2010 All Japan Judo Championships(weight category)
Day 2: 4th April

Veterans’ Hardest Day

On the second day of the competition, the fights of 7 weight categories were taken place; all the bouts were also regarded as screenings for the 2010 World Judo Championships in Tokyo.

In Men’s fights, world-famous veterans, Masato Uchishiba and Masahiko Tomouchi, were eliminated in the first rounds while new power generations sparklingly showed their presences. Both in -66kg and -80kg categories, university students won the titles; Masashi Ebinuma and Takahiro Nakai respectively won the championships of the categories. In -60kg weight category, Hiroaki Hiraoka won the title; in -73kg, Hiroyuki Akimoto, a formerly -66kg judoka, first got the title of this championship.

In Women’s -48kg, Emi Yamagishi unexpectedly disappeared in the early round, and Tomoko Fukumi and Haruna Asami fought at the final. World champion Fukumi won the title, defeating the young challenger. Another world champion, Misato Nakamura, also won the championship, beating her long-time rival, Yuka Nishida, at the final of -52kg category. In -57kg, Nae Udaka first won the title of this tournament by defeating Kaori Matsumoto at the final.

reporter:Masaya Shimokusu photo:SANKEI SHIMBUN

2010 All Japan Judo Championships (Weight Category)

Day 1: 3rd April

Former World Champions, Anai, Suzuki and Ueno, Won the Championships.

Only 8 top Japanese judokas are selected and can join each weight category of the All Japan Selected Judo Championships. The competition does not merely decide the best Japanese judoka of each weight category, but it doubles as a screening for the World Judo Championships which will be held in Tokyo this September. On the first day, the bouts of Men’s -90kg, -100kg, +100kg, Women’s -63kg, -70kg, -78kg, and +78kg were taken place. Many judo fans of various generations, including lovely kids and students, gathered up at Fukuoka Kokusai Center.

The two noticeable male players of the first day were Takahiro Anai, the 2009 All Japan Judo Champion, and Keiji Suzuki long expected to have a big comeback. Anai, the last year’s champion of this competition, narrowly won the fights, and got the championship by sogo-gachi (compound winning) at the final. Although Suzuki had not got any title for a rather long period, he dramatically won the final at the last second by Osotogari and got his first title of this weight category. (Suzuki was a former world champion of open weight category, not of +100kg.) In -90kg weight category, Takashi Ono won the championship.

Among female competitors, the 2009 world champion, Yoshie Ueno, drew much attention. In -63kg category, Ueno reached the final as expected and won the title for three years running. On the other hand, the most prominent judoka of Japanese women heavy weight category, Maki Tsukada, was defeated by Mika Sugimoto. In -70kg weight category, Yoriko Kunihara won the title; in -78kg, Okamura got the successive championships.

On the second day, the showdowns of 7 categories― men’s -60kg, -66kg, -73kg, -81kg, women’s -48kg, -52kg and -57kg― will be taken place.

reporter:Masaya Shimokusu photo:SANKEI SHIMBUN