JAPAN POSTS 1-2 MARK ON 1ST DAY OF MEN’S FREESTYLE WORLD CUP

TEHRAN (February 21) – Japan snapped back from a pair of losses to host Iran and the United States with a 6-1 triumph over Bulgaria on the opening day of the men's freestyle wrestling World Cup.

After Japan's 0-7 loss to defending champion Iran, junior world bronze medalist Fumitaka Morishita and 2010 Asia No.2 Shogo Maeda opened with wins in the dual with the United States.  The rest of the Japanese squad, however, dropped the next five matches for their second dual loss of the tourney.

Japanese Olympian Sosuke Takatani endured one of the tougher days possible on the mat, facing London Olympic finalists Sadegh Goudarzi (IRI) and Jordan Burroughs (USA) in his first two bouts of the World Cup at 74kg.

Takatani, who suffered a knee injury in his loss to Olympic champ Burroughs, also forfeited his third bout to 2011 junior world bronze medalist Miroslav Kirov (BUL), giving the Bulgarian team its only win in a 6-1 triumph for Japan.

Results of dual meets involving Japan:

R1 – Japan lost to Iran, 0-7

55kg – Fumitaka Morishita lost to Hassan Farman Rahimi (IRI), 0-2 (0-5, 0-2)

60kg – Shogo Maeda lost to M.M. Esmaeilpoorjouybari (IRI), 0-2 (0-2, 0-1)

66kg – Tomotsugu Ishida lost to Mohammad Ali Yousefi Kamangar (IRI), 0-2 (1-2, 1-1)

74kg – Sosuke Takatani lost to Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi (IRI), 0-2 (3-5, 0-1)

84kg – Shinya Matsumoto lost to Ehsan Salman Amini (IRI), 0-2 (0-4, 0-6)

96kg – Takeshi Yamaguchi lost to Amir Abbas Moradi (IRI) by fall, 1P (F0-3)

120kg – Tomoyuki Oka lost to Seyed Mohammadreza Azarshikib (IRI), 0-2 (0-3, 0-5)

R2 – Japan lost to the United States, 2-5

55kg – Fumitaka Morishita df. Obenson Blanc (USA), 2-0 (4-0, 1-0)

60kg – Shogo Maeda df. James Kennedy (USA), 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)

66kg – Tomotsugu Ishida lost to Brent Metcalf (USA), 1-2 (1-0, 0-2, 0-3)

74kg – Sosuke Takatani lost to Jordan Burroughs (USA), 0-2 (0-2, 1-7)

84kg – Shinya Matsumoto lost to Phillip Keddy (USA), 1-2 (2-1, 0-1, 0-2)

96kg – Takeshi Yamaguchi lost to James Bergman (USA), 0-2 (0-7, 0-3)

120kg – Tomoyuki Oka lost to Tervel Dlagnev (USA) by fall, 1P (F0-5)

R3 – Japan df. Bulgaria, 6-1

55kg – Fumitaka Morishita df. Mehmed Zeyti Feriam (BUL), 2-0 (4-0, 1-1)

60kg – Shogo Maeda df. Stefan Ganchev Ivanov (BUL), 2-0 (6-0, 6-0)

66kg – Tomotsugu Ishida df. Nikolay Goshev Kurtev (BUL), 2-0 (1-0, 4-0)

74kg – Sosuke Takatani lost to Miroslav Stefanov Kirov (BUL) by default

84kg – Shinya Matsumoto won by default

96kg – Takeshi Yamaguchi df. Gerogi Atanasov Sredkov (BUL), 2-0 (3-0, 2-0)

120kg – Tomoyuki Oka df. Dragomir Vladev Stoychev (BUL), 2-0 (1-0, 1-0)

R4 – Japan-bye

Team results

Pool A

R1 – Russia df. Azerbaijan, 6-1; Belarus df. Turkey, 4-3

R2 – Russia df. Kazakhstan, 7-0; Azerbaijan df. Belarus, 4-3

R3 – Russia df. Turkey, 4-3; Kazakhstan df. Azerbaijan, 5-2

R4 – Russia df. Belarus, 6-1; Turkey df. Kazakhstan, 6-1

Pool B

R1 – Iran df. Japan, 7-0; United States df. Georgia, 5-2

R2 – Iran df. Bulgaria, 6-1; United States df. Japan, 5-2

R3 – Iran df. Gerogia, 7-0; Japan df. Bulgaria, 6-1

R4 – Iran df. United States, 6-1; Georgia df. Bulgaria (6-1)

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