Tokyo 2020

President Statement on Tokyo 2020 and Next Steps

Friday, March 27, 2020 - 17:25 By United World Wrestling Press

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Dear Athletes and Members of the Wrestling Community,

Coming from the Joint Statement of the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, I would like to inform you that the Tokyo2020 Games will be postponed to no later than Summer 2021.

This decision was made after accounting for the health of the athletes, those involved in the Olympic Games, and the international community at-large.

The decision to delay will have a significant impact on our athletes and the remaining qualification process. Like other federations and stakeholders, we are waiting to receive more detailed guidelines from the IOC Sports Department concerning the qualification process and will provide an update as soon as possible.

I understand that this delay impacts your preparations, and there are many uncertainties at this moment, but I assure your health and safety remain our top priority.  As things change, I promise to keep you up to date.

In the coming weeks, the United World Wrestling executive board will meet via teleconference and – keeping the global situation in mind -- make decisions to help determine the remaining UWW events for 2020.

#JapanWrestling

Ozaki, Tanabe take special wrestling trip to Iran

Monday, April 28, 2025 - 12:22 By Vinay Siwach

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TEHRAN, Iran (April 28) — While most Paris Olympic medalist from Japan are preparing for June’s Meiji Cup at their base universities in Japan, world champion Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) and Asian champion Kaisei TANABE (JPN) have managed to squeeze in a educational trip to Iran despite their busy training schedule.

Ozaki, who won bronze medal at the Paris Olympics at 68kg, returned to international competition recently won a silver medal at 62kg at the Asian Championships in March. She is expected to compete at the Meiji Cup which will be held in Tokyo from June 19 to 22.

“I am in Iran right now,” Ozaki told UWW. “It’s a place I always wanted to visit. I am really happy.”

Ozaki visited Tehran as part of her education trip and exchanged wrestling notes with few of the Iranian wrestlers who are part of the team.

“Iran has many world and Olympic champions and I wanted to study wrestling here,” she said. “I stayed for a week and this experience will help me learn me about wrestling.”

Nonoka OZAKI (JPN)Nonoka OZAKI (JPN), left, and Kaisei TANABE (JPN), third from left, in Iran. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Tanabe won the gold medal at the Asian Championships at 65kg and also attended the training camp with Iran wrestlers.

The Nippon Sports Science University wrestler is also expected to compete at the Meiji Cup and if he wins, he will book his ticket to the World Championships in September where he can meet Paris Olympic silver medalist Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) who was present at the training camp in Tehran.

Amouzad lost the 65kg final in Paris to Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) who is a teammate of Tanabe at NSSU.