2013.10.07

SAIKAWA REPEATS AT 120KG FOR 6TH SPORTS FESTIVAL TITLE IN GRECO

TOKYO (October 6-7) – Norikatsu SAIKAWA, fresh off a fifth-place finish at the world championships, breezed to his sixth overall triumph at the National Sports Festival by repeating as greco-roman champion at 120kg on the final day of wrestling competition.

SAIKAWA, who finished fifth in Budapest last month, defeated shakaijin national champion Masahiro TANIDA by technical fall in the competition finale for his third straight and sixth title overall in the Japan’s multi-sport autumn classic, known popularly as the “Kokutai”.

Also in the senior-level finals, Shinobu OTA won his first senior title in Japan by defeating two-time defending champion Yoshitaka KIDO at 60kg while London 2012 Olympian Kohei HASEGAWA won the Kokutai crown at 66kg.

HASEGAWA, who has previously won at 55kg and 60kg, became the first wrestler to triumph in three categories since wrestling went to seven weights in 2002.

In the high school division, Kenichiro FUMITA (60kg) and Mao OKUI (74kg) became the fourth and fifth wrestlers to win the Kokutai high school crown three years in a row. FUMITA, a 2011 cadet world bronze medalist, and OKUI were also winners at the high school greco-roman nationals in August.

Koji TAKEDA, meanwhile, won his fourth high school title this year after taking the freestyle high school invitational crown in the spring as well as the freestyle and greco-roman nationals over the summer.

High school greco-roman nationals runner-up Ryo MATSUI defeated cadet world champion Kazuya KOYANAGI for the 55kg crown.

Greco-roman – Senior division

55kg – Tsubasa OGATA (Yamagata) df. Hayanobu SHIMIZU (Saitama), 2-1

60kg – Shinobu OTA (Yamaguchi) df. Yoshitaka KIDO (Kumamoto) by TF, 14-9=3:28

66kg – Kohei HASEGAWA (Shizuoka) df. Shohei YABIKU (Okinawa) by TF, 7-0=4:21

74kg – Takehiro KANAKUBO (Tokyo) df. Takaharu NAKAMURA (Mie), 3-1

84kg – Tsukasa TSURUMAKI (Yamagata) df. Masayuki AMANO (Fukuoka), 2-1

96kg – Yusuke YAMAMOTO (Tokyo) df. Yasuhiro YONEHIRA (Miyazaki) by TF, 8-0=2:47

120kg – Norikatsu SAIKAWA (Tochigi) df. Masahiro TANIDA (Wakayama) by TF, 9-0=3:31

Greco-roman – High school division

50kg – Hiroki KOBAYASHI (Ibaraki) df. Seiya TSUJI (Wakayama) by TF, 9-0=2:31

55kg – Ryo MATSUI (Gifu) df. Kazuya KOYANAGI (Yamanashi) by TF, 10-3=1:14