YAMASAKI ADDS GOLD TO JAPANESE HAUL AT ASIAN CADET C’SHIPS

CHONBURI, Thailand (May 9) – High school invitational champion Yajuro YAMASAKI won three bouts to win the 76kg crown in boys’ freestyle and add another gold medal to Japan’s haul at the Asian cadet wrestling championships.

With Yamasaki’s gold medal, Japanese wrestlers picked up three silver medals and a bronze on the second day of the championships, bringing their total to four gold medals, three silver and a bronze.

Yamasaki of Saitama Sakae high school opened with two one-sided wins, and edged Sumiyabazar ZANDANBUD (MGL), 2-1, in the final. Zandanbud was a fifth-place finisher in greco-roman last year at 69kg.

Yamasaki became Japan’s eighth gold medalist in the boys’ events in the history of the Asian cadet championships, following a gold medal won by Takashi ISHIGURO at 85kg the previous day. The victory also secured Yamasaki a berth in the Youth Olympic Games in August. In greco-roman,

Yamasaki’s high school teammate Takumi YOSHIMURA also racked up three wins to reach the finals at 54kg, but had to settle for silver after losing to Yernar FIDAKHMETOV (KAZ) in the championship bout.

Yoshimura’s silver in greco-roman was Japan’s first in the Asia cadets meet since 2010 when Kenichiro FUMITA took a silver at 46kg in Bangkok.

In girls’ freestyle, all three of Japan’s entries lost to wrestlers from DPR Korea with Misuki KOSAKA and Sae NANJO taking silver and Chihiro SAWADA a bronze.

Greco-roman

54kg – YOSHIMURA, Takumi (Silver, 9 entries)

R1 – df. KIM Ga-Bin, (KOR) by TF, 10-2

R2 – df. Nurbol ABDYBEKOV (KGZ) by TF, 9-0

SF – df. Sunny SUNNY (IND), 7-2

F1 – lost to Yernar FIDAKHMETOV (KAZ), 1-8

58kg – FUJITA, Masahiro (9th, 14 entries)

R1 – df. Qusay Sami JALIL (IRQ) by TF, 9-0

R2 – lost to NGUYEN Quang Binh (VIE) by fall (0-4)

63kg – FUJISHIMA, Yuta (7th, 10 entries)

R1 – df. Dadakhan USIBSANOV (UZB), 5-0

R2 – lost to Mehdi Morteza ZEYDVAND (IRI) by TF, 0-8

c1 – lost to Asilzhan RAKHIMZHANOV (KAZ) by fall (0-7)

Girls’ freestyle

43kg – KOSAKA, Misuki (Silver, 6 entries)

R1 – bye

SF – df. Aktenge KEUNIMJAEVA (UZB), 8-0

F1 – lost to PAK Mi-Gyong (PRK) by TF, 1-12

46kg – SAWADA, Chihiro (Bronze, 11 entries)

R1 – df. HUANG Mei-ru (TWN) by fall (5-0)

R2 – df. Nodira SABIROVA (UZB) by TF, 12-2

SF – lost to KIM Son-Hyang (PRK) by TF, 0-10

F3 – df. NGUYEN Thi Xuan (VIE) by TF, 18-7

49kg – NANJO, Sae (Silver, 9 entries)

R1 – bye

R2 – df. Nisha NISHA (IND), 7-0

SF – df. Asalkhon SOBIROVA (UZB) by fall (4-0)

F1 – lost to YON Jo-Hwa (PRK), 4-6

Boys’ freestyle

69kg – MATSUYUKI, Taisei (5th, 13 entries)

R1 – df. Budiman BUDIMAN (INA) by fall (4-0)

R2 – lost to Pritam PRITAM (IND), 1-4

c1 – df. Abd ADNAN (IRQ) by TF, 0-10

F3 – lost to Ahmad Yousef BAZRIGHALEH (IRI) by TF, 0-11

76kg – YAMASAKI, Yajuro (Gold, 13 entries)

R1 – bye

R2 – df. Maimaiti MUTALIFU (CHN) by TF, 10-0

SF – df. Inom INOMOV (TJK), 10-2

F1 – df. Sumiyabazar ZANDANBUD (MGL), 2-1

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