HIRANO REPEATS AS WOMEN’S OW AT JOC CUP JR NAT’LS

YOKOHAMA (April 24-25) Junior world silver medalist Haruka Hirano won the women's 55kg crown and was named the outstanding female wrestler at the JOC Cup junior and cadet national championships.

Hirano of Nihon University won last year's championships at 51kg and went on to win a silver medal at the junior world meet in Budapest.

Kanako Murata, a junior world bronze medalist last year, repeated as junior national champ at 59kg. It was Murata's third straight title at the JOC Cup meet, including a win as a cadet in 2009.

Women's freestyle, juniors
44kg Ayaka Tsuji, Sakai girls high school (Osaka)
48kg Yuki Irie, Kyushu Kyoritsu University
51kg Yuka Sakurai, Daito Bunka University
55kg Haruka Hirano, Nihon University
59kg Kanako Murata, JOC Academy (Tokyo)
63kg Kasumi Utada, Toyo University
67kg Chihiro Hashimoto, Nihon University
72kg Akie Arai, Hosei University

Girls, cadets
38kg Tomoko Ueno, Gold Kids (Tokyo)
40kg Miho Igarashi, Sekijuku club (Chiba)
43kg Kika Kaga, Gold Kids
46kg Sachi Katagiri, Sakae
49kg Nanami Irie, Okura Shogyo high school (Fukuoka)
52kg Anri Kimura, Nishiora high school (Gunma)
56kg Yui Sakano, Abe Gakuin high school (Tokyo)
60kg Yoshimi Kayama, Abe Gakuin
65kg Masako Furuichi, JOC Academy (Tokyo)
70kg Rino Abe, Abe Gakuin