Okinawa’s Shohei Yabiku wins wrestling bronze “for dad”

Okinawa’s Shohei Yabiku wins wrestling bronze “for dad”

Shohei Yabiku receiving his bronze medal in the men’s 77kg Greco-Roman wrestling final at Makuhari Messe.


August 4, 2021 Ryukyu Shimpo

 

Shohei Yabiku, 26, gave a press conference in Tokyo on the morning of August 4, a day after winning third place in the men’s 77kg Greco-Roman wrestling final at the 2020 Summer Tokyo Olympics. Yabiku is an alum of Urasoe Technical High School, Nippon Sport Science University, and its Graduate School, and is sponsored by ALSOK. The Olympian commented, “I am receiving tons of [congratulatory] messages from people in Okinawa. It’s starting to hit me that I really won a medal.”

 

The night before, Yabiku had to wait a long time for a post-match doping test. “I ate dinner, then passed out as soon as I hit my futon,” he said with a smile. Promptly after his win, he phoned his father Tamotsu, 58, a former national wrestling champion who laid the foundation for Yabiku’s wrestling career. His father congratulated him with: “well, good job.” Yabiku plans to hang the bronze medal around his father’s neck the first thing he returns home.

 

Yabiku’s bronze win weighs heavy for Japan in the middleweight division where there are many foreign rivals. The Olympian commented ambitiously, “If I’m going to do this, I want to be the best in the world. I was able to identify some improvement points during the games. If I can work them out, I can get closer to first place.”

 

(English Translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)

 

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