Yūki Takahashi (Ringer)

Yūki Takahashi (jap. 高橋 侑希, Takahashi Yūki; born November 29, 1993 in Mie Prefecture^[1]) is a Japanese wrestler. He became the 2017 world champion in the free style in the weight class up to 57 kg bodyweight.

Career

Yūki Takahashi started wrestling as a teenager in 2003, focusing on the free style. He soon became one of the best young Japanese wrestlers in this style and qualified for participation in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010. He won the gold medal in the weight category up to 54 kg with a victory in the final over the Azerbaijani Kanan Guliyev.

In 2012 Yūki Takahashi finished 2nd behind Asamat Shagapuly of Kazakhstan in the 55 kg weight class at the Asian Junior Championship (Juniors) in Almaty. In the same year, he also became the Japanese high school champion in the 55 kg weight class. He then became a student at Gakunin University in Tokyo and a member of the wrestling club there. He is coached there by Yuji Takadi.

In June 2013 Yūki Takahashi finished 2nd in the weight category up to 55 kg behind Yasuhiro Inaba and in front of Fumitaka Morishita at the Meiji Cup in Tokyo, which was at the same time the qualification for the World Championship. In the following years he fought many duels with Fumitaka Morishita at the various Japanese championships and tournaments. Already at the Japanese championship in December 2013 he met this wrestler again and lost this time in the semi-finals.

In June 2014 Yūki Takahashi defeated Fumitaka Morishita in the Meiji Cup to qualify for the Japanese team in the World Championship in Tashkent. So in Tashkent, he participated in a senior world championship for the first time. He started in the weight category up to 57 kg and lost after two won fights against the Olympic bronze medallist of 1012 Yang Kyong-il from North Korea. After another won consolation round fight against Kim Song-gwon from South Korea he got the chance to fight against Hassan Rahimi Sabzali from Iran for a bronze medal. But he lost this fight.
At the Japanese Championship in December 2014, Yuki Takahashi finished 2nd behind Fumitaka Morishita.

At the Meiji Cup 2015 Yūki Takahashi won again over Fumitaka Morishita in the weight category up to 57 kg and qualified again for the Japanese World Championship team. The 2015 World Championships took place in Las Vegas. After winning two fights Yūki Takahashi lost there in the round of 16 against Bechbayar Erdenebat from Mongolia. Since the latter did not reach the final after that, he was eliminated and only finished in 9th place. He then also missed out on a top spot at the 2015 Japanese Championships and therefore failed to qualify for the Japanese Olympic team at the 2016 Meiji Cup. Of course, that was a big disappointment for him. A consolation for him was then in December 1916 the first victory in the Japanese championship where he won the title in the weight category up to 57 kg.

In May 2017 Yūki Takahashi became Asian champion in the weight category up to 57 kg for the first time in New Delhi. In the final he won over Nurislam Sanajew from Kazakhstan. At the World Championships in Paris in August 2017, he was in excellent form and became the world champion in his weight class quite uncontested with victories over Aso Palani of Canada, Sandeep Tomar of India, Bechbayar Erdenebat, Vladimir Dubov of Bulgaria and Thomas Gilman of the United States. He became the first Japanese wrestler since Toshio Asakura, who had become world champion in 1981, to win another world title for Japan in the free style.

In April 2018 Yūki Takahashi was on the Japanese team at the World Team Cup in Iowa City. In the weight class up to 57 kg he defeated Teimaras Wanishvili from Georgia in the preliminary round fights and Thomas Gilman again in a World Cup revenge. He then also defeated Reineri Andreu Ortega of Cuba in the fight for 3rd place. In June 2018, he won the Meiji Cup in Tokyo, qualifying him to compete in the Asian Games and the 2018 World Championships. At the Asian Games in Jakarta in August 2018, he lost his very first bout in the 57 kg weight class to Kang Kum-song of North Korea. As Kang reached the final, he was able to wrestle on in the consolation round, securing another bronze medal with wins over Shandos Ismailov, Kazakhstan and Liu Minghu, China. At the World Championships in October 2018, Yūki Takahashi came to victories over Liu Minghu, Mikyay Salim Naim, Bulgaria and Vladislav Andreyev, Belarus. In the semifinals, he was defeated by Zaur Uguyev of Russia by a score of 2-7. But with a victory over Reineri Andreu Ortega he secured himself again a bronze medal.

In March 2019, Yūki Takahashi was on the Japanese team at the World Team Cup in Yakutsk. There he won against Ali Karaboga, Turkey and Muslim Sadulayev of Russia in the weight class up to 57 kg, lost to Reineri Andreu Ortega of Cuba by a narrow margin on points with the score tied at 2:2 and was unable to compete in the fight for 3rd place against the United States against Zachary Luke Sanders due to an injury. In April 2019, he competed at the Asian Championships in Xi’an, China. There, he defeated Zou Wanhao of China and Kim Sunggwon of South Korea in the same weight class, but lost to Kang Kumsong of North Korea on points (1-3) in the semifinals. In the consolation round, however, he secured a bronze medal with a points victory over India’s Kumar Ravi.

In June 2019 he won the Meiji Cup in Tokyo, where the starting places for the upcoming World Championships are determined, in the weight category up to 57 kg. In the final he defeated Kaiki Yamaguchi with 6:3 on points. At the World Championships in Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan) in September 2019, Yūki Takahashi won over Diamantino Iuna Fafe, GBS and Daton Fix, United States but lost to Kumar Ravi of India in the quarterfinals. As the latter failed to reach the final, he was eliminated and finished only 10th.

In December 2019, Yūki Takahashi lost to 2016 Olympic silver medalist Rei Higuchi, who had graduated to the 57 kg weight class, in the final of the Japanese championship, finishing in 2nd place.

International successes

National title fights and tournaments

Explanations

• all competitions in free style
• WM = World Championship

Literature

Trade journal Der Ringer

Web links

• Profile of Yūki Takahashi at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Report about the World Championship 2017
• Reports on the World Championships 2014 and 2017
• Japanese Championship 2017 Report

Individual references

1. ↑ Nihon wrestling kyōkai(日本レスリング協会, Japanese Wrestling Federation, English Japan Wrestling Federation), Athlete & Tournament Database: Takahashi Yūki