On Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30, Yasuharu Ishida, a first-year junior high school student in our SA (Scholar-Athlete & Artist) Wrestling program, competed in the 2nd Akari Fujinami Cup, held at Sogo Arena Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture, and won the Junior High School Boys' 40 kg division.

Ishida advanced comfortably through the first round, but from the second round onward, he faced a series of closely contested matches. In the second round, with just 10 seconds remaining, he executed a decisive move to secure a dramatic victory. Building on that momentum, he also won his third-round match and advanced to the final.

In the final, Ishida faced an evenly matched opponent in a thrilling contest in which both wrestlers exchanged points. Ishida continued to attack aggressively throughout the match, steadily adding to his score and ultimately securing the victory to claim the title in the Junior High School Boys' 40 kg division.

At the awards ceremony, Ishida also had the special opportunity to receive his award directly from Akari Fujinami, the gold medalist in the women's 53 kg freestyle wrestling event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After battling through a series of extremely close matches and maintaining an attacking mindset until the very end, Ishida emerged as champion. We look forward to seeing even greater achievements from him in the future.