ASTANA (April 27) – Takahiro KANAKUBO (JPN) and Akira OSAKA (JPN) earned silver medals on the final day of the greco-roman competition, bringing the curtain down on the Asian championships.
Kanakubo, who took a bronze medal at Yadegar Imam Cup in January, notched three wins at 75kg to advance to the championship final. Olympic and world champion KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR), however, dominated the final and pinned Kanakubo to repeat as Asian welterweight champion.
Osaka, meanwhile, scored a big semifinal win, 6-2, over Ali ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI) at 98kg. In the final, however, Osaka was overwhelmed, 1-8, by Yerulan ISKAKOV (KAZ), who was the Asia runner-up in 2013.
Also for Japan, Hideyuki OTOIZUMI (JPN) lost in the opening round at 66kg to world champion RYU Han-Su (KOR), who was later upset in the semifinal.
Masato SUMI (JPN) lost his first bout at 80kg with Asia junior champion Yousef GHADERIAN (IRI) and again in repechage. Shori MAEKAWA (JPN) lost in the second round after a bye at 130kg.
With the close of the greco-roman competition, Japan finished in sixth place overall with three silver medals. It was the first time since the 1996 Asia championships that Japan has won three silver medals (out of 10 weight categories) in the same meet.
The greco-roman team title went to host Kazakhstan with two champions, a silver medalist, two bronze and 63 points. Kyrgyzstan finished in second with 57 points (2-1-1) followed by Iran with 53 (1-1-3).
Greco-Roman
66kg – OTOIZUMI, Hideyuki (9th, 12 entries)
R1 – lost to RYU Han-Su, 1-3
75kg – KANAKUBO, Takehiro (Silver, 12 entries)
R1 – df. Shermet PERMANOV (TKM), 7-3
R2 – df. YANG Bin (CHN), 4-1
SF – df. Samat SHIRDAKOV (KGZ), 8-7
F1 – lost to KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) by fall, (0-9)
80kg – SUMI, Masato (8th, 9 entries)
R1 – lost to Yousef GHADERIAN (IRI) by TF, 2-10
c1 – lost to Azamat KOSTUBAYEV (KAZ) by fall, (0-5)
98kg – OSAKA, Akira (Silver, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Yahia ABUTABEEKH (JOR), 4-1
SF – df. Ali ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI), 6-2
F1 – lost to Yerulan ISKAKOV (KAZ), 1-8
130kg – MAEKAWA, Shori (8th, 10 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Yessengeldy ZHALGASBAEV (KAZ) by TF, 1-10
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