Tomohiro Matsunaga

Tomohiro Matsunaga ( Japanese 松 永 共 広 , Matsunaga Tomohiro ; born June 27, 1980 in Yaizu , Shizuoka Prefecture ) is a Japanese wrestler . His greatest achievement to date is winning the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in free style in bantamweight.

Career

Tomohiro Matsunaga has been wrestling since 1985. He concentrates entirely on free style. In Japan he was previously a member of ALSOK Tokyo , the team at the security company Sōgō Keibi Hoshō ( 綜合 警備 保障 , Sohgo Security Services ). He also started for the Nippon Sport Science University , where he also studied. He currently makes his living as a security guard. His club coach was Masanori Ohashi. In the national team he is or was coached by Hajime Wakui, Takahiro Wada and Yu Sugiyama. At a height of 1.63 meters, he wrestles bantamweight. In the 2009/10 season Tomohiro Matsunaga started for RWG Mömbris-Königshofen in the German Bundesliga .

The best result that Tomohiro Matsunaga achieved in the junior area was a 2nd place at the Junior Championship of Asia in 1998 in Almaty in the weight class up to 49 kg body weight.

In 2002 Tomohiro Matsunaga was the Japanese runner-up. In the final he was defeated by Chikara Tanabe on points. In the same year he was in Edmonton universities world champion with a victory in the final over Babak Noursad from Iran .

In 2003 he was also used in the Asian Championship in New Delhi . He came there in bantamweight on the 5th place. At the Japanese championship of that year, which took place in December, he again lost in the final to Chikara Tanabe. This championship was also considered a qualification for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens .

Chikara Tanabe was therefore used at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Tomohiro Matsunaga was first Japanese bantamweight champion in December 2004 with a victory over Seshito Shimizu. In 2005 he started at the Asian Championship in Wuhan and reached 3rd place in bantamweight with victories over Anil Kumar, India and Badamsaichany Enchtör , Mongolia , a defeat against Dilschod Mansurow , Uzbekistan and a win over Kim Jong-dae, South Korea , with which he won his first medal at an international senior championship.

Tomohiro Matsunaga also fought very well at the 2005 World Cup in Budapest . He won there over Francisco Javier Sanchez Parra, Spain , Rene Montero Rosales, Cuba and Yang Jae-hoon, South Korea , but lost again in the semifinals against Dilschod Mansurow and in the fight for 3rd place against Bajaraagiin Naranbaatar from Mongolia on points. In December 2005 he won his second championship title at the Japanese championship with a victory over Yasuhiro Inaba.

At the international championships in 2006 Tomohiro Matsunaga was absent due to injury. He was only fit again in January 2007 and won his third Japanese championship title, which was valid for 2006, with a victory over Hidenori Taoka.

At the 2007 World Cup in Baku , he met his feared opponent Dilschod Mansurow in the first round and was defeated on points. Since Mansurow did not reach the final, he was eliminated and ended up on a 26th place that did not correspond to his ability at all. As a consolation, he won his fourth Japanese championship title in December 2007 with a victory in the final over Hideki Taoka.

The year 2008 turned out to be the most successful of his career so far. He first won the Asian Championship in Jeju / South Korea ahead of Yang Jae-hoon , South Korea and Firas L Ali Rafaee from Iran, which also qualified him for the Olympic Games in Beijing . In Beijing he won over Adama Diatta from Senegal , Sezer Akgül from Turkey and - finally - also over Dilschod Mansurow . This victory was 4: 3 techn. Points and 2: 1 rounds very close. All the more surprising was his clear win on points (8: 0 technical points, 2: 0 rounds) in the semifinals over the reigning world champion Bessik Kuduchow from Russia . In the final he met the young American Henry Cejudo , against whom he was actually considered a favorite, but against whom he was clearly 2: 5 techn. Points and lost 2 rounds. Cejudo won the gold medal , but for Matsunaga winning the silver medal was also a great success.

In international championships Tomohiro Matsunaga no longer wrestled after the Olympic Games in 2008.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1998	2.	Asian Junior Championship (Juniors) in Almaty	up to 49 kg body weight	behind Ali Reza Darvish, Iran , in front of Che Hyun-won, South Korea
2000	8th.	Junior World Championships in Nantes	Bantam	with a victory over Zaer Asimow, Uzbekistan a . a loss to Ali Reza Darvish
2000	8th.	Asian Junior Championship (Juniors) in New Delhi	Bantam	Winner: Dilschod Mansurow , Uzbekistan ahead of Tungangajew, Kyrgyzstan
2002	1.	Canada Cup in Calgary	Bantam	before Kim Hyo-sub, South Korea a. Hossein Rangraz, Iran
2002	1.	Universities World Cup in Edmonton	Bantam	in front of Babak Noursad, Iran a. Ghenadie Tulbea , Moldova
2003	5.	Asian Championship in New Delhi	Bantam	behind Mohammad Asslani, Iran, Yang Jae-hoon , South Korea, Shankar Patel Kripa, India etc. Bourshan Orasgaliev, Kazakhstan
2005	1.	"Dan Kolow" tournament in Plovdiv	Bantam	with victories over Berguia Anoha u. Amzah, bde. France , Yosefi Magid, Iran a. Besik Gochashvili, Georgia
2005	1.	"Yasar Dogu" memorial in Ankara	Bantam	with victories over Yang Jae-hoon, Asgadan Nowrusow, Vusal Zundow u. Named Sevdimov, all of Azerbaijan
2005	3.	Asian championship in Wuhan	Bantam	with victories over Anil Kumar, India a. Badamsaichany Enchtör , Mongolia, a defeat against Dilschod Mansurow u. a win over Kim Jong-dae, South Korea
2005	5.	World Cup in Budapest	Bantam	with victories over Francisco Javier Sanches Parra, Spain a . Rene Montero Rosales, Cuba a . Yang Jae-hoon et al. Defeats against Dilschod Mansurow a. Bajaraagiin Naranbaatar , Mongolia
2006	1.	"Dan Kolow" tournament in Plovdiv	Bantam	before Yasuhiro Inaba u. Hideki Taoka, bde. Japan
2006	1.	"Ziolkowski" tournament in Warsaw	Bantam	in front of Gennadi Tulbea, Selimchan Kuzajew, Russia a. Gevork Markarjan, Ukraine
2007	1.	"Yasar Dogu" memorial in Ankara	Bantam	before Hidenori Taoka, Japan, Marcel Ewald , Germany a. Bajaraagiin Naranbaatar , Mongolia
2007	26th	World Cup in Baku	Bantam	after a loss to Dilschod Mansurow
2008	2.	Grand Prix of Germany in Dortmund	Bantam	behind Bajaraagiin Naranbaatar, in front of Marcel Ewald , Germany a. Marcin Pawlak, Poland
2008	1.	Asian Championship in Jeju / South Korea	Bantam	before Yang Jae-hoon, Firas Al Ali Rafaee, Iran a. Kim Sun Nam, North Korea
2008	silver	OS in Beijing	Bantam	with victories over Adama Diatta, Senegal , Sezer Akgül , Turkey , Dilschod Mansurow u. Bessik Kuduchow , Russia and a loss to Henry Cejudo , USA
2011	3.	"Dave Schultz" Memorial International in Colorado Springs	Bantam	behind Raul Murschesow, Russia and Wladislaus Andrejew, Belarus

Japanese championships

year	space	Weight class	Result
2002	2.	Bantam	Point defeat in the final against Chikara Tanabe
2003	2.	Bantam	Point defeat in the final against Chikara Tanabe
2004	1.	Bantam	Points winner in the final over Seshito Shimizu
2005	1.	Bantam	Points winner in the final over Yasuhiro Inaba
2006	1.	Bantam	Points winner in the final over Hidenori Taoka
2007	1.	Bantam	Points winner in the final over Hideki Taoka
2010	2.	Bantam	behind Shinichi Yumoto , in front of Yasuhiro Inaba and Yasuhiro Morita
2011	3.	Bantam	behind Yasuhiro Inaba and Yasuhiro Morita

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Bantam weight, weight class up to 55 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer ,
• Website of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• Japanese Wrestling Association website

Web links

• Profile of Tomohiro Matsunaga at the Institute for Applied Training Science