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The head coach of the Oklahoma State wrestling program, David Taylor, expressed his thoughts on the Cowboys' freshman wrestler, Rin Sakamoto. The young wrestler will be representing his country, Japan, in two major international competitions.
Sakamoto defeated Kento Yumiya in a final match with a concluding score of 10-0 at the 2025 Japan Wrestling Meiji Cup. As a result, he has qualified for the World Wrestling Championships, which will be in Zagreb, Croatia, from September 13-21, 2025. Earlier this year, Sakamoto had joined the prestigious Oklahoma State wrestling program under Taylor.
Through his Instagram story, David Taylor shared his delight at Sakamoto qualifying to represent Japan at both the 2025 U20 World Wrestling Championships (Bulgaria from August 17-24, 2025) and the 2025 Senior World Wrestling Championships. He shared:
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"@rindingo_dog will represent Japan at both the U20 and Senior World Championships this summer🤠"
Sakamoto is a talented wrestler who has won the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships in the 57 kg category. In high school, he won two Inter-High championships. His sister, Yu Sakamoto, wrestles at Northern Michigan and has won a National Collegiate regional title.
Under the tutelage of head coach David Taylor, the Oklahoma wrestling program reached third place at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships. He also guided both Wyatt Hendrickson and Dean Hamiti to NCAA titles in their respective weight categories.
Head coach David Taylor reflects on maintaining the excellence of the Oklahoma State wrestling program
David Taylor is a five-time World Championships medalist and an Olympic gold medalist, and his experience has helped him take the Oklahoma State wrestling program to new heights. In an interview on March 24, 2025, via USA Wrestling, he added:
"The standard of excellence that we want to have as a program is like we're just trying to be the best at what we're doing. And in doing so, just cleaning things up and being better every single week, being better, better lifestyle, better way that you train, better way to compete, mentally." [2:44 onwards]
He continued:
"Just even learning how to help these guys, the way that I was wired mentally, these guys are maybe not wired the same. So we got to learn how to communicate to them differently... So I just think in doing so we're trying to be the best version."
Taylor was a decorated wrestler who retired from the sport in 2024, and in his first year as head coach, he led the program to a Big 12 Conference title, among other accolades.
