2014.03.03

OTA TAKES 3RD, SUMI 5TH AT HUNGARIAN GGP MEET

SZOMBATHELY, Hungary (March 1-2) – Shinobu OTA put together four wins by fall or technical fall for third place and Masato SUMI went 2-2 for fifth at the Hungarian Gold Grand Prix wrestling, the second leg of the greco-roman competition leading up to the GGP Final in Baku.

OTA’s lone loss of the tourney came at the hands of London 2012 Olympic Games gold medalist Hamid SORYAN (IRI) in the 59kg semifinals. Soryan won the 59kg in his first international competition since wining the 55kg crown at the London Games.

Ota, a 2012 junior world bronze medalist, rebounded from his loss to Soryan by pinning Egyptian world team member Haitham Mahmoud FAHMY (EGY) in the third-place finals at Arena Savaria.

Sumi, meanwhile, opened with a pin over 2010 Asian Games bronze medalist Farshad ALIZADEH KALEHKESHI (IRI) in his opening bout, but then dropped a quarterfinal bout to 2012 Asia champion Habibollah AKHLAGI (IRI).

Sumi responded in repechage with a second win but was on the short end of a technical fall in the third-place bout with Peter BACSI (HUN), currently top-ranked in the FILA World Rankings.

Japan’s remaining four entries in Szombathely failed to advance to a bronze medal match in the two-day event.

Greco-roman

59kg – OTA, Shinobu (3rd, 21 entries)

R1 – df. Tobias FONNESBEK (DEN) by fall, 4:18 (10-2)

R2 – df. Michal TRACZ (POL) by TF, 8-0, 4:15

R3 – df. Donior ISLAMOV (MDA) by TF, 18-9, 5:10

SF – lost to Hamid SORYAN (IRI) by TF, 0-8, 0:45

F3 – df. Hatham Mahmoud FAHMY (EGY) by fall, 2:55 (3-1)

66kg – OTOIZUMI, Hideyuki (20th, 26 entries)

R1 – df. Edem SALIEV (UKR) by TF, 8-0, 5:23

R2 – lost to Revaz LASHKHI (GEO), 1-1 (last point)

71kg – FUJIMURA, Tsutomu (9th, 18 entries)