COLORADO SPRINGS, U.S. (February 1) – Masuto KAWANA and Tsuchika SHIMOYAMADA grabbed gold medals and the Japanese collegiate select team bagged five medals overall on the opening day of the Schultz Memorial in Colorado Springs.
Kawana of Senshu University notched a pair of falls and a technical fall at 59kg on his way to a triumph in his senior-level debut. Kawana also won his second medal in a row in international competition after taking a bronze medal at the 2015 junior world championships.
Shimoyamada of the Nippon Sports Sciences University (NSSU), a bronze medal winner at the 2016 Pytlasinski Tourney in Poland, recorded a pair of wins at 66kg for his first international title.
Shimoyamada’s NSSU teammates Shogo TAKAHASHI and Shohei YABIKU, meanwhile, snared silver and bronze medals, respectively. Takahashi opened with a win at 71kg, but was tripped up by defending champion RaVaugh PERKINS (USA) in the final.
Yabiku, at the same time, notched four wins at 80kg, but fell to Pan America champion Geordon SPEILLER (USA) in the semifinals and had to settle for a bronze medal.
Arata SONODA of Takushoku University hauled in a bronze medal at 130kg with a pair of wins in the consolation bracket, including a technical fall over South America champion Luciano DEL RIO (ARG) in the bronze medal bout.
The medals for Takahashi, Yabiku and Sonoda were their first in international competition since the 2014 Copa Brasil. Takahashi and Yabiku won gold medals at the tourney in Rio de Janiero while Sonoda took a silver.
Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:
Greco-Roman
59kg – KAWANA, Masuto (1st, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Mike FUENFFINGER (USA) by TF, 9-1, 1:37
SF – df. Mostafa MOHAMED (EGY) by Fall, 4:10 (5-1)
F1 – df. Sam JONES (USA) by Fall, 3:39 (8-0)
66kg – SHIMOYAMADA, Tsuchika (1st, 7 entries)
R1 – bye
SF – df. Rudolfo GUILLEN (USA) by TF, 13-5, 5:36
F1 – df. Alejandro SANCHO (USA), 6-5
71kg – TAKAHASHI, Shogo (2nd, 6 entries)
R1 – bye
SF – df. Anthonie LINARES (USA), 4-0
F1 – lost to RaVaughn PERKINS (USA), 4-7
75kg – SAKURABA, Kodai (did not place, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Dillon COWAN (USA), 7-6
SF – lost to Kamal BEY (USA) by TF, 0-8, 5:23
F1 – lost to Curt CALOVECCHI (USA) by TF, 4-14
80kg – YABIKU, Shohei (3rd, 10 entries)
R1 – df. Zachery BICKFORD (USA) by TF, 8-0, 3:36
R2 – df. Aliaksandr KIKINOV (BLR), 9-7
SF – lost to Geordon SPEILLER (USA), 3-6
c1 – df. John STEFANOWICZ (USA), 3-1
F3 – df. Aliaksandr KIKINOV (BLR) by Forfeit
85kg – SHIOKAWA, Kanta (dnp, 10 entries)
R1 – lost to Vaughn MOREAL-BERNER (USA), 4-6
c1 – df. Phillip BARREIRO (USA) by Fall, 1:35 (6-0
c2 – lost to Easton HARGRAVE (USA), 2-4
98kg – NARA, Yuta (dnp, 7 entries)
R1 – df. Orry ELOR (USA), 7-4
SF – lost to G’Angelo HANCOCK (USA) by TF, 0-8, 1:08
c1 – lost to Trent OSNES (USA), 6-9
130kg – SONODA, Arata (3rd, 6 entries)
R1 – bye
SF – lost to Malcolm ALLEN (USA), 4-7
c1 – df. Christopher PIERCE (USA) by TF, 9-0, 1:58
F3 – df. Luciano DEL RIO (ARG) by TF, 9-0, 4:21
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