#WrestleTokyo

Tokyo 2020 Venue to Get 1st Test Run with Women's Tournament Featuring 5 World Medalists.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019 - 15:39 By Ken Marantz

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CHIBA, Japan (Oct. 2)---The wrestling venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will get its first dry run with a three-day competition in the six women's Olympic weight classes, part of the organizing committee's "Ready Steady Tokyo" series of test events.

Makuhari Messe, an expansive international convention complex located down the coast from Tokyo in the western part of neighboring Chiba city, will host the Tokyo 2020 wrestling competition less than a year away. When a dedicated Olympic road is used during the Games, it is expected to be a 20-minute drive from the Olympic Village.

Coming so close to the World Championships in Kazakhstan and with a big domestic women's competition looming in a few weeks, the organizing committee had to scramble to fill the minimum eight places in each weight classes. But they managed to pull it off, as four of the weight classes have eight entries and two have nine.

And even under the circumstances, they have put together an impressive field, with no less than five medalists---all Chinese---and 11 wrestlers overall who participated at Nur-Sultan.

No members of the Japanese team, which won one gold and secured five of six places at Tokyo 2020 are entered, but there are a number of "next generation" wrestlers who have earned an abundance of world and continental laurels on the age-group level.

The objective of the tournament, of course, is to test technical and logistical aspects and work out any glitches before the Games. The Atos and Omega computer scoring systems will also be put to the test.

Makuhari Messe will be the host venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. But first, it'll host this week's test event.

"The test event is mainly for technical operations and to have the staff operate and communicate with each other," said Akiko Takeda, a Japan Wrestling Federation spokesperson who is serving as the international service manager for the venue.

Takeda pointed out that at Japan's major national competitions, the Japan federation completely handles the organizing and execution. But in the case of the test event, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee is the organizer, and must coordinate between various local and international entities.

"The people come from many positions, big companies, the Metropolitan Tokyo Government, other prefectures," Takeda said. "To communicate is difficult. The organizational structure is isolated, and we need horizontal communication [between everyone]."

The wrestling competition will be held in the International Exhibition Hall of Makuhari Messe, which has a total floor space of nearly 80,000 square meters. For the test event, only Hall 5 will be used; for the Olympics, the dividers will be taken out and the space expanded into the two adjacent halls, allowing for spectator seating with a capacity of 10,000.

While the layout of the three mats, on connected octagonal stages, will be the same as for the Olympic event, there will be no spectators. Which is somewhat of a shame, as the quality of the wrestling will be quite high.

RONG Ningning (CHN) looks to finish a single-leg in the 57kg world finals against Risako KAWAI (JPN). (Photo: Gabor MARTIN) 

Heading the field will be RONG Ningning (CHN), a 2018 world champion who won the silver medal in Nur-Sultan after losing in the 57kg final to Risako KAWAI (JPN). The Asian champion's toughest test could come in a possible semifinal with compatriot ZHANG Qi (CHN), who was third at the Asian Championships at 59kg and was the 2018 world junior silver medalist.

On the other side of the draw are Hanako SAWA (JPN), the 2018 world junior champion, and Alina AKOBIIA (UKR), this year's world junior silver medalist.

At 53kg, Nur-Sultan bronze medalist PANG Qiangyu (CHN) could have a rematch of her Klippan Lady loss to 2018 world junior champion Umi IMAI (JPN). But Pang would first have to get past compatriot LUO Lannan (CHN), a 2018 Asian bronze medalist, and possibly Saki IGARASHI (JPN), the 2018 world junior and U23 champion at 55kg.

Also in the field are European champion Liliya HORISHNA (UKR) and 2018 European U23 gold medalist Nina MENKENOVA (RUS).

Olympic bronze medalist SUN Yanan (CHN), who deprived Japan an Tokyo 2020 berth at 50kg by topping Yuki IRIE (JPN) in a 13-12 second-round thriller in Nur-Sultan before finishing fifth, appears to be the one to beat in the lightest weight class.

Others entered include 2018 Asian champion LEI Chun (CHN), world junior bronze medalist Mariia VYNNYK (UKR) and up-and-coming Remina YOSHIMOTO (JPN), the Asian junior champion and Klippan Lady runner-up this year.

The 68kg division could feature a clash of current and former world bronze medalists in the semifinals, as WANG Xiaoqian (CHN), a third-place finisher in Nur-Sultan at 65kg, was drawn into the same half of the bracket at 2018 bronze medalist Feng ZHOU (CHN).

Naruha MATSUYUKI (JPN), a junior world champion, will wrestle at 68kg. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

World junior champion Naruha MATSUYUKI (JPN) is in the bottom half along with Alina RUDNYTSKA LEVYTSKA (UKR) and Alexandria GLAUDE (USA), who were world junior and U23 bronze medalists, respectively, in 2018.

At 62kg, another all-Chinese semifinal looms, this one between PEI Xingru (CHN), a world bronze medalist at 59kg, and LUO Xiaojuan (CHN), the Asian champion at 65kg. Pei will open against Mallory VELTE (USA), a 2018 world bronze medalist.

The other half of the draw features European U23 champion Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR) and a pair of 2018 world junior champions, Atena KODAMA (JPN) and Miyu IMAI (JPN).

The Chinese favorites at 76kg were drawn into separate brackets, making a gold-medal showdown possible between Paliha PALIHA (CHN), a bronze medalist at 72kg in Nur-Sultan, and ZHOU Qian (CHN), a two-time former world bronze medalist.

Looking to topple the great walls will be world junior bronze medalist Yasuha MATSUYUKI (JPN), who is Naruha's twin sister; Justina DI STASIO (CAN), the 2018 world champion at 72kg; and European junior bronze medalist Romana VOVCHAK (UKR).

For the tournament, there is a weight allowance of 2 kilograms.

Schedule
Thursday, October 3
11:00-13:00  Qualification rounds WW - 76-68-62kg
18:15-19:15    Semifinals WW - 76-68-62kg

Friday, October 4
11:00-11:20   Repechage WW - 76-68-62kg
11:20-13:20   Qualification rounds WW - 57-53-50kg
18:15-19:15    Semifinals WW - 57-53-50kg
19:15-21:45    Finals WW - 76-68-62kg

Saturday, October 5
10:30-10:50   Repechage WW - 57-53-50kg
11:20-13:50    Finals WW - 57-53-50kg

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024: For France wrestling trio, Olympics come home. Literally

Wednesday, July 17, 2024 - 07:40 By United World Wrestling Press

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PARIS (July 17) -- To compete at a home Olympics can be an unparalleled career high for the best of athletes. Even more so for the three French wrestlers, for whom the Games have come home — quite literally.

When Koumba LARROQUE, Ameline DOUARRE and Mamadassa SYLLA check in at the Athletes Village in Seine Saint Denis and step on the mat at the picturesque venue in Champs de Mars, it’ll mark a culmination of their stories that took shape just a stone's throw away, at the Club Bagnolet Lutte 93.

 Koumba LARROQUE (FRA)
Koumba LARROQUE (FRA) at Club Bagnolet Lutte 93.

Indeed, there are many wrestling strongholds in France. Dijon, roughly 320 km from Paris, is one such hub that is home to many young stars. And quite a few of them train at France’s National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance — commonly known as INSEP, a facility that’s also designated as the United World Wrestling Center.

However, the presence of wrestling stars who have honed their skills at Bagnolet, the famous Parisian club, in the French team is steeped in symbolism. Not least because it is located close to the two Olympic landmark sites.

But by competing at the home Games, the trio will also carry forward the commune’s century-long wrestling tradition, which also captures the growth of the sport between the two Olympics Paris has hosted.

Ameline DOUARRE (FRA)Ameline DOUARRE (FRA) will compete at Paris Olympics in 62kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

It was exactly a hundred years ago, in 1924, that the Association Sportive et Gymnasnique de Bagnolet reinvented and transformed itself into a sports club, kick-starting a revolution of sorts in the area not too far from Paris’s city center.

Nothing nails down Bagnolet’s wrestling culture more than the fact that, according to a survey on the club’s website, two out of three youngsters wrestled. However, it was only after an agreement was reached with the department of Seine Saint Denis — the heart of the Games where the Athletes Village is located — that the sport really took off and the Club Bagnolet Lutte 93 came into being in its current form in 2005.

From Mélonin NOUMONVI, the 2014 Greco-Roman world champion, to Olympic gold medalist Steeve GUENOT and his bronze medal-winning brother Christophe as well as the latest sensation, the former U20 and U23 world champion Larroque – many French champions have spent key years of their development at the club.

But Larroque, Douarre and Sylla have a chance to do something none of their predecessors could: compete in their own backyard.

Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA) after his qualification for the 2024 Paris Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Sylla, who discovered wrestling at age 15, finished fifth at the European Championships this year and will compete in the 67 kg Greco-Roman category. Douarre is a last-minute entrant to the draw after withdrawals in the 62 kg weight class.

Sylla, who was a second-choice wrestler for the qualification tournament in Baku, became the first wrestler from France to qualify in Grec-Roman since the 2012 London Games, the last time France won an Olympic medal in wrestling, a bronze by 2008 Beijing champion Steve GUENOT (FRA).

Larroque, though, remains the flag-bearer for French wrestling at the Paris Olympics. Introduced to wrestling at age 9, a youth Olympics medallist at 16, and U23 world champion when she was 19 and a senior worlds silver medallist in the same year, Larroque was destined for greatness.

But her career arc suffered a setback. An injury in the 2018 World Championship final meant she was away from the mat for almost a year. Once she recovered, Larroque looked like a shadow of her past self as she could not manage any podium finishes. And although she made it to Tokyo, she was eliminated after the first round itself.

Paris provides the 68kg wrestler a path to redemption. To finish among medals in front of her family and friends — and a short distance away from her club — would undoubtedly be an unparalleled high in Larroque’s career.