#WrestleUlaanbaatar

WATCH: 10 Greco-Roman finals from Asian Championships

By Vinay Siwach

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (April 27) -- The Asian Championships crowned 10 Greco-Roman champions on the first two days. Kazakhstan won the team title with 190 points over Iran which had 176 points.

Kazakhstan won two titles, five silver medals and two bronze medals which helped them surpass Iran. The only weight class it failed to medal was 97kg in which the wrestler lost the bronze medal bout.

Iran had four gold, one silver and two bronze but they finished with 8 points in two weight classes which hurt their chances of winning the team title.

Here are the 10 Greco-Roman finals from the Asian Championships.

GOLD - 55kg: Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) vs Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ)

 

GOLD - 82kg: Dias KALEN (KAZ) vs. Rasoul GARMSIRI (IRI)

#JapanWrestling

Ozaki, Tanabe take special wrestling trip to Iran

By Vinay Siwach

TEHRAN, Iran (April 28) — While most Paris Olympic medalist from Japan are preparing for June’s Meiji Cup at their base universities in Japan, world champion Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) and Asian champion Kaisei TANABE (JPN) have managed to squeeze in a educational trip to Iran despite their busy training schedule.

Ozaki, who won bronze medal at the Paris Olympics at 68kg, returned to international competition recently won a silver medal at 62kg at the Asian Championships in March. She is expected to compete at the Meiji Cup which will be held in Tokyo from June 19 to 22.

“I am in Iran right now,” Ozaki told UWW. “It’s a place I always wanted to visit. I am really happy.”

Ozaki visited Tehran as part of her education trip and exchanged wrestling notes with few of the Iranian wrestlers who are part of the team.

“Iran has many world and Olympic champions and I wanted to study wrestling here,” she said. “I stayed for a week and this experience will help me learn me about wrestling.”

Nonoka OZAKI (JPN)Nonoka OZAKI (JPN), left, and Kaisei TANABE (JPN), third from left, in Iran. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Tanabe won the gold medal at the Asian Championships at 65kg and also attended the training camp with Iran wrestlers.

The Nippon Sports Science University wrestler is also expected to compete at the Meiji Cup and if he wins, he will book his ticket to the World Championships in September where he can meet Paris Olympic silver medalist Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) who was present at the training camp in Tehran.

Amouzad lost the 65kg final in Paris to Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) who is a teammate of Tanabe at NSSU.