is a retired

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese freestyle wrestler who won a world title in 1954 and an Olympics gold medal in 1956. He was the flag bearer for Japan at the 1956 Games. During his career Sasahara won approximately 200 bouts. After retiring from competitions he worked as a national coach. His trainees included

Osamu Watanabe is a retired Japanese freestyle wrestler. In 1962, he debuted internationally and retired shortly after the 1964 Olympics. During his brief career Watanabe won all his few hundred bouts. He is considered one of the best wrestlers in Olympic histo ...

. Sasahara is credited with designing "bound tennis" in 1980, which is a form of

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

played on a small-sized court. In 1981 he became the founding president of Japan Bound Tennis Association. Between 1989 and 2003 Sasahara was president of Japan Wrestling Association. For many years he also served as Vice-President of

United World Wrestling United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including ...

(FILA), and was later named its Honorary Vice-president. In 2006 he was inducted to the FILA

International Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stillw ...

.FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees announced; Nine honored including first woman
FILA. June 26, 2006Shozo Sasahara
FILA

Books by Sasahara

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References

1929 births Living people Olympic wrestlers of Japan Wrestlers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Japanese male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in wrestling People from Yamagata Prefecture World Wrestling Champions Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Presidents of the Japan Wrestling Federation {{japan-wrestling-bio-stub