Kano Cup UpdateAnai emerges victor over Ishii to win Kano Cup title (Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Jan. 15(Kyodo) Takamasa Anai scored a decisive "yuko" point against Satoshi Ishii on Sunday to win his first title in the 100-kilogram final at the Kano Cup international judo tournament. Anai and Ishii gripped at each other for leverage but Anai emerged the winner of the all-Japanese battle when he sent his opponent tumbling to the mat with his trademark "uchimata" inner-thigh leg technique after 2 minutes, 9 seconds to claim a victory on points at Nippon Budokan.
Akimoto upsets Olympic champion Uchishiba to win Kano Cup judo Akimoto, who had also eliminated Olympic 60kg gold medallist Khashbaataqr Tsagaanbaatar of Mongolia in the quarter-finals, floored Uchishiba for a waza ari and went on to hold the lead for the victory. "I've never done that technique in practice. I just happened to use that technique at that moment," said Akimoto, who dropped Uchishiba by a "kushiki-daoshi" with one minute and 23 seconds left on the clock. "It just happened, that's all. I don't think I'm strong enough to beat him actually. I feel like I did 80 percent mentally and 50 percent technically." Meanwhile, Uchishiba said a lack of practice had led to the defeat. "It was natural that I couldn't use any technique because of the lack of practice," said the world silver medallist. The world bantamweight champion Ludwig Paischer of Austria had captured the first title on offer earlier in the day, beating world bronze medallist Cho Nam-Suk of South Korea in the 60kg final. Paischer's waza ari lead was cancelled by the Korean in the last 64 seconds before going into a sudden-death battle, but he wasted no time to score a koka by sending Cho down only 13 seconds into extra time. "For me, it was the first tournament since the world championships (in Cairo in September). After the world championships I made a little break and started in November again, so it was very hard," said Paischer. "But I'm happy that I am so strong right now actually," said the Austrian, who added he would stay another week in Japan to practice at a university. Hosts Japan added one more title through Hirotaka Kato, who threw Song Dae-Nam of South Korea for an ippon four minutes 52 seconds into the 81kg final, while South Korea failed to win despite three places in the finals. The Athens Olympic and 2003 world champion Lee Won-Hee was fixed on the mat in 2:57, falling to the victim at the hands of world silver medallist Farncesco Bruyere of Italy in the 73kg final. — AFP Judo: Akimoto upsets Olympic champ Uchishiba for Kano Cup title (Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Jan. 14_(Kyodo) _ Teenage hope Hiroyuki Akimoto defeated Athens Olympic gold medalist Masato Uchishiba in an all-Japanese final Saturday to claim the 66-kilogram title at the Kano Cup international judo tournament. Akimoto came from an early points deficit to take down Uchishiba for a decisive "wazaari" point late in their final at Nippon Budokan in a rematch of the final at last April's national weight-class invitational tournament, in which Akimoto lost on ippon after just 24 seconds. In the other finals held on the first day of the two-day meet, Japan's Hirotaka Kato executed a "kosotogake" outer-leg trip to score an ippon win over South Korea's Song Dae Nam for the 81-kg title. World silver medalist Ludwig Paischer of Austria edged South Korea's Cho Nam Suk in overtime to win the 60 kg, while Francesco Bruyere of Italy, also a world silver medal winner, beat South Korea's Lee Won Hee on ippon with a triangle choke at 73 kg. You can find the results of the Kano Cup at http://www.kodokan.org/e_games/2006kc/index.html |