ULAN BAATAR (July 28) – Japanese wrestlers won three bronze medals on the final day of the boys’ freestyle competition at the Asian cadet wrestling championships, lifting Japan into fifth place in the final team standings.
Bringing home the bronze for Japan were Sho ITO (54kg, Nagasaki), Kei YONEZAWA (58kg, Akita) and Ryusei SAKATA (100kg, Saitama). Daiki ARAKI (Kumamoto) won a bronze medal the previous day at 46kg.
The four bronze medals equaled the number of bronze won by the Japanese team in boys freestyle at the 2007 Asian cadet championships in Taichung, China. The 2007 squad also had a gold medal along with their collection of bronze.
In the team scoring, the four bronze medals lifted Japan into fifth place with 51 points. India won the team title with 86 points from seven finalists, including three champions, followed by Iran with 80 points and three champions, and then Kazakhstan with 72 points and a single champion.
Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:
Boys freestyle
54kg – ITO, Sho (Bronze, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Fagzier ABDULKOSIM (TJK), 3-0
SF – lost to Ravi KUMAR by TF, 0-8 (2P)
F3 – df. YANG Chun-ting (TPE) by TF, 8-0 (1P)
58kg – YONEZAWA, Kei (Bronze, 9 entries)
R1 – df. Toktorbek ALYMBEKOV (KGZ) by TF, 9-2 (1P)
R2 – df. Aidyn TAZHIGALI (KAZ), 7-6
SF – lost to Jamal EBADI (IRI), 4-6
F3 – df. Timur ATADJANOV (UZB) by TF, 9-1 (2P)
63kg – IZUTSU, Ryo (9th, 9 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Zulfikar MAHAMATOV (KAZ) by fall, 1P=time unavailable (F0-5)
c1 – lost to Ali ESMAEILPOUR (IRI), 0-4
69kg – YOSHIDA, Ryuki (5th, 9 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) by fall, 2P=time unavailable (0-5)
F3 – lost to Ilyas ZHUMAY (KAZ) by fall, 2P=time unavailable (4-6)
76kg – NAITO, Yura (8th, 9 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Adlet KALTAYEV (KAZ) by TF, 0-9 (1P)
85kg – NAGAI, Motoki (8th, 10 entries)
R1 – lost to LEE Jong-Ku (KOR), 7-8
100kg – NAGATA, Ryusei (Bronze, 8 entries)
R1 – df. Amgalan GANBAT (MGL), 6-2
Team scores, boys’ freestyle
1. India, 84 points (3 gold, 4 silver, 0 bronze); 2. Iran, 80 (3-3-2); 3. Kazakhstan, 72 (1-2-4);… 5. Japan, 51 (0-0-4)
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