2013.04.18

TANOKURA TAKES SILVER, SHIMIZU BRONZE IN GR AT ASIAN C’SHIPS

NEW DELHI (April 18) – Newly crowned national champion Shota Tanokura won a silver medal at 55kg and Self-Defense Forces veteran Hiroyuki Shimizu took a bronze at 66kg in greco-roman on the opening day of the Asian wrestling championships.

Tanokura, a recent graduate of Nippon Sports Sciences University, edged 2010 Asian Games silver medalist Kanybek Zholchubekov (KGZ) in the semifinals, but fell to 2010 world runner-up Choi Gyu-Jin (KOR) in the finals.

The medal was Tanokura's third in a senior international competition, following a bronze medal in last year's Asian championships and a victory at the Hungarian Golden Grand Prix event in February.

Shimizu, who won his second All-Japan title in December, lost to junior world bronze medalist Mehdi Zeidvand (IRI) in the semifinals at 66kg, but rebounded in the bronze medal match with a 2-0 (2-0, 3-0) win over Asian junior No. 3 Arsen Ailchiev (KGZ).

Kazuma Kuramoto lost his opening bout at 60kg to former Asia junior champion Wang Lumin (CHN) and had to settle for ninth place.

Waseda University standout Shori Maekawa lost to 2011 world bronze medal winner Nurmakhan Tinaliev (KAZ) in the second round and was pinned by former Asia junior champ Murat Ramonov (KGZ) in the consolation bracket.

Greco-roman

55kg – TANOKURA, Shota (Silver, 9 entries)

R1 – bye

R2 – df. Li Le (CHN), 2-0 (2-0, 5-0)

SF – df. Kanybek Zholchubekov (KGZ), 2-1 (4-1, 0-3, 2-0)

F1 – lost to Choi Gyu-Jin (KOR), 1-2 (1-1, 0-3, 1-5)

60kg – KURAMOTO, Kazuma (dnp, 12 entries)

R1 – lost to Wang Lumin (CHN), 0-2 (0-1, 1-5)

66kg – SHIMIZU, Hiroyuki (Bronze, 11 entries)

R1 – bye

R2 – df. Taha Y. Dhahir al Salihi (IRQ), 2-1(0-1, 1-0, 7-0)

SF – lost to Mehdi Zeidvand (IRI), 0-2 (0-4, 0-1)