#WrestleOslo

Teen phenom Fujinami excited, not nervous, about global senior debut

By Ken Marantz

TOKYO (September 30) -- Teenager Akari FUJINAMI (JPN) was bred to wrestle for fun as much as victories. She's had an awful lot of both in her budding career.

Fujinami, regarded as one of Japan's top future prospects, will face the toughest test of her young life when she makes her international senior debut at the World Championships in Oslo in the women's 53kg division, which gets underway October 5.

Fujinami, still a month shy of her 18th birthday, stormed her way onto a young but not-to-be-underestimated Japanese team by winning the two national championship tournaments that served as the domestic qualifiers. Those were her first-ever senior-level competitions.

The 2018 world cadet champion says she has no jitters about about making the jump directly from cadet to senior, following a route previously taken by recently crowned Olympic champion Yui SUSAKI (JPN).

"My feelings right now are that I'm excited," Fujinami said in a telephone interview from her home in central Japan. "I really want the tournament to start soon. I'm don't feel nervous at all. I'm fired up. I'm looking forward to seeing how I can do."

Leave it to Japan, the preeminent powerhouse in women's wrestling, to be missing the Olympic champion and still have a wrestler of her caliber to take her place.

Akari FujinamiAkari FUJINAMI (JPN) addressing the media after the Emperor's Cup in December, 2020. (Photo: UWW / Ken Marantz)

Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN) was busy preparing for her gold-medal run at 53kg at the Tokyo Olympics and did not enter the two national tournaments -- the All-Japan Emperor's Cup in December 2020 and the All-Japan Invitational Meiji Cup last May. In fact, none of Japan's Olympians, including the four other gold medalists, will be making the trip to Oslo.

But it cannot be said that Fujinami had an easy path to Oslo. At both tournaments, she encountered both two-time world champion Haruna OKUNO (JPN) and 2019 world silver medalist Nanami IRIE (JPN) -- and won each time. And quite handily, in fact.

"It gives me a lot of confidence," said Fujinami, who beat Irie in both finals without conceding a point.

Fujinami is yet to face Mukaida in an official match, but seeing her fellow Mie Prefecture native win the Olympic gold medal has stoked a fire in Fujinami. If Mukaida (now Shidochi following her recent marriage) intends to defend her Olympic title, she will likely have to get past Fujinami first.

"I watched [her matches]," Fujinami said. "I thought she was fantastic, but my stronger feeling was that I have to beat this person and win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics."

Fujinami, a senior at Inabe Gakuen High School, has not lost a match since the national junior high school championships in June 2017, and is currently on a 79-match winning streak. Of those 79 wins, put together while accumulating 20 tournament titles, all but 15 were by fall or technical fall.

Fujinami has appeared in five international tournaments, and has yet to lose to a non-Japanese opponent. In 2018, she reeled off victories at the Klippan Lady (cadet division), Asian cadet, World cadet and Asian U15 championships.

She won a second straight Klippan Lady title in February 2019 -- with four straight technical falls -- but with the start of the worldwide pandemic, that would prove to be her last international competition until Oslo.

"It will be the first time in two years for me to face a foreign opponent," Fujinami said. "But I don't think there will be any big difference from what I normally do."

Akari FujinamiAkari FUJINAMI (JPN), right, during the U15 Asian Championships in 2018. (Photo: UWW / Ken Marantz)

Along with Mukaida, the Oslo field will also be missing Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Qianyu PANG (CHN). But Fujinami might have to contend with bronze medalist Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL), along with newly crowned world junior champion Emma MALMGREN (SWE).

She's ready for the challenge. "I'd really like to face them," she said.

Fujinami said she is well prepared for the World Championships, and will be heading to Oslo coming off a national team training camp. Prior to that, she was able to practice even though her school was still having only online teaching. The wrestling team was able to use the school's wrestling room.

Obviously too dominant for her female teammates, Fujinami spars with the boys at Inabe Gakuin. "They are around the same weight," she said. "It's a hard workout that's like matches."

Fujinami has also been invited in the past to train with the team at Nippon Sports Science University, where four-time Olympic champion Kaori ICHO (JPN) is currently an assistant coach.

"I haven't gone there recently because of the coronavirus," said Fujinami, who has not officially committed to a university after graduation next March, but said she will likely go to NSSU.

Fujinami started wrestling at age three, following her older brother Yuhi into the kids wrestling club run by her father Toshikazu, who is still her coach at Inabe Gakuen. Yuhi went on to win a bronze medal at the 2017 world championships at freestyle 70kg.

"I wanted to imitate what my brother was doing, so that's why I started wrestling," said Fujinami.

While Japanese wrestling often has a Spartan image, such was not the case at the Inabe Club. It would not be until her third year of elementary school that she would win her first national schoolgirls title.

"In the beginning, I was actually weak," Fujinami said. "My mother and father, and they'll say it even now, they wanted me to have fun wrestling, and I think they thought I wouldn't be an athlete with high aims.

"But as I stayed with it, I really got into it and wanted to become a world-beater. But I didn't feel that way when I was little."

With their mutual success, Fujinami and her brother developed a sibling rivalry that was, and still is, always friendly.

"I got along well with my brother and still do now," Fujinami said. "In 2017 he won a bronze medal at the World Championships, but I want to better his record and win a gold medal."

On the mat, Fujinami's main weapon is a lightning-quick single-leg takedown, which, like many Japanese, she quickly transitions to a lace-lock. She has recently focused on improving her ground wrestling, both offensively and defensively.

While she said she did not have a favorite wrestler growing up -- despite the fact that superstar Saori YOSHIDA (JPN) is also a Mie native -- Fujinami mentioned Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) when asked during a Zoom press conference whose style of wrestling she liked.

"I often watch and learn from his videos," she said of the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist at freestyle 65kg. "He can score a tackle from anywhere. He's really amazing. Like that, I want to do wrestling that's fun to watch, where a lot happens."

In Oslo, Fujinami plans to maintain her pre-match routine of eating "sekihan," a dish of rice boiled with red beans that she will bring with her. What won't be routine these days is competing in front of a crowd.

In the few domestic tournaments that weren't canceled amid the pandemic, fans and friends were not allowed.

"Having a crowd really livens up the matches, and for us athletes, its raises our motivation," Fujinami said.

#WrestleOslo

#WrestleOslo Day Eight Preview: GR 63kg, 67kg and 87kg

By Vinay Siwach

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 25) -- A day when two Olympic weight classes will be in action, a total of eight wrestlers who competed in Tokyo will take the mat in Oslo, Norway. Olympic champion Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) will be leading the field at 67kg with former world champion Hansu RYU (KOR). At 87kg, five Tokyo Olympians will be in action as bronze medalist Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (SRB) will be taking on Islam ABBASOV (AZE), Kiryl MASKEVICH (BLR), Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) and Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ).

The third will be 63kg, a non-Olympic weight, but a number of age-group world medalists are entered including U23 World champion Meysam DALKHANI (IRI). The host country Norway is going ahead with veteran Stig BERGE (NOR) who won a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics.

But the fireworks are sure to go off at 87kg as big-throwing and dark horse Maskevich tries to put the disappointment of Tokyo behind him. He was in serious form going into the Olympics but suffered a tame loss to Mohamed METWALLY (EGY) in the opening round. Maskevich won the gold at the Individual World Cup in 2020 and a silver at the 2021 European Championships after suffering a loss to Datunashvili in the final.

If Datunashvili can build on his success from Tokyo, it will hardly be a surprise that he reaches the final in Oslo. After winning the European Championships, he qualified for the Tokyo Games from Last Chance Qualifier in Bulgaria before winning the bronze in Tokyo. He lost to eventual champion Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) but rallied back to beat Bachir SID AZARA (ALG) and Ivan HUKLEK (CRO) in the repechage and bronze medal bout respectively.

Abbasov and Gobadze will also be big threats to the gold medal as the former is a European Championships and Games silver medalist and Gobadze will like to win the gold in the Olympic weight class after winning the 82kg at the 2019 World Championships. Both were in Tokyo but lost in the opening rounds. Unlike Datunashvili, they did not get a chance in repechage and had to return empty-handed from Japan.

Belenuik decided to take a break after winning the gold in Tokyo but Ukraine can still hope for a golden run in Oslo as the talented Semen NAVIKOV (UKR) looks to finally step up and take over the weight class. He won the U23 World Championships twice and even captured the gold at the senior European Championships in 2020.

Malid ALIRZAEV (ROC), another U23 world champion, will also try to fill the big shoes of Davit CHAKVETADZE (ROC) as he was selected for the Oslo tournament.

ROC named a young squad for the Oslo World Championships as Nazir ABDULLAEV (ROC) was included for the 67kg weight class. The Individual World Cup winner will be a big threat to Geraei's quest to become an Olympic and World champion in the same year.

Mohammadreza GERAEIMohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) won the gold in Tokyo. (Photo: UWW / Tony Rotundo)

Geraei's run in Tokyo was a big savior for Iran's otherwise disappointing performance. He defeated three-time world champion Frank STABLER (GER) in the quarterfinal and then Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO) in the semifinal. In the final, Parviz NASIBOV (UKR) in the final. The U23 world champion is likely to face, who finished fifth in Tokyo, again in Oslo. Zoidze won a U23 world silver medal but has been one of the top performers at the continental level in Europe. He now has a chance to take things to the next level by winning a senior Worlds medal.

But a wrestler who will try to regain his lost form is two-time world champion Ryu. The two-time Asian Games winner was once again denied an Olympic medal after he lost in the opening round to young star and Tokyo bronze medalist Mohamed EL-SAYED (EGY).

An under-the-radar wrestler in Oslo could be Zaur KABALOEV (ITA). The former Russian Wrestling Federation national champion has made the switch to Italy after 2019 and will now be representing the European nation in Oslo. Along with Asian champion Tsuchika SHIMOYAMADA (JPN) and Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ), a multiple-time world bronze medalist, Kabaloev can stun the field at 67kg.

Sultan ASSETULYSultan ASSETULY (KAZ) and Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) wrestled in the final of 2021 Asian Championships. (Photo: UWW / Sachiko HOTAKA)

Senior Asian champion Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ) and U23 world champion Dalkhani will be the top names at 63kg in Oslo. The two wrestled in the final of the Asian Championships in 2021 with the Kazakhstan wrestler winning the gold. Assetuly will now have a chance to win his first senior World Championships medal.

The same goes for Dalkhani who has shown great results at the age-group level but will be tested at this level for the first time.

Testing them will be local hope and veteran Berge who will look to excite the local fans who are allowed to attend the competition. Berge's performances have fallen a little in the last couple of years but his silver medals at European Championships and Matteo Pellicone in 2020 served as a reminder that he can still pull off big performances.

Apart from Berge, U23 European champion Hrachya POGHOSYAN (ARM) will also be in the mix in Oslo. The 22-year-old Armenian will be wrestling at his first senior Worlds and only the third international tournament at this level. He finished fifth at the senior European Championships last year.

Ibragim LABAZANOV (ROC), a silver medalist from the European Championships, will also be looking to win the gold medal for his country. The 2016 Rio Olympian has the experience of performing at the big stage and this could well be his chance to claim his spot back in the Russian Wrestling Federation team.

Former cadet world champion Leri ABULADZE (GEO) can also upset a few in Oslo as he transforms into a senior wrestler. His bronze medal at the senior Euros in 2020 can be seen as the first step and he will be keen on winning another medal on the final day of the World Championships as the finals for all three weight classes will be held on October 10, Tuesday.