Higuchi earns first trip to Worlds; Sakurai squeezes through

Friday, June 17, 2022 - 16:39 By Ken Marantz

TOKYO, Japan (June 17) -- Rei HIGUCHI will be going to his first World Championships, but make no mistake about it -- his ultimate goal remains winning the Olympic gold that eluded him six years ago in Rio.

Higuchi, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist at 57kg, earned a ticket to this year's World Championships at freestyle 61kg by defeating Kodai OGAWA 4-0 in the final at the Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships on Friday.

The 26-year-old had a fall and a technical fall in his two other matches as he ended the day unscored upon in winning the second of Japan's domestic qualifying tournaments for places on the team to the World Championships in September in Belgrade, Serbia.

Tsugumi SAKURAI, the reigning women's world champion at 55kg who has moved up to 57kg, secured a trip back to the worlds at that weight class but not without a bit of drama, while 2021 world silver medalist Miwa MORIKAWA will also be Belgrade-bound after triumphing at 65kg.

Winners of the Meiji Cup who previously won titles at the Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships last December automatically secured places on the team to Belgrade; if the champions are different, they meet in a playoff after that day's action at Tokyo's Komazawa Gym.

On Friday, there were no playoffs held. In six of the eight weight classes held on the second day of action, the Emperor's Cup champion prevailed again, while in the two others, that champion skipped the tournament due to injury, conceding the berth to the Meiji Cup winner.

Rei HIGUCHI controls Kodai OGAWA in the freestyle 61kg final. (Photo: Takeo Yabuki / Japan Wrestling Federation)

Higuchi fell into the latter case. Having moved up to 61kg after an ill-fated attempt to make the Tokyo Olympics at 57kg, he lost in the final at the Emperor's Cup to Ryuto SAKAKI, who is out injured.

The last time Higuchi was involved in a playoff, it was for the 57kg berth at the Tokyo Olympics, which he lost to Yuki TAKAHASHI. That came after he blew a chance to win the berth outright at the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament by failing to make weight.

Now his focus is on the 2024 Paris Olympics, and his efforts are aimed at getting off to a good start in the qualifying process that starts with this year's Emperor's Cup in December when he will drop back down to 57kg.

"The path to qualifying for the Olympics starts in December, so I thought that more than this tournament, and the World Championships if I qualified, December is the main event that I have to win," Higuchi said.

"If I don't win at 57kg in December, there will be no Olympics for me. The younger generation is emerging. I want to head into December with the feeling that I am the main challenger."

Not that he's not going to go all out at the World Championships.

"I move better against foreign opponents than against my fellow Japanese, so I going to take the offensive," Higuchi said. "I want to give everything I've got and win the world championship convincingly.

"I don't know if he will be able to compete, but if I can't beat [Tokyo Olympic 57kg] Zavur UGUEV (ROC) of Russia, I can't be No. 1 in the world. So I will devise a strategy to beat Uguev. There are many strong competitors in the world, but I will make that my primary goal."

At the Rio Olympics, Higuchi suffered a heart-breaking and controversial 3-3 loss in the gold-medal match to Vladimer Khinchegashvili (GEO). So desperate was he to get to the Tokyo Games, Higuchi at one time moved up to 65kg, where he won his lone other Meiji Cup title in 2019.

Although not an Olympic weight, the 26-year-old Higuchi seems to have found his niche at 61kg, in which he won the gold in his Asian Championships debut in April.

In Friday's final against fellow Nippon Sports Science University alumnus Ogawa, who knows him well, Higuchi tried new ways to crack his opponent's defense. But after gaining an activity point in the first period, he scored his lone technical point with a counter to the back in the second before receiving a second activity point.

"In the final, I reversed how I tie-up," Higuchi said. "I wanted to try shooting to the right after making him cautious of a single-leg tackle to the left. But as he's a junior teammate, he knew well what hand I was playing, so I wasn't able to do the move. Also, I was lacking a bit of confidence in trying it, so I'll work to perfect it before the World Championships."

Sakurai Tsugumi SAKURAI rises up before turning over Sae NANJO for the winning takedown in the last seconds of the women's 57kg final. (Photo: Takeo Yabuki / Japan Wrestling Federation)

For Sakurai, it was deja vu all over again as she barely beat the clock to beat world bronze medalist Sae NANJO 5-3 in the final -- much as she did six months earlier in the Emperor's Cup final.

Nanjo gained an activity point and a takedown to take a 3-0 lead into the second period, in which Sakurai closed the gap to 3-2 with a takedown. With 10 seconds left, Sakurai shot in on a single, and Nanjo went over the back and clamped on a leg, looking to ride out the clock.

But with the seconds ticking down, Sakurai raised up and managed to dump Nanjo onto her bottom as time expired. Was it in time? After an extraordinarily long challenge review, it was decided that Sakurai had gained control with milliseconds to spare.

"I went for the tackle with my last bit of energy," said Sakurai, last year's Meiji Cup champion at 55kg. "I didn't see the clock so I didn't know how much time was left, but I came out on top in the situation, so I thought I got the points."

What was going through her mind as the judges deliberated the call? "If I didn't get it, I would lose and we would go to a playoff, so I thought I had to be ready to face that possibility."

In the final of the Emperor's Cup, where Sakurai made her debut at 57kg, she scored a stunning 4-point takedown in the final seconds for a 5-2 win over Nanjo.

Making her latest victory even sweeter is that it came a day after two Ikuei University teammates, Sakura MOTOKI (59kg) and Ami ISHII (68kg), earned their first trips to the World Championships, which also put pressure on her to do so, too.

"At the end, I again won in the final by coming from behind, but I am confident that I practice harder than anyone, so even if it is tough at the end, I'm glad I could get in on a tackle and score points," Sakura said. "At the same time, yesterday two of my teammates at Ikuei University won titles, and while I also wanted to win, I felt like I had to win. I feel like it's a relief."

Sakurai's emergence as Japan's top wrestler at 57kg comes in the absence of Tokyo Olympic champion Risako KAWAI, who last month gave birth to her first child and plans to return at the Emperor's Cup to start a run at a third straight Olympic title.

"For me to get to the Olympics, she a competitor who I will have to beat," said Sakurai, who was one of Japan's seven women gold medalists at the Asian Championships. "I have youth and a bit of room timewise to still build strength, so I think I will get more powerful from now -- enough, I hope, to beat Kawai."

Miwa MORIKAWA works to get behind Miyu IMAI in the women's 65kg final. (Photo: Takeo Yabuki / Japan Wrestling Federation)

At 65kg, Morikawa had a far less dramatic day in winning her second straight title with an 8-1 victory in the final over 2018 world U20 champion Miyu IMAI, although she was a bit dissatisfied with her showing.

"I missed some chances for points," Morikawa said. "In order to win at the worlds, I have been able to firmly get those."

In Belgrade, Morikawa will be looking to make up for her loss in the 2021 world final in Oslo to Irina RINGACI (MDA). "That ended with a disappointing result, so I'm going to get the gold," Morikawa pledged.

Shimizu Kensuke SHIMIZU battles with Kyotaro SOGABE in the Greco 67kg semifinal. (Photo: Takeo Yabuki / Japan Wrestling Federation)

Shimizu comes up short at 67kg

A third medalist from the 2021 World Championships won't be getting another shot this year, as Greco 63kg bronze medalist Kensuke SHIMIZU came up short after moving up 67kg.

Shimizu, wanting to get an early start at adjusting his body to the Olympic weight, was dominated in the semifinals by Nippon Sport Science University's Kyotaro SOGABE, who built up a 7-1 lead before securing a fall in the waning seconds of the match.

"It's my first time in the higher weight class, and of course, my aim was to win the championship," said Shimizu, who came away with the bronze medal. "Beyond that, I want this to lead into my next competition. I particularly felt in the semifinal with Sogabe that there is still a real difference in power. I am determined to get stronger before December."

Shimizu was coming off a disappointing showing at the Asian Championships, where he lost in the second round for the second year in a row.

"At the Asian Championships, I let the opponent use his favored moves to dictate the match, and I wasn't able to show any of my best sides," Shimizu said. "It was really a terrible match. I never want to have a match like that again, and after I came back to my team, I talked it over with my coach thoroughly about what I should do. Every day, I think more in practice than I've ever done."

Shimizu changed his training environment by joining the Self-Defense Forces team upon graduating from Takushoku University, providing an ideal setting for making a run at the Olympics at 67kg.

"My weight training regimen and diet have gotten far better and I can put together a plan for tailoring my body to the heavier weight class," Shimizu said. "In regular practice, I can work out with wrestlers in higher weight classes, and train with more powerful ones."

Shimizu, who won the Emperor's Cup at 63kg to put him halfway back to the World Championships at that weight, said he decided it was better to make the move now to 67kg.

"Looking ahead, I thought instead of losing weight now, it was better to properly make the move up in weight class and get started on reforming my body and getting used to the new weight. I thought it was more important to start competing at this weight class."

Filling Japan's spot at 67kg in Belgrade will be Asian bronze medalist Katsuaki ENDO, who beat Sogabe 6-1 in the final for his first Meiji Cup title since winning at 63kg in 2018. The result, down to the score, was a repeat of Endo's victory over Sogabe at the Emperor's Cup.

Endo, an alumnus of NSSU, countered a forced throw attempt by Sogabe for 4 points in the second period, then followed that with a quick roll to put away his practice partner.

"I'm good from the ground, so maybe Kyotaro thought it was worth giving it a shot there and forced it too much," Endo said.

Sogabe, still looking for his first senior national title, first put himself onto the radar while at Imabari Nishi High School in his native Ehime Prefecture, when in 2019 he became the 10th wrestler in Japan history to win three straight titles in the high school division at the National Games. Among his notable predecessors was future world champion Kenichiro FUMITA.

In other Greco finals, veterans Tomohiro INOUE and Masato SUMI followed up their Emperor's Cup triumphs to secure tickets to Belgrade at 72kg and 87kg, respectively.

The 34-year-old Inoue won his second straight Meiji Cup title and fourth overall with a 3-1 victory over Taishi HORIE, while Sumi, 28, defeated Self-Defense Forces teammate So SAKABE 5-1 for his third title and first since 2019.

In freestyle, Asian bronze medalist Daichi TAKATANI chalked up a 5-2 victory in the final over Kirin KINOSHITA to capture his first Meiji Cup crown since 2013 and earn his first trip to the World Championships since 2014.

Taiki YAMAMOTO maintained his firm grip on the 125kg title, defeating Hiroto NINOMIYA 2-1 on activity points for his fourth straight title and fifth overall.

Day 2 Results

Freestyle

61kg (9 entries)
Final - Rei HIGUCHI df. Kodai OGAWA, 4-0
3rd Place - Kaito MORIKAWA df. Hayato FUJITA by TF, 10-0, 3:35

74kg (10 entries)
Final - Daichi TAKATANI df. Kirin KINOSHITA, 5-2
3rd Place - Yuto FUKADA df. Iori KOSHIBA, 6-1

125kg (7 entries)
Final - Taiki YAMAMOTO df. Hiroto NINOMIYA, 2-1
3rd Place - Yuji FUKUI df. Asahi TSUIHIJI by TF, 10-0, 3:57

Greco-Roman

67kg (11 entries)
Final - Katsuaki ENDO df. Kyotaro SOGABE, 6-1
3rd Place - Kensuke SHIMIZU df. Yoshinobu ITO by Inj. Def.

72kg (10 entries)
Final - Tomohiro INOUE df. Taishi HORIE, 3-1
3rd Place - Daigo KOBAYASHI df. Haruto YABE, 2-1

87kg (9 entries)
Final - Masato SUMI df. So SAKABE, 5-1
3rd Place - Kanta SHIOKAWA df. Satoki MUKAI by Fall, 2:18 (2-3)

Women's Wrestling

57kg (9 entries)
Final - Tsugumi SAKURAI df. Sae NANJO, 5-3
3rd Place - Sena NAGAMOTO df. Ruka NATAMI by TF, 12-2, 4:55

65kg (6 entries)
Final - Miwa MORIKAWA df. Miyu IMAI, 8-1
3rd Place - Ayana GEMPEI df. Rin TERAMOTO, 7-1

#JapanWrestling

Ozaki grabs Paris ticket at 68kg with thrilling win over Ishii

Sunday, January 28, 2024 - 02:51 By Ken Marantz

TOKYO (January 27) -- Ever since she started wrestling as a schoolgirl, the single-leg takedown has been Nonoka OZAKI's most reliable weapon. It didn't let her down when she needed it most -- with a ticket to the Paris Olympics on the line.

Ozaki launched a last-ditch single-leg in the final nine seconds and it paid off with a takedown, giving the two-time world champion a dramatic 5-4 victory over Ami ISHII in a playoff for Japan's spot in Paris at women's 68kg on Saturday at Tokyo's National Training Center.

"I'm really happy, but it still hasn't sunk in that I've taken a step closer to my dream," said a jubilant Ozaki, for whom the road to Paris has been a roller-coaster of emotions.

Ozaki was the 2022 world champion at 62kg, but missed out during the domestic qualifying process for Paris in that weight class. She then decided to take a shot at 68kg when that became her only remaining option.

Ozaki set up the playoff with Ishii by winning the 68kg title at the Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships last December. Ishii, the world silver medalist in 2022, had finished fifth at last year World Championships in Belgrade -- good enough to secure a Paris berth for Japan but not enough to fill it herself.

The victory gave Ozaki her fifth win in five career meetings between the two, who are only three months apart in age. The older Ishii turned 22 in December. Ozaki threw down the gauntlet in their most recent clash, defeating Ishii 6-2 in the first round of the Emperor's Cup.

Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) Ami ISHII scores a go-ahead takedown late in the second period. (Photo by Ikuo Higuchi / Japan Wrestling Federation)

On Saturday, Ishii looked like she might have finally found an answer. Trailing 3-0 in the second period, she received a passivity point, then broke through Ozaki's defenses to score a takedown at the edge in the final seconds that was upheld in an unsuccessful challenge (the Ozaki side wanted it called a stepout) to take a 4-3 lead.

"She got the points in the last 10 seconds and I thought for a moment all was lost," Ozaki said. "During the challenge, I thought, 'I don't want the match to end this way.' Those on my side had a look on their faces of 'you can still do it.'...There was nothing left but to go for it."

During the challenge, the mat chairman also had the clock reset from four seconds and change to 9.89. Ozaki wasted none of it, lunging for the single-leg and quickly finishing it off with a few seconds to spare.

"I didn't practice that, shooting right off the whistle, but I believed in myself," Ozaki said. "It was good they put the clock back to 10 seconds, if it was four seconds, it would have been a problem. I can't say I was calm, but there was nothing else to do. The fact that I didn't have time to think, 'What should I do?' was a good thing."

Ozaki also cut it close with her first-period takedown, which she scored with six seconds left off a counter that she said she practiced in preparation for the match. Ishii likes to work an underhook, and as soon as she made a move for a leg, Ozaki dropped down and clamped on her head, then used her speed to spin behind.

Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) Nonoka OZAKI defeats Ami ISHII in the women's Olympic 68kg playoff. (Photo by Ikuo Higuchi / Japan Wrestling Federation)

For Ishii, the agony of defeat was excruciating. In disbelief, she dropped to the mat and sobbed uncontrollably, which continued even after she was escorted by teammates off the mat. Her wails of anguish reverberated throughout the room, in contrast to Ozaki's celebrations with her contingent.

The playoff was held on one of the six mats in the spacious wrestling room on the basement floor of the National Training Center. Aside from a smattering of media and federation officials, each wrestler was accompanied by a small contingent of fans or teammates.

Ishii just could not seem to process what had happened. Speaking in a barely audible voice through tears to the media, she said, "It's like someone you know has died, but you don't feel like they're gone. I don't feel like Paris is gone, but I have to accept that it is."

Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) Nonoka Ozaki finishes up a quick-fire takedown in the final seconds of the second period to clinch the victory. (Photo by Ikuo Higuchi / Japan Wrestling Federation)

Ozaki could commiserate with her vanquished opponent. She had been on the losing end in a battle for the 62kg place with Ishii's Ikuei University teammate Sakura MOTOKI, a 2022 bronze medalist at 59kg who moved up to the Olympic weight and made it hers. (Another Ikuei wrestler, world champion Tsugumi SAKURAI, will be going to Paris at 57kg.)

"This is a world of competition, and I came here to get the ticket [to Paris] also," Ozaki said. "I know how much she wanted to win, but the competition is harsh and one of us has to lose. I won in the last few seconds, but that could have gone either way. I could have just as easily lost. I am grateful to her for giving me such a high-level match."

Ishii had won the world silver at 68kg in 2022 and could have locked up her place in Paris with a repeat performance last year in Belgrade. The Japan federation had decreed that any wrestler who won a medal in an Olympic weight class would automatically fill the Paris berth themselves.

As it turned out, 68kg was the only women's weight class out of the six in which the Japanese entry did not medal.

Sadly for Ishii, an 8-8 loss in the bronze-medal match to Irina RINGACI (MDA) had dire consequences. Ishii would win the fifth-place playoff to secure the Paris berth for Japan, but it left the door open for others to poach.

Ozaki was also in Belgrade, having decided that she needed to move forward and put her failure at 62kg behind her. She won a spot on Japan's team at the non-Olympic weight of 65kg and picked up her second world gold. But her heart was hardly into it. Of more concern was seeing Motoki clinched her place in Paris by winning the 62kg silver.

"When I look back, it's enough to make me cry, it was so tough," Ozaki said. "Right now I'm happy, but up to last year's World Championships, there was no joy at all in my life. It's like the person I was up to then was lost, it was someone I didn't know like I had run into a wall. I wanted to fight hard but I couldn't make the effort.

"I thought that I don't even want to watch a Paris Olympics that I'm not in. When I won the 65kg playoff here, I had convinced myself that I had to keep moving forward. It wasn't an Olympic weight, but I thought if I could be No. 1 in the world again, it would be an opportunity to start over.

"That's how I felt going to the World Championships. But before my final, the 62kg [berth] was secured. I didn't take a victory lap and I was crying -- it makes me cry now to recall this -- because I was thinking, 'The Olympics is over for me.' I felt resentment. But as I told the media, I was the one responsible and had to accept it. 'I'm not going to retire, and I'll keep fighting,' I said. I had never thought that in the end, I would be going to the Olympics at 68kg."

Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) Ikuei University teammates try to console a devastated Ami Ishii. (Photo by Ken Marantz / United World Wrestling)

Less than two years ago, Ozaki was on top of the world at 62kg, having won 2022 world golds on the senior, U23 and U20 levels over two months. Her eyes were firmly on Paris, and the Japanese press buzzed over her budding rivalry with Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ).

But her well-laid plans began to unravel just a few months later when Motoki decided to make a challenge for the Olympic spot at 62kg in a field that included Tokyo Olympic champion Yukako KAWAI.

After Motoki won their clash at the Emperor's Cup, they never got to meet in the second qualifier -- the Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships in June 2023 -- as Ozaki was handed a stunning 6-6 defeat in the quarterfinals by Yuzuku INAGAKI. Motoki won the title to clinch the ticket to Belgrade, and the rest is history.

In preparation for Paris, Ozaki plans to enter one tournament at 68kg, the Asian Championships in Bishkek in April. She is also carrying some injury concerns, having hurt her right knee at the Emperor's Cup and having problems with her left thumb for the past year which she says affects her grip.

But that is all secondary to having made it to the Olympics, even if it means facing opponents larger than she is accustomed to.

"A year ago, I would never have thought of taking the path of 68kg," Ozaki said. "I'm still only 66 kilograms, but I'll work to fill out to 68. Without being inferior in strength, I will use my speed to my advantage. I'll work on counters for underhooks and throws, and maybe even be able to hit some throws of my own. I'll continue to make progress and I'll be ready."

Ozaki, a product of the JOC Academy, took the academic route when it came to choosing a college and currently attends the prestigious Keio University. That means that outside of national team camps, she has to hit the road for training. Her preparation for the playoff took her to Kanagawa University, a club team in Kanagawa Prefecture and a high school in Yamanashi Prefecture. Several of the male wrestlers at the latter were on hand Saturday.

Whether she can win the gold will likely come down to how effective her old friend, the single-leg tackle, will be for her.

"That tackle has been a part of everything I've accomplished up to now," Ozaki said. "It's my weapon, one that I believe in completely. I've always relied on it and won with it. I owe a debt of gratitude to the technique."

Japan's Paris-bound women

50kg: Yui SUSAKI (world champion)
53kg: Akari FUJINAMI (world champion)
57kg: Tsugumi SAKURAI (world champion)
62kg: Sakura MOTOKI (world silver medalist)
68kg: Nonoka OZAKI (world champion 65kg)
76kg: Yuka KAGAMI (world champion)

Higuchi earns first trip to Worlds; Sakurai squeezes through

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Ozaki grabs Paris ticket at 68kg with thrilling win over Ishii