PLOVDIV, Bulgaria (March 22-23) – Former Asia cadet champion Rei HIGUCHI (JPN) won the 55kg title in men’s freestyle and Japan grabbed four medals at the Petko Sirakov and Ivan Iliev international tourney for wrestlers aged 20 and under.
Rinya NAKAMURA (JPN) added a silver medal at 60kg in freestyle, while greco-roman counterpart Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN), a cadet world bronze medalist in 2012, notched three wins on his way a silver medal at 60kg.
Cadet world champion in greco-roman Kazuya KOYANAGI (JPN), meanwhile, took a bronze medal at 55kg with a win over Asia cadet champion Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ).
Higuchi capped his run to the title with a technical fall over Aryian TIUTRIN (RUS), a bronze medalist at last year’s European junior championships.
Fumita stopped 2011 cadet world champion Mirambek AINAGULOV (KAZ), 4-2, in the semifinals at 60kg before being tripped up in the final by Mihai MIHUT (ROU), who was seventh in last year’s European juniors.
Nakamura opened with a pair of technical falls in freestyle, but fell to 2012 cadet world champion Gadshimurad RASHIDOV (RUS), 2-8, in the final.
Greco-Roman
55kg – KOYANAGI, Kazuya (3rd, 12 entries)
R1 – df. Alexandru BOLTEZ (ROU), 11-3
R2 – df. Stefan GRIGOROV (BUL), 8-0
SF – lost to Murad MAMMADOV (AZE), 0-8
F3 – df. Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ), 9-0
60kg – FUMITA, Kenichiro (2nd, 16 entries)
R1 – df. Zhetpis ZHANDOS (KAZ) by disq. (9-1)
R2 – df. Avgustin SPASOV (BUL) by TF, 9-1
SF – df. Mirambek AINAGULOV (KAZ), 4-2
F1 – lost to Mihai MIHUT (ROU), 4-5
Men’s freestyle
55kg – HIGUCHI, Rei (1st, 11 entries)
R1 – df. Mirjalai HASANZADE (AZE), 14-9
SF – df. Eduard GRIGORIEV (RUS) by TF, 10-0
F1 – df. Aryian TIUTRIN (RUS) by TF, 10-0
60kg – NAKAMURA, Rinya (2nd, 11 entries)
R1 – df. Zoltan TURSCANYI (HUN) by TF, 10-0
SF – df. Shukri SHUKRIEV (BUL) by TF, 10-0
F1 – lost to Gadshimurad RASHIDOV (RUS), 2-8
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