NAKATSUGAWA, Gifu (October 1) – Local favorite Hayanobu Shimizu fought off his back in the first period and went on to claim his first big championship title as he snared the 55kg in the senior greco-roman competition at the national sports festival in Gifu.
Shimizu, runner-up at the national invitational championships in the spring, came from behind to defeated collegiate champion Shota Tanokura of Nippon Sports Sciences University, 2-1 (0-4, 3-0, 1-0).
Gifu's only other entry in the finals was Kazuhiko Naruse, who lost for former NSSU teammate Hideyuki Otoizumi in the 66kg final. Otoizumi also won the invitational crown in the spring.
Meanwhile, three-time defending champion Masayuki Amano was edged by 2010 Asian Games silver medalist Tsukasa Tsurumaki on a penalty point in the 84kg final.
In the high school wrestlers division, three wrestlers from Okinawa's Urasoe Kogyo won titles as Ryuta Yonaha continues his undefeated run in Japan at 84kg. Earlier this year, Yonaha won the high school freestyle invitational, high school freestyle nationals, and the high school greco-roman nationals.
Greco-roman – seniors
55kg – Hayanobu Shimizu (Gifu) df. Shota Tanokura (Tokyo), 2-1 (0-4, 3-0, 1-0)
60kg – Yoshitaka Kido (Kumamoto) df. Minoru Ota (Yamaguchi), 2-0 (2-0, 2-0)
66kg – Hideyuki Otoizumi (Kagawa) df. Kazuhiko Naruse (Gifu), 2-1 (0-2, 2-0, 1-0)
74kg – Takehiro Kanakubo (Tokyo) df. Hiroyuki Shimizu (Shiga), 2-1 (2-0, 0-2, 2-1)
84kg – Tsukasa Tsurumaki (Yamagata) df. Masayuki Amano (Fukuoka), 2-1 (1-0, 0-1, 4-0)
96kg – Yuji Yamamoto (Tokyo) df. Hiroki Fukuda (Fukushima), 2-0 (2-0, 2-1)
120kg – Norikatsu Saikawa (Tochigi) df. Katsutoshi Kanazawa (Iwate), 2-0 (1-0, 2-0)
Greco-roman – high school
50kg – Kazuya Koyanagi (Yamanashi) df. Naoki Kashiwada (Hiroshima), 2-0 (2-0, 1-0)
55kg – Kenichiro Fumita (Yamanashi) df. Masuto Kawana (Hiroshima), 2-0 (2-0, 5-0)
60kg – Yo Nakata (Hyogo) df. Bai Shimoyamada (Ibaraki) by fall, 2P=1:54 (2-0, F5-2)
66kg – Shohei Yabiku (Okinawa) df. Shogo Takahashi (Hyogo), 2-1 (3-0, 0-2, 3-0)
74kg – Mao Okui (Wakayama) df. Seio Matsuzaka (Nagasaki), 2-0 (1-0, 5-1)
84kg – Ryuta Yonaha (Okinawa) df. Shogo Hagiwara (Tokushima), 2-0 (3-0, 1-0)
96kg – Yuta Miyaguni (Okinawa) df. Kokei Hattori (Mie), 2-0 (1-0, 2-0)
120kg – Arata Sonoda (Shiga) df. Taikai Shikko (Saga), 2-0 (4-0, 3-0
==End Item