2014.04.27

OTA STUNS WORLD CHAMP, TAKES SILVER IN ASIAN C’SHIPS GRECO

ASTANA (April 26) – Shinobu OTA (JPN) stunned reigning world champ YUN Won-Chol (PRK) in the 59kg semifinals and went on to claim a silver medal on the opening day of the greco-roman competition of the Asian wrestling championships.

Ota, a bronze medalist at the Hungarian Golden Grand Prix in March, stepped over a back-arching throw by Yun in the second period to secure his 10-6 win at Daulet arena in the Kazakh capital.

Ota, however, had no answer for 2013 Asia champion Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) as the world bronze medal winner rolled to a 10-2 win in the championship final. Yun, meanwhile, came back for a bronze medal.

Japan’s two other entries in greco-roman, Tsutomu FUJIMURA (JPN) at 71kg and Tsukasa TSURUMAKI (JPN) at 85kg, fell in their opening bouts and did not get the chance to wrestle in the consolation rounds.

In the final category contested in women’s freestyle, defending champion Hiroe SUZUKI (JPN) lost to 2012 junior world champion ZHOU Feng (CHN), 4-9, in the semifinals at 75kg. Suzuki, however, recovered for a bronze medal to secure the team title for Japan.

Japan won the team title with 66 points, largely from three champions and four bronze medalists. China was second with 64 points (G2, S2, B2) followed by Mongolia with 57 (0-4-1).

Greco-Roman

59kg – OTA, Shinobu (Silver, 13 entries)

R1 – df. Mohammed ALSADE (IRQ) by TF, 8-0

R2 – df. YANG, Teng-kuei (TWN) by TF, 8-0

SF – df. YUN Won-Chol (PRK), 10-6

F1 – lost to Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) by the TF, 2-10

71kg – FUJIMURA, Tsutomu (8th, 10 entries)

R1 – lost to Dilshod TURDIEV (UZB) by TF, 4-13

85kg – TSURUMAKI, Tsukasa (9th, 11 entries)

R1 – lost to KONG Liang (CHN) by TF, 1-11

Women’s freestyle

75kg – SUZUKI, Hiroe (Bronze, 7 entries)