CA_Wrestler

I don't think international athletes can participate in NIL. Maybe I'm wrong. He won a collegiate title last year as well at 61kg and the 2024 Japan college national championships are in 8 days. Not sure if he's competing.

No. He's been with Yamanashi Gakuin University and currently there now.

Kiyooka is 23. The past several years, Ono has been jumping all over the place. 57, 60, 61, 65. I'd say he probably tries to compete for Japan's 57kg spot at next year's Senior World Championships. Ono was amazingly impressive this week. He and Kiyooka had a very close match in the 2023 Emperor's Cup finals(for the 65kg Olympic spot) for around 2 minutes until Kiyooka caught him and teched him, 11-0.

Fujinami is at 53kg. There's no way(unless there's an injury) the JWF is going to replace Sakurai at 57kg, especially since she's the 2x defending senior WC. She lost at the Asian championships, but since the weight was already qualified at last year's senior WC, that particular tournament was the last international tournament for Japan's WFS team for members that are on the Olympic team. So basically, practice to get more feel again against foreign wrestlers. Now, the entire thing would be very, very different if Sakurai hadn't placed at the senior WC last year and she didn't make weight like Rei Higuchi did at the Tokyo Olympics Asian Qualifier. If you remember, the JWF replaced Rei Higuchi with Yuki Takahashi after that whole fiasco.

Tsugumi Sakurai has never lost internationally before the Asian Championships this year. Yep, Ozaki bumped up from 62kg.

Oh and Susaki's dislocated elbow injury was also at National Team camp.

Yep, it'll be interesting at the Olympics. That's practically the same elbow injury that Susaki had in 2018 after she won the Senior Worlds and had to withdraw from the Emperor's Cup that December. She then tried to come back too early the following May too early and lost in a playoff match to Yuki Irie for the World Team spot.

So weird. I didn't even see your second post when I was posting my reply the other day. I just saw it now. Oh yeah, Fujinami's 130+ win streak is a big thing in Japanese wrestling. Especially by the media there. Like I've said many times before....the top women(especially 50, 53 and 55kg) in Japan face their toughest competition within Japan. Most of the time, you'll only see the top women face each other at the national tournaments twice a year to decide the World/Olympic team spot OR at the National open tournament where the bracket is gigantic. So for Fujinami and Sakurai to face each other was great. More recently, Fujinami(53 to 59), Morikawa(65 to 72kg, 3rd at the 2023 world championships), Ozaki(62 to 68 for the Olympics), etc bumping up 2 weight classes to challenge themselves and do well. In the past, when Susaki was 17/18 years old, she entered the National Sports Festival where there is usually only one weight class held and she dominated two years in a row at 53kg when she was wrestling seniors at 48kg.

I wouldn't consider it an upset at all, but some people might since Ozaki bumped up 2 weight classes to take the spot. Ozaki is now 4-0 against Ishii. 2-0 at 62kg and 2-0 at 68kg. The previous victory at 68kg being in the first round of the 68kg tournament this past December, 6-2.

Do or die for the Olympic spot. Ishii's team and supporters on one side of the mat, Ozaki's team on the other side and Shoko Yoshimura(Susaki's high school coach) is in her corner. I just watched it live, Ozaki was up 3-0 at the break, Ishi got 2 later on, then with 26 seconds left, Ishii got in on a low single and got a td right on the edge and it was Ishii winning, 4-3 with 9 seconds left and restart in the center! Ozaki then hit Ishii with a fantastic misdirection low single and scores the winning takedown with 2 seconds left, Osaki's camp goes nuts, Shoko goes nuts, Ozaki goes nuts. Clutch, clutch TD! Ishii is stunned beyond belief, just staring down at the mat because 9 seconds prior, she had the spot. After they raise Ozaki's hand in victory, Ishii just falls down and you can hear her crying really loudly through all of the commotion and 2 of her University coaches pick her up and both help her off the mat, but she falls back down, inconsolable. I saw Moe Kiyooka there, not sure if Sakurai was there. Hug from Shoko Japan's Womens Olympic Freestyle team is now complete: -50kg- Yui Susaki (Shoko Yoshimura hs wresting academy coach) -53kg- Akari Fujinami -57kg- Tsugumi Sakurai 62kg- Sakura Motoki 68kg- Nonoka Ozaki (Shoko Yoshimura hs wresting academy coach) 76kg- Yuka Kagami (Shoko Yoshimura hs wresting academy coach)

Sakurai was going 1000% during the match to try and beat Fujinami. The thing is that both of them have wrestled against each other a lot at the national team camps and from what I've read, Fujinami definitely went up to challenge Sakurai. I watched the match and Sakurai didn't really come close to threatening Fujinami. So for these duals, I can't remember exactly, but I think 4 collegiate teams were there. Sakurai's team actually had the best record, but everybody was there to really see Fujinami vs Sakurai.

I've always thought she'd go up to 57kg in the future after her senior debut just because she started so young and she's taller than most of the Japanese womens wrestlers. She's taller than Maroulis from what I remember. So, much earlier today in the East Japan University Womens League Dual meet...... Fujinami bumped up from 53kg to 59kg and BEAT 2x Senior World Champion, Tsugumi Sakurai, 5-0. Might be nothing but wanting to test herself like when Fujinami bumped up to 55kg in the collegiate championships and dominated everybody. But if she were to bump up to 57kg, I'm just guessing Susaki would move up to 53kg, then Remina Yoshimoto would take the 50kg spot. All speculation, but very interesting.....

I agree. Realistically, there is a very high chance of Kiyooka not qualifying the weight at the Asian Championships based on past performances internationally because Dan Kolov was 1st and U23 was DNP

When I said the final 2 scores, I meant that Otoguro had the last 2 takedowns and he somehow lost when it was tied, 6-6 at the end of regulation.

Sorry if the images are small. I can re-upload larger