FUKUYAMA, Hiroshima (July 6-7) – National champion Tomohiro Inoue won the 74kg title in greco-roman at the national shakaijin championships for non-student senior-level wrestlers in Japan.
Inoue, a bronze medalist at the Asian championships in April, won the shakaijin crown for the first time on his fourth try and was named the outstanding wrestler of the greco-roman competition.
Meanwhile, Takeshi Izumi, formerly a referee with the East Japan Collegiate Wrestling Association in 2011, won the 66kg crown over All-Japan quarterfinalist Hiraku Maeda.
Members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces team won four weight categories in greco-roman, giving the team 10 titles overall with four in men’s freestyle and two in the women’s competition.
In men’s freestyle, world team member Nobuyoshi Arakida won his first shakaijin crown at 120kg and and Tomotsugu Ishida defended his title at 66kg, giving the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department two champions.
In the women’s events, Asia silver medalist Yurika Ito won the 63kg crown for the Japan SDF team in her first year as a shakaijin. The graduate of International Pacific Rim University was named the women’s outstanding wrestler.
At 51kg, collegiate champion Arisa Tanaka defeated All-Japan Invitational winner Nanami Irie for the title. While the shakaijin competition in the men’s events is limited to wrestler who are no longer in school, the women’s events allows student entries to add more depth to the competition.
Meanwhile, 2010 world silver medalist Yu Horiuchi returned to competition after missing two years recovering from an injury and finished second at 55kg behind SDF teammate Yuki Ikegame.
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Greco-roman
55kg – Tsuyoshi Yoshida, Japan Self Defense Forces
60kg – Hayanobu Shimizu, SDF
66kg – Takeshi Izumi, Ehime prefectural wrestling association
74kg – Tomohiro Inoue, Hyogo prefectural wrestling association
84kg – Ryo Ito, SDF
96kg – Ryunoske Hayashi, SDF
120kg – Masahiro Tanida, Wakayama prefectural wrestling association
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Men’s freestyle
55kg – Takuma Yamauchi, SDF
60kg – Ken Kikuchi, Shizuoka Shakaijin Club
66kg – Tomotsugu Ishida, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
74kg – Ken Karamushizawa, SDF
84kg – Yuki Eida, SDF
96kg – Suguru Kinoshita, SDF
120kg – Nobuyoshi Arakida, Tokyo MPD
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Women’s freestyle (including student entries)
48kg – Yuki Irie, Kyushu Kyoritsu University
51kg – Arisa Tanaka, Waseda University
55kg – Yuki Ikegame, SDF
59kg – Chihiro Kumabe, International Pacific Rim University
63kg – Yurika Ito, SDF
67kg – Chiaki Iijima, Nihon University
72kg – Hiroe Suzuki, Clean-up wrestling club
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