#WrestleAlmaty

Japan Pulls Women's Team from Asian Championships Over Suspected Contact with Coronavirus

Saturday, April 10, 2021 - 05:29 By Ken Marantz

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan (April 10) --- The Japan women's team for the upcoming Asian Championships, which includes Olympic champions Risako KAWAI (JPN) and Sara DOSHO (JPN), was suddenly withdrawn because of suspected contact with the coronavirus, the Japan Wrestling Federation announced on its website Friday.

The federation emphasized that no member of the 10-women team had tested positive for the coronavirus themselves, but that contact tracing showed an unspecified number may have been exposed to someone infected.

The decision was made just as the team was to have accompanied the men's freestyle team on the flight to Almaty via Istanbul for the tournament starting April 13. It follows the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament currently underway at the same venue.

The federation said that while no team members had tested positive in a PCR test the previous day, nor had any displayed symptoms of the coronavirus. But because of the suspected contact, it could not mitigate the risk of possibly infecting wrestlers from other countries in Almaty.

It was a shocking development, given that sports officials put strict protocols in place at the National Training Center in Tokyo, where the wrestling squads had pre-tournament national camps.

Kawai (57kg) and Dosho (68kg) were among five members of the women's team to Almaty who had already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, along with Mayu MUKAIDA (53kg), Yukako KAWAI (62kg) and Hiroe MINAGAWA (76kg).

For all but Dosho, it was to have been their first overseas competition since last year's Asian Championships held in New Delhi in February 2020. The Kawai sisters and Minagawa would have been defending their Asian titles. Dosho's last trip overseas was to the 2019 World Championships in Nursultan.

The other team members are: Remina YOSHIMOTO (50kg), Tsugumi SAKURAI (55kg), Akie HANAI (59kg), Miwa MORIKAWA (65kg) and Masako FURUICHI (72kg). They had earned their places on the team with victories at the All-Japan Championships in December 2020.

#WrestleAlmaty

LIVE BLOG: Asian Olympic Qualifiers, Day Three

Sunday, April 11, 2021 - 04:30 By United World Wrestling Press

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We have our 12 qualifiers in men's freestyle from Almaty. Uzbekistan was the top team with four qualifiers while Iran captured three spots for the Tokyo Olympics. China managed two for itself as Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Kazakhstan go home with one each. 

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

1945 hrs: Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) is the champion of 125kg as he beats Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) 4-2 in the final

1930 hrs: Gold medal for Mohammadhossein Askari MOHAMMADIAN (IRI)! Uzbekistan veteran Magomed Idrisovitch IBRAGIMOV (UZB) will give an injury default victory to the Iran wrestler

1915 hrs: Zushen LIN (CHN) gave Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB) a tough fight but he will go down 3-7 in the 86kg final.

1900 hrs: We have injury forfeit at the 74kg final and Yones Aliakbar EMAMICHOGHAEI (IRI) will take home the gold medal. Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) finishes with a silver

1835 hrs: What a match! - Amirmohammad Babak YAZDANICHERATI (IRI) was leading 12-8 after a too and fro five minutes but Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) comes back to get two exposures and make it 12-12 and claim the gold medal at 65kg. Iran is challenging. But Akmataliev will win the gold medal after a revised score of 15-12

1815 hrs: Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) is your gold medalist in Almaty at 57kg after he wins 10-0 win over Minghu LIU (CHN)

1800 hrs: Welcome back! We are ready for our medal bouts. First up will be the 57kg bronze medal bouts

1415 hrs: We have our 12 quota winners!

57kg: Minghu LIU (CHN) and Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)
65kg: Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) and Amirmohammad  YAZDANICHERATI (IRI)
74kg: Yones EMAMICHOGHAEI and Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV
86kg: Zushen LIN (CHN) and Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
97kg: Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) and Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UZB)
125kg: Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) and Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ)

1310 hrs: Liu with a pair of takedowns and he is up 4-1 but Ikromov counters with his own. Liu gets an exposure and he will win 6-3. Abdullaev will qualify Uzbekistan for Tokyo as he beats Uulu 8-4

1300 hrs: 57kg semifinals are underway. Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) is leading Bekbolot MYRZANAZAR UULU (KGZ) 6-0 at the break while Muhamad IKROMOV (TJK) is up 1-0 against M LIU (CHN)

1215 hrs: There will be a 45 minute break before we start the semifinals! 12 wrestlers will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics

1200 hrs: At 57kg, Bekbolot MYRZANAZAR UULU (KGZ) will take on Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) while Muhamad IKROMOV (TJK) will wrestle M LIU (CHN) for a ticket to Tokyo

1150 hrs: Kazakhstan are having a field day! Azamat DAULETBEKOV and Yusup BATIRMURZAEV have reached the semifinals at 97kg and 125kg respectively

1130 hrs: We have some our semifinalists set already! Haji ALI (BRN) will wrestle Amirmohammad Babak YAZDANICHERATI (IRI) for a spot in the final of 65kg1120 hrs: Amirmohammad Babak YAZDANICHERATI (IRI) does it in style. He advances to the semifinal with 10-0 win

1110 hrs: Haji ALI (BRN) is tied 1-1 against Junsik YUN (KOR) in their 65kg quarter-final. On Mat B after this bout we will have the Amirmohammad Babak YAZDANICHERATI (IRI)

1055 hrs: Mohammadhossein Askari MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) begins with a 11-0 win against Naoya AKAGUMA (JPN). He looks poised to get that quota for Iran

1040 hrs: A first period technical superiority for Ilyas BEKABULATOV (UZB) at 65kg. In the next bout, Yones Aliakbar EMAMICHOGHAEI (IRI) also wins by technical superiority against Alymuhammet OVEZMYRADOV (TKM)

1030 hrs: Off we go! Freestyle wrestling here in Almaty and we have some superstars to watch Ilyas BEKBULATOV (UZB), Mohammadhossein Askari MOHAMMADIAN (IRI), Haji ALI (BHN)