JAPANESE FS HOPES FALL EARLY IN GGP FINAL

BAKU (July 8) – Japan’s three collegian entries in the men’s freestyle events all fell in their opening matches and had to settle for 11th place finishes on the first day of the FILA Golden Grand Prix final in Baku.

Mamoru Handa of Senshu University took Zelimkhan Daudov (RUS) to three periods with the last point in the second period of their 55kg quarterfinal match. The late replacement for world team member Shinichi Yumoto, however, could not unlock Daudov’s air-tight defense in the third and fell 1-2.

Student world champ Tomotsugu Ishida took the first period from last year’s world No. 5 Ersin Cetin (TUR) in their first-round match at 60kg. But the Waseda University standout could not score in the third period and was saddled with a 1-2 loss.

At 66kg, Waseda’s Kotaro Tanaka racked up three points in the first period against 2009 GGP finalist Khagan Suleymanov (AZE), but was shut out in the second period to fall 0-2 in his opening match.

Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:

Men’s freestyle
55kg – HANDA, Mamoru (11th, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Zelimkhan Daudov (RUS), 1-2 (0-3, 1x-1=last, 0-1)

60kg – ISHIDA, Tomotsugu (11th, 14 entries)
R1 – lost to Ersin Cetin (TUR), 1-2 (1-0, 1-3, 0-1)

66kg – TANAKA, Kotaro (11th, 16 entries)
R1 – lost to Khagan Suleymanov (AZE), 0-2 (3-5, 0-1)