FUJIMOTO WINS 3RD STRAIGHT SHAKAIJIN CROWN, NAMED OW

WAKO, Saitama (July 2) – Kohei Fujimoto was named the outstanding wrestler of men's freestyle competition as the Japanese shakaijin national championships for non-student senior-level wrestlers got under way at Wako municipal gymnasium.

Fujimoto, a silver medalist at the Dave Schultz Memorial in February, defeated former national team member, 2-1, at 66kg for his third shakaijin triumph.

Meanwhile, three-time Asia champion Chikako Matsukawa won the women's 55kg crown and was named the outstanding wrestler of the female competition.

In the men's 96kg category, former judo world champion Hiroshi Izumi lost his opening match and failed to qualify for the national wrestling championships in December – a key step to a possible berth for Japan in next year's Olympic wrestling competition.

In the women's events, four-time world champion Seiko Nagashima (nee Yamamoto) won easily at 63kg to keep alive her hopes of making the Olympic team for next year's London Games.

Individual freestyle winners were:

Men's freestyle
55kg – Kazuhide Tomita, Japan Self-Defense Forces
60kg – Yasuhiro Morishita, Yamaguchi wrestling association
66kg – Kohei Fujimoto, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
74kg – Takayuki Suzuki, Tokyo MPD
84kg – Seiji Suzuki, Senshu club
96kg – Tetsuro Asami, Toa Gakuen high school teacher
120kg – Tsutomu Takabayashi, Miyoshi Trading

Women's freestyle
48kg – Hiromi Sakurai, Rank-up Hirano-ya club
51kg – Ayano Suzuki, Japan Beverage
55kg – Chikako Matsukawa, Japan Beverage
59kg – Ayako Shoda, Amino club
63kg – Seiko Nagashima, Sports Bees
67kg – Anna Uno, Nippon Sports Sciences University
72kg – Hiroe Suzuki, Clean-up