2016.03.20

Inoue Snares Rio 2016 Berth on Last Day of Asian OG Qualifier

ASTANA (March 20) – Former Asian bronze medal winner Tomohiro INOUE grabbed another greco-roman berth to Rio 2016 for Japan on the third and final day of the the Asian Olympic Games Qualifying Tournament.

Inoue, who finished 11th at the Hungarian Grand Prix in February, converted his par terre chance in the second period for a 2-1 win over Magomed CHUHALOV (KAZ) in the semifinals at 66kg to secure his berth.

In the gold medal final, Inoue scored a late step-out point for a 3-3 win on last-point criteria over 2014 world silver medalist Omid NOROOZI (IRI).

Among Japan’s other three entries on the final day, Shinya MATSUMOTO (86kg) lost to Aslan KAKHIDZE (KAZ), 6-8, and had to settle for third place overall in freestyle. while Taiki YAMAMOTO (125kg) lost his opening bout to DENG Zhiwei (CHN) and was eliminated early.

In greco-roman, Asian Games bronze medalist Norikatsu SAIKAWA (97kg) dropped his opening bout to Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB), 5-7, and did not get the chance to wrestle in the consolation round.

Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:

Freestyle

86kg – MATSUMOTO, Shinya (3rd, 10 entries)

R1 – bye

R2 – df. Bakhodur KODIROV (TJK) by TF, 14-4, 5:54

SF – lost to Azlan KAKHIDZE (KAZ), 3-6

F3 – df. Umidyon ISAMANOV (UZB) by Default, 0:00

125kg – YAMAMOTO, Taiki (9th, 11 entries)

R1 – bye

R2 – lost to DENG Zhiwei (CHN) by Fall, 0:28 (0-4)

Greco-Roman

66kg – INOUE, Tomohiro (1st, 9 entries)