PHUKET, Thailand (June 16) – Tatsuya Yamasaki won Japan's lone gold medal in men's freestyle and Yusuke Yoshikawa snared a bronze on the final day of the Asian junior wrestling championships.
Yamasaki of the Nippon Sport Sciences University racked up three wins by technical superiority to claimed the title at 55kg, while Yoshikawa came back from quarterfinal loss with a pair of wins, including a fall over 2011 Asia cadet silver medalist Fahruddin Salimzoda (TJK), for the bronze.
Yamasaki's win gave Japan a gold medal in each of the three styles in this year's championships. Ryo Murakami won in greco-roman at 60kg and Yuka Yago repeated as 48kg champ in women's freestyle.
Yoshikawa's bronze medal, along with a bronze won by Koki Ishitani (50kg) the day before, lifted Japan to fourth place overall in the final team standings for men's freestyle. The team's performance, one gold and two bronze, was a marked improvement over last year's lone silver medal.
Men's freestyle
55kg – YAMASAKI, Tatsuya (Gold, 15 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Azim Ivanov (KGZ) by TF, 1P (8-0)
SF – df. Kim Guy-Hyeon (KOR) by TF, 1P (9-0)
F1 – df. Won Song-Ho (PRK) by TF, 1P (8-0)
60kg – ARIMOTO, Shingo (5th, 16 entries)
R1 – df. Nguyen Xuan Dingh (VIE) by TF, 1P (8-0)
R2 – lost to Kim Kuk-Gwang (PRK) by TF, 1P (0-7)
c1 – df. Zainulabdeen Hamid Sajar al-Kaabi (IRQ), default
F3 – lost to Kolivand Farzad (IRI) by TF, 1P (0-7)
66kg – KINJO, Kiryu (10th, 12 entries)
R1 – lost to Pejman Yarahmadi (IRI) by TF, 1P (0-8)
74kg – OSANAI, Terumasa (10th, 12 entries)
R1 – lost to Saken Aitzhanov (KAZ) by TF, 1P (0-7)
84kg – OKAJIMA, Yuya (5th, 12 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – df. Mostafa Mohammed Rashid al-Tekreeti (IRQ) by default
SF – lost to Azamat Dauletbekov (KAZ) by TF, 2P (2-9)
F3 – lost to Salim Khodzhaev (TJK) by fall, 2P (F4-5)
96kg – YOSHIKAWA, Yusuke (Bronze, 11 entries)
R1 – bye
R2 – lost to Sumit (IND) by TF, 2P (0-7)
c1 – df. Thanawa Chaimanee (THA) by fall, 1P (F8-0)
F3 – df. Fakhruddin Salimzoda (TJK) by fall, 2P (F3-1)
Team scores
1. India, 68 points; 2. Iran, 63; 3. Kazakhstan, 55; 4. Japan, 41
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