TOKYO (October 4-5) – Ryoichi YAMANAKA stunned world team member Sosuke TAKATANI in the 74kg final to win his first major title at any level in Japan in the men’s freestyle events at the National Sports Festival.
YAMANAKA, in his fourth year at Nippon Sports Sciences University, locked TAKATANI up with front headlock and hit three quick turns for an 8-0 technical fall win only 46 seconds into the match at the Bunkyo Sports Center.
World team members Takeshi YAMAGUCHI (96kg) and Nobuyoshi ARAKIDA (120kg) won at their respective weights, but Shinya MATSUMOTO was upset, 2-6, by archrival Atsushi MATSUMOTO in the 84kg final.
Defending champion Yuki TAKAHASHI, who won last year as a first-year student at Yamanashi Gakuin University, repeated as 55kg champion with a technical fall win.
In the high school division, Rei HIGUCHI (55kg) and Taira SONODA (96kg) won their fourth major title of the year, while HIGUCHI, SONODA and Kirin KINOSHITA (66kg) all claimed the high school Triple Crown this year with earlier titles in the high school invitational and high school nationals.
Men’s freestyle – senior division
55kg – Yuki TAKAHASHI (Mie) df. Yasuhiro MORITA (Wakayama) by TF, 7-0=3:30
60kg – Satoshi IKEDA (Tokyo) df. Ken KIKUCHI (Akita), 6-5
66kg – Kotaro TANAKA (Kyoto) df. Tsubasa GOTO (Yamanashi) by TF, 9-1=2:54
74kg – Ryoichi YAMANAKA (Aichi) df. Sosuke TAKATANI (Kyoto) by TF, 8-0=0:46
84kg – Atsushi MATSUMOTO (Gunma) df. Shinya MATSUMOTO (Tokyo), 6-2
96kg – Takeshi YAMAGUCHI (Gifu) df. Koki YAMAMOTO (Hokkaido) by TF, 8-0=1:00
120kg – Nobuyoshi ARAKIDA (Tokyo) df. Tomoyuki OKA (Saitama), 3-2
Men’s freestyle – high school division
50kg – Taishi NARIKUNI (Mie) df. Toshihiro HASEGAWA (Tokyo), 12-6
55kg – Rei HIGUCHI (Ibaraki) df. Hiroki WATANABE (Hyogo) by TF, 8-0=0:22)
60kg – Yuhi FUJINAMI (Mie) df. Shoya SHIMAE (Saga) by TF, 7-0=1:19
66kg – Kirin KINOSHITA (Kagoshima) df. Yushi TANANE (Saitama) by TF, 8-1=4:25
74kg – Tsubasa ASAI (Kyoto) df. Tasuku SONEKAWA (Fukuoka) by TF, 8-0=2:02
84kg – Shota SHIRAI (Tokyo) df. Tatsuki SONEKAWA (Fukuoka) by TF, 8-0=1:38
96kg – Taira SONODA (Shiga) df. Masaki OKAI (Ehime) by TF, 7-0=1:29
120kg – Taiki YAMAMOTO (Shizuoka) df. Yasuhiro YAMAMOTO (Saitama) by TF, 8-0=2:06
==End Item