2015 World Champ Mami Umeki joins Tachimoto and Nakaya at ALSOK

As the fiscal year in Japan is set to begin on April 1st, JUDOFAN.com will do our best to update you on the placement of Japan’s top judoka as many move from high schools and universities into Japan’s semi-professional trade team league. In yesterday’s post, we announced that Masashi Ebinuma was set to take on coaching responsibilities at his trade team Park 24. Today, it was announced that 2015 Astana World Champion in the -78kg category, Mami Umeki will join Riki Nakaya, Haruka Tachimoto and her sister, Megumi Tachimoto at the trade team, ALSOK. ALSOK’s best known judoka is current Japanese men’s head coach, Kosei Inoue, who competed for them upon graduation from Tokai University. Additionally, newly appointed head of the All-Japan Judo Federation athlete development committee, Jun Konno, is also an alumni of ALSOK.

In March of this year, Umeki graduated from judo powerhouse, International Pacific University, where she was coached by Toshihiko Koga. This year, she will be the lone female judo player to enter the company, but will be joined by fellow Japan national team teammate, Takaaki Tanaka, the -60kg player from Tsukuba University.

She heads into tomorrow’s All-Japan Judo Weight Class Selection Judo Championships as one of the favorites to win the -78kg category and earn a spot at this summer’s world championships in Budapest.