SOFIA (August 13-14) – Shohei YABIKU won four matches against one loss to claim a bronze medal at 66kg in the greco-roman events at the junior world wrestling championships.
YABIKU edged European junior bronze medalist and former cadet world champion Ruhin MIKHAILOV (AZE), 3-2, in the bronze medal final at Arena Armeetz for Japan’s only medal of the two-day greco-roman competition.
With only three wins posted by Japan’s seven other entries in greco-roman, Japan scored only 10 team points and finished 16th out of 33 countries.
Shinobu OTA, a junior world bronze medalist one year ago, pinned Asia junior bronze medalist Nitin NITIN (IND) in his first bout at 55kg, but could advance no further, settling for 10th place.
Masato SUMI scored a pair of wins at 84kg, including a 6-3 decision over 2012 world bronze medalist Samba DIONG (FRA) in the round of 16, but also had to settle for 10th place after a loss in the quarterfinals.
Greco-Roman
50kg – ARIMURA, Yo (15th, 20 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Zamir DUNKANAEV (KGZ) by TF, 0-7
55kg – OTA, Shinobu (10th, 24 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Nitin NITIN (IND) by fall, 1P=time not available
R3 – lost to Mostafa BEHZADIMOGHADAM (IRI) by TF, 2-8)
60kg – AMEMIYA, Ryuji (24th, 29 entries)
R1 – lost to Radoslav VASILEV (BUL) by TF, 6-0
66kg – YABIKU, Shohei (Bronze, 31 entries)
R1 – df. Arsen AIYLCHIEV (KGZ), 3-0
R2 – df. Mihai Gabriel TENEA (ROU) by TF, 7-0
R3 – lost to Abuyazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) by fall, 1P=time unavailable
c1 – df. Petter KARLSEN (NOR), 3-0
F3 – df. Ruhin MIKHAILOV (AZE), 3-2
74kg – NAGAI, Ryota (23rd, 27 entries)
R1 – lost to Tsimur BERDYIEU (BLR) by TF, 0-7
84kg – SUMI, Masato (10th, 27 entries)
R1 – df. Themistoklis CHARALAMBIDIS (GRE), 10-4
R2 – df. Samba DIONG (FRA), 6-3
R3 – lost to Dogan GOKTAS (TUR) by TF, 0-7
96kg – SHIKIYA, Masaaki (17th, 27 entries)
R1 – lost to Aleksander KROCZAK (POL) by TF, 5-8
120kg – SONODA, Arata (17th, 23rd entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Tiberiu Alexandru BARBAZAN (ROU) by fall, 1P=time unavailable
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