the final, he won 8-2 over Hassan MADANI (EGY), a seven-time African champion who competed at both the 2008 Beijng and 2012 London Olympics.

Sakamoto is the younger brother of Hitomi OBARA (nee Sakamoto), a 2012 London Olympic gold medalist in women’s wrestling and eight-time world champion.

Madani spent about 40 days training in Japan prior to the Beijing Olympics, and even practiced several times with Sakamoto, who was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces aiming for the Olympics at the time.

“I thought, I’ve seen that wrestler somewhere before,” Sakamoto said. Told he was a seven-time African champion, Sakamoto replied, “That shows he is strong.”

Winning bronze medals were Yoshiaki NARABU at Division A (35-40) 88kg , Seiji YOSHIDA at Division C (46-50) 62kg, Nobuyuki KATO at Division D (51-55) 62kg and Yoshiyuki MAYUZUMI at Division E (56-60) 62kg, meaning Japan secured a medal in each division.