#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upcoming Asian Championships, which includes Olympic champions Risako KAWAI (JPN) and Sara DOSHO (JPN), was suddenly withdrawn because of suspected contact with the coronavirus, the Japan Wrestling Federation announced on its website Friday.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

Asian C'ship Rivalry-to-Watch: Otoguro and Punia

Sunday, April 11, 2021 - 00:04 By Eric Olanowski

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan (April 12) --- Since the ’18 World Championships, 65kg has been one of wrestling’s premier weight classes, and that’s thanks in part to offensive juggernauts Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) and Bajrang PUNIA (IND).

The pair of attack-minded superstars are both entered at 65kg at the upcoming Asian Championships (April 13-18) and are looking to add another continental title to their resumes. But to do so, they’ll likely have to go through each other, which could set up a colossal third meeting between the pair who own a combined four world medals.

Otoguro commands a comfortable 2-0 lead over Punia heading into Almaty. He overcame his Indian rival at the ’18 World Championships and the ’20 Asian Championships and claimed gold both at both events.

Otoguro’s first win over Punia came in history-making fashion. In Budapest, the then-19-year-old defeated Punia in a barn-burning 25-point shootout and became Japan’s youngest-ever male world champion. Later that year, the high-octane match was voted as United World Wrestling’s Freestyle Match of the Year.

In their second meeting, Otoguro changed his approach and used low-level attacks to negate Punia’s world-famous pace. He secured four takedowns from below-the-knee attacks, denied Punia a second consecutive Asian title and reach the top of the continental podium for the first time in his young career.

But since that win in New Delhi, and due to the COVID pandemic, Otoguro has been sidelined from international competition and is set to return to the mat for the first time in 14 months.

Meanwhile, Punia stayed active during the pandemic. He trained in the United States for two months and wrestled in multiple exhibition matches on Flo Wrestling cards. Then, he kick-started the Olympic year with a gold-medal run at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event. In Rome, Punia picked up wins over Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL), Joseph MCKENNA (USA) and Selim KOZAN (TUR) en route to his fifth Ranking Series title.

The Asian Championships begin on Tuesday with Greco-Roman wrestling, but freestyle action starts on Saturday (April 16) in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

65kg Asian Championship Entries:
Bajrang BAJRANG (IND)
Morteza Hassanali GHIASI CHEKA (IRI)
Mohammed Al Jawad Zuhair K KAREEM (IRQ)|
Takuto OTOGURO (JPN)
Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ)
Alibek OSMONOV (KGZ)
Yongseok JEONG (KOR)
Junsik YUN (KOR)
Bilguun SARMANDAKH (MGL)
Chamara Milinda Perera WEERASINGHEGE (SRI)
Mustafo AKHMEDOV (TJK)
Kerim HOJAKOV (TKM)
Nodir RAKHIMOV (UZB)