CA_Wrestler

I forgot that Ozaki also beat Kawai at 65kg this year.

We're going to find out real fast at 68kg tonight. Ozaki and Ishii face each other in the first round. Kawai is on the same side of the bracket. Morikawa and Furuichi are on the opposite side of the bracket.

Kawai is too small for the weight and she has been training for 68 kg since the middle of the year, so you never know. I don't see her winning this weight only because Ozaki is there. Ozaki easily won 65kg at the 2023 Senior WC several months ago, so I'm sure she does have the horsepower. If she wins this weight class this weekend I can guarantee nobody at that weight can hang with her in neutral at the Olympics. Ozaki beat Kawai at 62kg in the middle of last year in the 62kg finals. The three times that Ozaki beat Ishii(dominated at 3 matches)was at 62kg

Emperor's Cup. The only weight that matters is 68kg because Japan already qualified every single Olympic weight, BUT....Ami Ishii(Japan's 68kg rep) did not qualify herself as the rep since she didn't place top 3. As I was saying in the 2023 WC thread, this has opened up a lot of other competitors coming in from 62, 65 and 72kg. That tournament is going to have: Miwa Morikawa(2022 65kg WC, 2023 72kg bronze)- She is 1-3 against Kawai. She also beat Ishii 8-5 in the Meiji Cup finals, but barely lost right at the end to Ishii in the playoff match, 2-1. She also lost to Ishii in the 2022 Emperor's Cup, 5-2. She's also 3-0 against Rin Miyaji and 0-1 against Furuichi. Ami Ishii(2022 68kg silver)- She is 2-1 against Morikawa. She is 0-3 against Ozaki. Ozaki pinned her, teched her and also won another match, 6-2. She's 3-0 against Furuichi with one of the wins on criteria. She's also 2-1 against Miyaji with one win on criteria. Yukako Kawaii(62kg Tokyo Olympic champ) She is 0-2 against Ozaki, 3-1 against Morikawa and 1-0 against Furuichi. Nonoka Ozaki(2022 62kg WC, 2022 U20 WC, 2022 U23 WC, 2023 65kg WC) She is 2-0 against Kawai and 3-0 against Ishii. Hasn't faced any of the other competitors before. Masako Furuichi(2021 72kg WC) She is 0-3 against Ishii, 0-1 against Kawai and 1-0 against Morikawa. Hasn't faced any of the other competitors before. Rin Miyaji(2021 68kg silver) She is 1-2 against Ishii and 0-3 against Morikawa. Hasn't faced any of the other competitors before. Naruha Matsuyuki(2022 68kg U23 silver) Mei Shindo(2019 72kg U23 silver) Very good friends with Morikawa as they are training partners, but she lost a very close playoff match to Morikawa which allowed Morikawa to face Ishii for the 2023 World Championship spot at 68kg. The best wrestler in there is definitely Ozaki and she is probably the favorite at this point. She has the best neutral skills and mat skills by far of anybody there. We'll see what happens.

She does have some guns, for sure. I'm not going only on appearance alone. This was from 2019: The World Anti-Doping Agency says it ruled North Korea’s testing program non-compliant for failing to meet international standards. The judgment casts doubt on how North Korea’s athletes are tested as the International Olympic Committee explores options to field combined Korean teams at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. WADA says its concerns will be raised when the IOC meets Friday with sports and government officials from North and South Korea. Without specifying details, WADA says North Korea’s Anti-Doping Committee lost its accreditation for “non-conformities related to the implementation of its testing program.” WADA says North Korea did not dispute the ruling after missing a four-month deadline to improve the program. Doping control tests will now be supervised by China’s anti-doping agency at North Korea’s expense. So, China, who has had state sponsored doping much like Russia was supervising North Korea's doping control? LOL This was from 2 days ago: The World Anti-Doping Agency declared North Korea's national anti-doping body "non-compliant" in 2021 because it was unable to get its testers into the country and imposed sanctions. But border restrictions appear to be easing slightly and OCA acting director general Vinod Kumar Tiwari told reporters in Hangzhou: "North Korea has written a letter to them very recently telling them that the borders have opened and they can send their doping control officers for the testing. "WADA has agreed and they will probably be sending their people to North Korea." The Montreal-based WADA confirmed the reopening, but told AFP that "the broader political status of the country means verification and quality control activities are not straightforward". One of the sanctions on North Korea is not being able to fly its flag at any regional, continental or world sports event, excluding the Olympics and Paralympics. Despite this it has been routinely hoisted at the Games in Hangzhou, with WADA warning the OCA of "consequences" for allowing it to happen in breach of its obligations as a signatory to its anti-doping code. "We have been in touch with WADA on a daily basis and we are trying to resolve the issue," said Tiwari. "It's a very sensitive issue, it's not very easy to handle. Hopefully things will be resolved in a way that is mutually acceptable to both parties." There are a range of punishments WADA could impose on the Kuwait-based OCA. They include having International Olympic Committee (IOC) funding withdrawn, OCA events losing their status as qualifying events for the Olympic or Paralympic Games and the imposition of fines. North Korea's participation at the Asian Games marks its return to the global sporting arena for the first time since slamming its borders shut during the pandemic. It has produced some eye-opening results, notably in weightlifting, where its competitors smashed multiple world records.

This is Sakurai's opponent in the finals from NK. Jong was up BIG on Sakurai-6-0, then Sakurai came back and won in at the end with scoring and held on with a few seconds left. Prison strength? She definitely had a strength advantage. Was very noticeable in the beginning of the match.

There are a lot of instances over the years of North Korean athletes using PEDs. Just do a google search and you can find plenty of examples. I'm not saying they were on something, but all of their WFS athletes looked like they've been lifting in a prison yard for years(which is totally possible in NK).

I'm not really sure how that would happen. Maybe offer cheeseburgers to security? Knowing that little tub of lard "leader", he'd probably confiscate them all and eat them himself in one sitting. Then blow up all of the security with a missile while broadcasting it on tv as he's done before. If they do ever get popped again, it'll probably be years after like we've seen with other athletes.

Ozaki beat Tynybekova, 3-1 and then in the finals a few minutes ago, MUN(North Korea) just beat Ozaki in the finals, 6-6 on criteria. Not really paying attention to 68 and 76, but North Korea didn't bring anybody at those weights. It's going to be very interesting to see if NK has any other athletes in the qualifying tournaments for the Olympics because they had 3 finalists(should have been 4) for WFS. A lot of these performances could be post World Championships fatigue for a lot of these wrestlers and NK came in fresh. If they have good results in the Olympic qualifiers, they might be favored to medal at the Olympics and for sure at future World Championships.....granted they don't get popped for some kind of PEDs.

In Japan, you have to subscribe for the live stream. They were only broadcasting 53kg this morning with Kaori Icho as one of the commentators. She's one of Fujinami's coaches in college. I will say this, though. I knew they'd be back strong, but the North Korean womens team was really a tough out for everybody. Now, whether on not they're still using PEDs is another thing. 50kg- Yoshimoto hung on to win, 5-4 in the finals against Kim(North Korea). 53kg- Choe(North Korea) was controlling the entire match against Pang(China) and lost towards the end. Pang ended up getting teched by Fujinami. Fujinami also pinned Antim(beat Dom Parrish the other week) and teched Bat Ochir. 57kg- Sakurai held on to win against Jong(North Korea), 7-6 in the finals. 62kg will be really interesting to see Ozaki vs Tynybekova. They'll most likely meet in the quarters. North Korea is on the opposite side.

I didn't post this back in April when this tournament happened because it was nowhere near the event, but Japan's U23 team is as follows unless Sakurai doesn't compete: 50kg- Umi Ito(21, #3 in Japan), Just won the National Sports festival in Japan at 53kg on 9/22. 2022 U20 World Champion(teched Audrey Jimenez in the finals) **Fun fact**: Akari Fujinami's last loss was in Jr High to.....Umi Ito. Ito beat Fujinami 7-2 in the National Jr High School finals. 53kg- Mako Ohno(21, #5 in Japan at 53kg) 55kg- Umi Imai(22, Japanese Military, #3 at 57kg) 57kg- Tsugumi Sakurai(22, 2023 57kg Senior World Champion, #1 in Japan) 59kg- Sena Nagamoto(23, #2 in Japan) 62kg- Yuzuka Inagaki(22, #2 in Japan at 62kg-Beat Ozaki 6-6 on criteria in their WTT quarters, then lost to Motoki 8-2 in the finals) Last international tournament was Dan Kolov, 1st place. 65kg- Suzu Teramoto(20, #3 in Japan) 68kg- No entry at this time. All wrestlers competed for the 68kg senior spot a few weeks after this tournament. 72kg- Waji Misaki(22, unranked) 76kg- Nodoka Yamamoto(21, #3 in Japan) Here by default, no other entries in the qualifying tournament All other 76kg wrestlers competed for the kg senior spot after this tournament.

I wouldn't say she's the odds on favorite if she went to 68. I would definitely say she'd absolutely be the best wrestler competing for that spot with the best neutral and scoring ability. In Japan's WTT trials, anybody can beat you if you make a tiny mistake, so a lot of times I see a lot of the world champions for their WFS team wrestle much more conservatively within Japan than at the World Championships. I do think her skills, speed and technique will definitely beat out heavier wrestlers in Japan or if she makes the world championships. Kind of like how Morikawa bumped up two weight classes this week and won bronze even though it's a non-Olympic weight.

Yeah, he's been injured for a while.

No, it's because all last year, that was Ozaki's weight in Japan before she lost the spot in December. She was the 62kg senior, junior and U23 world champion at 62kg last year.

Japan changed their OT selection to the current format for the Tokyo Olympics in 2019. As far as the Kawai sisters go: Yukako Kawai(62kg Olympic Champ) lost to Ozaki*first time meeting) last May in the 62kg finals. Ozaki was winning 3-1 with very short time and Kawai had Ozaki in a head pinch. Kawai tried turning her shoulders past 90, but couldn't get it. If there were a few more seconds left, I think she would have got it and won on criteria because Ozaki's shoulders were . Risako Kawai lost to Sae Nanjo(2023 59kg rep) when she had turned her right before the buzzer in their playoff match a few months ago. As far as Ozaki goes compared to Motoki at 62kg. Ozaki is much, much better in neutral. Motoki wrestled amazing that night last Dec and beat Yukako Kawai 9-2 and Ozaki 4-2 the same night to take the 62kg spot. As far as 68kg goes, my projected wrestlers are: Ozaki, Morikawa(Hard to believe she bumped up 2 weights and took 3rd at 72kg), Ishii, Yukako Kawai(maybe), Masako Furuichi(maybe, could be retired), one of the Matsuyuka twins and maybe 1-2 more junior wrestlers. It'll be really interesting to see who else enters at 68kg in December for the Emperor's Cup and then next May for the Meiji Cup.

Close! If you medal at an Olympic weight the year prior to the Olympics, then the Olympic spot is yours. With Ishii losing, it just opened up a floodgate to 68kg in Japan. Ozaki is probably going to be staring down Ishii on the plane ride home lol

I figured why she started crying right away. She was 1 second away from winning the match against Motoki, but didn't have full control of the TD in their WTT. What happened in her match against Motoki is why I knew Kilty was going to get hammered in the 65kg finals. I bet Ozaki going 68kg and she'll be going against her good buddy, Morikawa, Ishii, Kawai and many more.

Final WFS Team standings: Japan 195 USA 135 Mongolia 80

With Bruntil AND Ishii losing in their bronze matches, they're gonna have a wrestle off for the last Olympic quota at 68kg. This means that Ishii doesn't have Japan's spot and I have a very, very good feeling that Ozaki will bump up to 68kg to try and take that spot for Paris.

Next up for their WFS team, the Asian Games in China (already started the other week) where we'll see many of the same competitors from other countries that competed at the World Championships. Olympic weights only. Japan's world team reps were given the choice in competing or letting somebody else go. Wrestling is from Oct 4th-7th starting with Greco and ending with MFS. Team: 50kg- Remina Yoshimoto(Japan #2) 53kg- Akari Fujinami(Japan #1) 57kg- Tsugumi Sakurai(Japan #1) 62kg- Nonoka Ozaki(Japan #2) 68kg- Naruha Matsuyuki(Japan #5) 76kg- Kazuyoshi Yamamoto(Japan #3)

As reported on the UWW site, Susaki competed with a torn knee ligament, wasn't really able to train properly and didn't go to national team camp prior for leaving to Belgrade.

After Kagami won, almost all of their Olympic team is complete. Japan's rule is that if you medal at this World Championships at an Olympic weight, the Olympic spot is yours. So: 50kg- Susaki(2023 World Champion) 53kg- Fujinami(In the finals tomorrow night) 57kg- Sakurai(2023 World Champion) 62kg- Motoki(In the finals tomorrow night) 68kg-Ishii if she wins bronze tomorrow night 76kg- Kagami(2023 World Champion)

Pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I'm sure people might have noticed with Japan's WFS team, but their entire team are comprised of their #1s and #2s from the Olympic weights. All of the non-Olympic weight team members lost to the Olympic weight members in their version of the WTT. In almost every case, the wins were razor thin with short time/almost at the buzzer. The only exceptions to that were 50kg and 53kg.

Also 3x Cadet, 2x Junior and 1x U23 World Champion