Weekly FIVE!

Weekly Five! November 12, 2019

Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 16:17 By Eric Olanowski

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Discussing the Women’s World Cup team race, wrestlers and weights to watch and Iran hosting the Greco-Roman World Cup (November 28-29).

1. The Road to the Finals 
In the 18-year history of the Women’s World Cup, Japan, China and the United States are the only teams to hoist the annual dual meet team trophy. But, dating back to 2003 when the United States claimed their lone team title, Japan or China has had a stronghold on women’s wrestling -- claiming 14 consecutive World Cup championships. 

Japan and China met in the previous two World Cup finals, with Japan coming out on the winning end of both of those meetings. But, this year is slated to be a different story, as Japan and China will wrestle on Saturday night in Group A action for a potential spot in Sunday night’s gold-medal dual. That is, of course, if they both get past a fairly young and inexperienced Ukrainian team that’s looking to send shock waves through the wrestling world and make their first finals appearance since 2005. 

Russia, the United States and Mongolia are the three Group B teams.

Though Mongolia has a pair of returning world bronze medalists, they likely won’t have enough firepower to match that of the Russian Federation or the United States -- who both have at least one world champ on their squad. 

The premier Group B matchup between Russia and the United States, which will take place on Saturday afternoon, will feature four of the ten women’s wrestling world champions. 

Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS), this year’s 62kg world champion, will lead the Russian Federation in the dual, while reigning world champions Jacarra WINCHESTER, Tamyra MENSAH and Adeline GRAY headline the entries for the Stars and Stripes. 

The two teams with the best record after their pair of group matches will meet in Sunday’s gold-medal match. The third and fourth-place match will feature the two teams with the second-best record in their groups and the remaining teams will meet for fifth and sixth place. 

Number of World Cup Titles 
Japan: 10 
China: 6
United States: 1

SCHEDULE
Saturday (November 16) 
10:30 – Mat A: JPN vs. UKR / Mat B: RUS vs. MGL 
12: 00 – Mat A: RUS vs. USA / Mat B: CHN vs. UKR 
16:30 – Opening Ceremony 
17:00 – Mat A: JPN vs. CHN / Mat B: USA vs. MGL

Sunday (November 17) 
8:00 – Medical Examination & Weigh-in
10:30 – Finals 5/6
13:00 – Finals 3/4
14:30 – Finals 1/2
16:00 – Award Ceremonies

Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA) is one of five world champions that'll be wrestling at this weekend's Women's World Cup. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

2. Wrestlers to Watch: The Five World Champs
Five of the six teams entered into the Women’s Wrestling World Cup bring at least two returning world medalists – totaling 17 podium finishers from this year’s World Championships (Ukraine is the lone team without a 2019 world medalist entered). But, without a doubt, the five newly-crowned must-watch world champions are: 

55kg - Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)
57kg - Risako KAWAI (USA)
62kg - Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS)
68kg - Tamyra MENSAH (USA)
76kg - Adeline GRAY (USA)

Risako KAWAI (JPN) and Ningning RONG (CHN) met in the world finals at 57kg just over a month ago. They could square off again at this weekend's Women's World Cup. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

3. Weights to Watch: 57kg and 76kg 
The two can't-miss weights at this weekend’s Women’s Wrestling World Cup will be 57kg and 76kg. Both weight classes will feature the reigning world champion and the wrestler they defeated to win their world title. This means, there could be a pair of world finals rematches that take place this weekend.

Risako KAWAI (JPN) and Ningning RONG (CHN), who met in Nur-Sultan for the 57kg world title, could square off on Saturday night when Japan takes on China. That match will take place at 17:00 (local time).

Kawai is widely regarded as the top women’s wrestler in the world. Since winning her Rio Olympic title in 2016, Kawai has won three consecutive world titles. Her potential Chinese opponent, Ningning Rong, is a 2018 world champion and 2019 world runner-up. The highly emotional Chinese star is coming off a second consecutive year where she made the world finals, claimed a continental title and won at least three tournaments. 

Two other wrestlers that could cause Kawai and Rong fits at 57kg are ALTANTSETSEG Battsetseg (MGL) and Olena KREMZER (UKR). The 25-year-old Mongolian wrestler was a 2017 U23 world runner-up, while the Ukrainian wrestler was a 2018 U23 world bronze medalist. 

At 76kg, the two best women’s heavyweights in the world, Adeline Gray and Hiroe MINAGAWA (JPN), could square off in a rematch of September’s 76kg finals, but that all depends on how the group stage plays out. Additionally, Ekaterina BUKINA (RUS) and ZHOU Qian (CHN) will also wrestle at 76kg. Bukina is a Rio Olympic bronze medalist, and Zhou is a 2015 world runner-up. 

Reigning world champion Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) leads a loaded Russian team into Tehran for the Greco-Roman World Cup. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

4. Iran Set to Host Greco-Roman World Cup (November 28-29) 
Iran is gearing up to host the Greco-Roman World Cup for the seventh consecutive time. The two-day Greco-Roman World Cup kicks off November 28-29 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium and will feature six teams -- which is the first time the event has housed less than eight teams since 2008. 

The Russian Federation, who are the defending champions, are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cup titles since Iran did it in 2011 and ’12.  To earn their eighth overall World Cup team trophy, they’ll rely heavily on reigning world champion Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS), who’ll wrestle at 72kg. 

In addition to Mantsigov, Aleksandr CHEKHIRKIN, Stepan MARYANYAN and Sergey SEMENOV are will also compete on Russia's team at the Greco-Roman World Cup. The trio were all 2018 world champions, but Maryanan, who finished with a silver medal at this year’s World Championships, is the lone reigning medalist in the group of three. 

Outside of Russia’s loaded squad, six reigning world champs will travel to Tehran to compete in the Greco-Roman World Cup. 

The biggest storyline heading into the dual meet event is the potential Rio Olympic finals rematch between Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) and Shinobu OTA (JPN), which could be looming at 67kg. 

Borrero and Ota both won world titles in Nur-Sultan, but the Japanese wrestler will begin his ascent from his title-winning non-Olympic weight of 63kg to the Olympic weight of 67kg, where the Cuban wrestler is the current world-title holder. Shortly after winning his world title last month, Ota announced that he'd climb up 4kg to 67kg to make a run at improving his silver medal from the Rio Olympic Games, where he fell to Borrero in the finals.

In addition to Borrero, Mantsigov and Ota, the Greco-Roman World Cup will also welcome three other world champs. The returning world champs are: Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO), Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) and Lasha GOBADZE (GEO). 

Reigning World Champions Entered
55kg - Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
60kg - Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) 
67kg - Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB)
67kg - Shinobu OTA (JPN)
72kg - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS)
82kg - Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)

Two-time world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA) highlights the list of entries at the Bill Farrell. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

5. Bill Farrell Live on FloWrestling.org 
The New York Athletic Club will host the first qualifier for America’s Olympic Team Trials, the Bill Farrell Memorial (November 16-17). The highest finisher at the six Olympic weight classes in freestyle, Greco-Roman and women's wrestling will cement their spot at April’s Tokyo Olympic Team Trials. 

Our friends at Flowrestling.org have the streaming rights to the event and have provided an early list of participants who are expected to compete. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday -- Khoroshavtseva O. (RUS) -- Senior Worlds 2019
2. ‪Iszmail MUSZHKAJEV ??: World Championship Highlights
3. Hassan YAZDANI ?? World Championship Highlights
4. Behind the Scenes: Sadulaev and 97kg at #WrestleNurSultan
5. Kazakhstan ?? put on a show at the #WrestleNurSultan World Championships — on and off the mat.

#JapanWrestling

Kawai makes stunning move to 68kg in bid for Olympic repeat

Friday, May 19, 2023 - 06:19 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (May 16) -- In her bid for a second straight Olympic title, Yukako KAWAI has made a surprising and sudden move up two weight classes to the next Olympic division.

Kawai, who won the Tokyo Olympic gold at 62kg in women's wrestling, is entered at 68kg for next month's Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships, the Japan Wrestling Federation announced Wednesday.

The Meiji Cup on June 15-18 at Tokyo Metropolitan Gym is the second of Japan's two domestic qualifiers for this year's World Championships, which will provide the first opportunity for qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The first domestic qualifier was the Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships held last December.

Kawai's older sister Risako (who now goes by her married name KINJO) has moved back down to 57kg, the weight class in which she won her second straight Olympic gold at the 2021 Tokyo Games. Risako had returned to competition at 59kg last fall after giving birth to her first child.

And the match-up that the wrestling world has been longing to see could finally become a reality at 53kg, where teen phenom and 2021 world champion Akari FUJINAMI and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Mayu SHIDOCHI are both entered.

Any wrestler who wins titles at both the Emperor's Cup and Meiji Cup automatically earns a ticket to Belgrade. If the champions in the Olympic weights are different, a playoff will be held between the two in July. In non-Olympic weights, the two champions and any wrestlers who finish second in an Olympic division are eligible to enter the playoff.

The competition to get to Belgrade in the Olympic weights is particularly fierce, given that the Japan federation has decreed that a wrestler who wins a medal there will automatically fill the Olympic berth that comes with it.

While no medal is a sure thing, it is worth noting that Japan's women medaled in five of the six Olympic weights at the 2019 World Championships, the first qualifier for Tokyo 2021. As such, the top wrestlers have funneled into the Olympic weights for the Meiji Cup, pitting current and past world and Olympic champions and medalists against each other.

Kawai failed to win the 62kg title at the Emperor's Cup, revealing later she had not fully recovered from a back injury. While there have been no reports of her reason, it appears she figured her best chance for getting to Paris would be take a chance at 68kg.

It will be no easy task. While the weight class has seen the retirement of 2016 Rio Olympic champion Sara DOSHO, the field includes world silver medalist Ami ISHII, world 65kg champion Miwa MORIKAWA, world 72kg bronze medalist Masako FURUCHI and 2021 world silver medalist Rin MIYAJI.

Ishii, coming off a gold-medal run at the Asian Championships last month in Astana, has the upper hand, having defeated Morikawa 5-2 in the Emperor's Cup final. Miyaji gave Ishii a tough fight in the second round when she come out on the short end of a 6-4 decision.

Kinjo won the Emperor's Cup title at 59kg, so for her to make it to Belgrade at 57kg, she needs to beat in-form Emperor's Cup champion Sae NANJO in the Meiji Cup and/or a playoff. Nanjo was also one of Japan's five women's champions in Astana.

Not to be counted out is two-time world champion Tsugumi SAKURAI, who suffered a last-second 5-4 loss to Nanjo in the Emperor's Cup final and will be gunning for revenge.

Fujinami heads into the Meiji Cup on a 119-match winning streak dating back to her junior high school days, which she extened by winning three international titles in three months -- Zagreb in February, Sofia in March and Astana in April.

The streak currently ties her with legendary three-time Olympic champion and fellow Mie Prefecture native Saori YOSHIDA. But she has long said the streak is secondnary to winning a gold in Paris. Fujinami moved closer by cruising to victory at the Emperor's Cup, where Shidochi was in the other bracket but failed to make the final.

Shidochi had taken time off after the Tokyo Olympics to get married, returning to action last year to win her third world title at 55kg. But moving back to 53kg at the Emperor's Cup, she lost in the semifinals to former two-time world champion Haruna OKUNO, whom she had beaten in nine previous matches.

Also entered at 53kg is Moe KIYOOKA, the Emperor's Cup champion at 55kg who captured a world U20-U23 double in 2022 and won this year's Zagreb Open.

The most intense final could come at 62kg, where world 59kg bronze medalist Sakura MOTOKI will look to repeat her stunning triumph at the Emperor's Cup over world champion Nonoka OZAKI. That loss left Ozaki in tears and she will certainly be out for revenge.

Motoki, looking to join her father as an Olympian (Yasutoshi finished ninth at Greco 63kg at the 2000 Sydney Olympics), preceded her 4-2 victory in the final over Ozaki by crushing Kawai 9-2 in the semifinals. That gave the 21-year-old consecutive wins over the reigning Olympic and world champions.

At 50kg, standing in reigning world champion Yui SUSAKI's path to a possible second straight Olympic gold is longtime rival and 2021 world gold medalist Remina YOSHIMOTO. Susaki defeated Yoshimoto 8-0 in the Emperor's Cup final for her fourth win in four career meetings, but Yoshimoto always poses a threat for an upset.

The remaining Olympic weight class, 76kg, also presents a intriguing potential match-up. World U20 champion Ayano MORO, who just started her freshman year at Yamanashi Gakuin University, won the Emperor's Cup title when world bronze medalist Yuka KAGAMI wrestled injured and failed to make the final. It looks like a toss-up between those two.

Higuchi, Otoguro look to punch tickets to Belgrade

In men's freestyle, world 61kg champion Rei HIGUCHI will look to negotiate a tough field and earn the ticket to the worlds at 57kg, while Tokyo Olympic champion Takuto OTOGURO should have little problem locking up the spot at 65kg.

Higuchi, the 2016 Rio Olympic silver medalist at 57kg who failed to make Japan's team for the Tokyo Games, has been in sizzling form of late. Last year, he won Asian and world golds at 61kg before taking the Emperor's Cup title at 57kg to put him halfway to Belgrade.

Trying to keep him from making that trip will be Asian bronze medalist Rikuto ARAI, 2021 world 61kg bronze medalist Toshihiro HASEGAWA, 2019 Asian bronze medalist Yudai FUJITA and 2019 world junior champion Toshiya ABE.

Otoguro, the 2018 world champion, has only competed once since his Olympic triumph, and that ended with his third Emperor's Cup title and first in three years. His main competition will likely be Asian bronze medalist Ryoma ANRAKU, whom he beat 4-0 in the Emperor's Cup final.

The most intriguing freestyle weight class is 86kg, with veteran Sohsuke TAKATANI returning in an attempt to qualify for his fourth Olympics. The 34-year-old Takatani has spent the past two years at 92kg, where last year he won his 12th consecutive national title over four weight classes, while becoming the head coach at his alma mater Takushoku University.

Looking to stop him will be Emperor's Cup champion and Asian bronze medalist Hayato ISHIGURO and world U23 champion Tatsuya SHIRAI, who sat out of the Emperor's Cup.

In Greco-Roman, the weight class to watch is 67kg and Taishi NARIKUNI's quest to become a world champion in both styles. Narikuni won the freestyle 70kg crown last year in Belgrade.

Narikuni, who prefers weight training to typical wrestling practice, entered both freestyle and Greco at the Emperor's Cup (a title double hasn't been done in 49 years), but had to withdraw because of a broken rib suffered in practice. This time, he is entered only in Greco.

As for the reason for his unusual crusade, Narikuni's mother was a two-time world champion, and instead of just matching her, he feels his accomplishment will stand out more if he also wins two titles but in different styles.

Standing in his way are Emperor's Cup champion and Asian silver medalist Kyotaro SOGABE, 2022 Asian bronze medalist Katsuaki ENDO and Taishi HORIE, the Emperor's Cup winner at 72kg who has moved down to the Olympic weight.

At 77kg, Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Shohei YABIKU has a steep climb to get back to Paris, having lost in the second round at the Emperor's Cup to world U23 bronze medalist Nao KUSAKA. Kodai SAKURABA, a bronze medalist at the recent Asian Championships, beat Kusaka in the Emperor's Cup final, and the title battle looks to be between these three.

For Olympic 60kg silver medalist and former world champion Kenichi FUMITA, the ticket to Belgrade is his to lose. He is the favorite to follow up his Emperor's Cup triumph.