TOKYO (May 15-18) – Nippon Sports Sciences University rolled over rival Takushoku in the final at the East Japan Collegiate Dual Meet Championship to claim its first league title in five years.
NSSU, returning to the league’s top division for the first time in three years, won the final five matches at Komazawa Gymnasium for its 26th East Japan triumph overall after knocking off defending champion Waseda 4-3 on the opening day of competition.
NSSU captain Takahiro Inoue, undefeated in five matches at 66kg, was named the outstanding wrestler of the first division tourney as he sparked the school to seven wins in preliminary Group A and the win over Takushoku.
NSSU was relegated to the second division of the East Japan league in 2010 as one of the penalties slapped on the club after a team member was arrested and convicted for sexual assault. NSSU won all its duals in the second division in last year’s meet, including the dual that returned the team to the first division for this year’s competition.
Shingo Matsumoto, who took over the helm at NSSU in the wake of the scandal, was named the outstanding head coach of the tourney.
In Group B, Takushoku, Nihon University and Kokushikan University all finished with six wins and a loss, but Takushoku advanced to the final with more individual victories, 40-39, over Nihon. Kokushikan was third in the group with 37 individual wins.
In the second division, the Japan Defense Academy edged Rikkyo University, 4-3, for the division title. Both teams, however, failed to advance to the first division after losing their respective promotion-relegation duals.
==End Item