Kawana Wins; Izumi, Sakabe Runners-Up at GR Zagreb Grand Prix
ZAGREB (March 11) – Schultz Memorial winner Masuto KAWANA bagged his second international title of the winter at the Grand Prix of Zagreb, outscoring three opponents, 22-1, at 59kg in the Croatian capital.
Las Vegas 2015 world team member Takeshi IZUMI (71kg) and 2016 world team member at 80kg So SAKABE (75kg) each advanced to the championship finals, where both were saddled with one-point losses.
Kawana shut out Croatian national team member Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO), 5-0, in the semifinals at 59kg. In the championship bout, the Senshu University student wrapped up Dawid ERSETIC (POL) for a fall in the second period after securing a 10-1 lead.
Meanwhile, Izumi racked up three wins, including a win on criteria over Las Vegas bronze medalist Ilie COJOCARI (ROU) in the semifinals at 71kg and Sakabe edged Schultz Memorial runner-up Jessie PORTER (USA) to book his place in the 75kg final.
Izumi, however, fell to 2015 European Games bronze medalist Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), 0-1, in the final, but still managed to win his first medal in international competition since winning the 2013 NYAC Holiday Open.
Former Asia junior bronze medalist Sakabe received his third medal in senior-level competition internationally and first since the 2014 Copa Brasil despite a 2-3 loss to 2016 junior world runner-up George-Vlad MARIEA (ROU).
Japanese national champion Kenichiro FUMITA (59kg) did not wrestle in the competition after suffering an injury in training before the tourney.
Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:
Greco-Roman
59kg – KAWANA, Masuto (1st, 12 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Ivan LONCARIC (CRO), 7-0
SF – df. Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO), 5-0
F1 – df. Dawid ERSETIC (POL) by Fall, Time Not Recorded (2P=10-1)
66kg – KAWASE, Katsuyoshi (9th, 9 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Mate NEMES (SRB), 0-4
71kg – IZUMI, Takeshi (2nd, 16 entries)
R1 – df. Filip DUBSKY (CZE) by TF, 2P=9-1, TNR
R2 – df. Danijel JANECIC (CRO), 3-0
SF – df. Ilie COJOCARI (ROU), 2-2
F1 – lost to Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), 0-1
75kg – SAKABE, So (2nd, 6 entries)
R1 – bye
SF – df. Jessie PORTER (USA), 2-1
F1 – lost to George MARIEA (ROU), 2-3
80kg – MAEDA, Yuya (10th, 12 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Kamal BEY (USA) by Fall, TNR (1P=2-5)
85kg – MATSUMOTO, Atsushi (10th, 11 entries)
R1 – lost to Ivan HUKLEK (CRO) by TF, 2P=1-9, TNR
85kg – SHIOKAWA, Kanta (7th, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Ivan HUKLEK (CRO), 4-4
98kg – KINOSHITA, Suguru (10th, 14 entries)
R1 – lost to Ivan NEMETH (HUN), 1-2
130kg – SONODA, Arata (5th, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Balint LAM (HUN), 0-4
F3 – lost to Richard ERICKSON (USA), 0-2
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