TEHRAN (January 23-24) – Takehiro KANAKUBO rebounded from a second-round loss at 75kg to claim a bronze medal at the Yadegar Imam Cup international greco-roman wrestling tourney in the Iranian capital.
Kanakubo fell to 2011 junior world champion Rafik MANUKYAN (ARM) in the quarterfinals, but came back for a win over Niyamaddin IBRAHIMOV (AZE) for his second trip to the medals podium at an international event. Kanakubo’s first medal was a silver at the 2012 Asian championships.
Kanakubo’s bronze was the best showing turned in by the Japanese at the tourney, followed by a trio of fifth-place finishes by Shinobu OTA (59kg), Hideyuki OTOIZUMI (66kg) and Tsutomu FUJIMURA (71kg).
A total of 117 wrestlers from 10 countries, including 57 from host Iran, competed in the tourney. Japan finished fourth overall in the team standings with 31 points behind Iran (229 points), Hungary (55) and Azerbaijan (39).
Results of bouts involving Japanese entries:
Greco-roman
59kg – TANOKURA, Shota (12th, 23 entries)
R1 – df. Harutyun HOVHANNISYAN (ARM) by TF, 8-0
R2 – lost to Mohammad NOURBAKHSH (IRI) by TF, 1-10
59kg – OTA, Shinobu (5th, 23 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Farshad ISVAND (IRI) by TF, 8-0
R3 – df. Abdol Mohamed PAPI (IRI) by TF, 14-6
SF – lost to Mohsen HAJIPOUR (IRI) by TF, 0-8
F3 – lost to Elman MUKHTAROV (AZE) by TF, 0-8
66kg – OTOIZUMI, Hideyuki (5th, 19 entries)
R1 – df. Ehsan FARAHANI (IRI), 11-6
R2 – df. Ensan KARABACAK (TUR) by TF, 12-1
R3 – df. Vahid MIRFATHOLLAHI (IRI), 6-3
SF – lost to Marad ABULADZE (GEO) by fall, 1P (0-8)
F3 – lost to RI Hak-Won (PRK), 5-6
71kg – FUJIMURA, Tsutomu (5th, 12 entries)
R1 – df. Hajimurad BAGHMANOV (AZE) by TF, 12-4
R2 – lost to Tamas LORINCZ (HUN), 0-6
c1 – df. Yunus Emre BASER (TUR) by TF, 8-0
F3 – lost to Mohammad KARIMI (IRI), 0-3
75kg – KANAKUBO, Takehiro (3rd, 12 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Rafik MANUKYAN (ARM), 4-4
F3 – df. Niyamaddin IBRAHIMOV (AZE), 2-0
85kg – TSURUMAKI, Tsukasa (10th, 11 entries)
R1 – lost to Viktor LORINCZ (HUN), 0-1
85kg – AMANO, Masayuki (7th, 11 entries)
R1 – df. Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE) by TF, 9-0
R2 – lost to Ali GHEITASIKASHKOULI (IRI), 3-3
98kg – YAMAMOTO, Yusuke (14th, 16 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Araz HASANOV (AZE), 0-4
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