URASOE KOGYO CROWNS 2 INDIVIDUAL CHAMPS AT HS INVITATIONAL

NIIGATA, Niigata (March 28-29) – Team champions Urasoe Kogyo crowned two winners and a runner-up in the individual tourney at the national high school wrestling invitational.

Shohei Yabiku (66kg) and Ryuta Yonaha (84kg) won their individual weight categories while Yuta Miyakuni (96kg) earned a silver medal to show the power that led the Okinawa school to its first team title in the history of the springtime tourney.

Meanwhile, a pair of first-year wrestlers from Nirasaki Kogyo became the first invitational champs from Yamanashi Prefecture. Kazuya Koyanagi (50kg) and Kenichiro Fumita (55kg) were inspired by world silver medalist and Nirasaki Kogyo alum Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu.

Shota Shirai, a member of the JOC Academy for elite athletes, also won the 74kg as first-year wrestler.  First-year wrestlers (10th graders under the American high school system) become second-year wrestlers on April 2 with the start of the new school year.

Individual championship finals

50kg – Kazuya Koyanagi (Nirasaki Kogyo, Yamanashi) df. Tanomu Maeda (Hanasaki Tokuharu, Saitama), 2-1 (1-2, 3x-3=last, 2x-2=big)

55kg – Kenichiro Fumita (Nirasaki Kogyo) df. Yutaka Takeshita (Kojo, Yamaguchi), 2-0 (5-1, 3-0)

60kg – Kazuma Ito (Amino, Kyoto) df. Kirin Kinoshita (Kanoya Chuo, Kagoshima), 2-0 (6-0=1:45, 1-0)

66kg – Shohei Yabiku (Urasoe Kogyo, Okinawa) df. Shoto Sawada (Saitama Sakae), 2-0 (6-1, 4-1)

74kg – Shota Shirai (Teikyo, Tokyo) df. Tsubasa Asai (Kyoto Hachiman), 2-0 (1-0=2:03, 1-0)

84kg – Ryuta Yonaha (Urasoe Kogyo) df. Ko Nagatomo (Kasumigaura, Ibaraki), 2-0 (3-0=2:02, 6-0=1:01)

96kg – Chikaryo Kondo (Tamatsu Nogyo, Kagawa) df. Yuta Miyaguni (UrasoeE Kogyo), 2-0 (1-0=2:03, 1-0)

120kg – Shin Sonoda (Hino, Shiga) df. Yoshiyuki Inagaki (Yamato Koryo, Nara) by TF, 2-0 (8-0=1:02, 7-0=0:43)