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News short: Mashu Baker mulling surgery and minimum 8-month layoff (UPDATE: 4/5)

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Mashu Baker will likely miss this summer’s world championships due to injury, according to Excite News. On April 2nd, at the All-Japan Championships, Baker sustained a dislocated shoulder, which required him to withdraw from the match. The latest news reports that the injury to his right shoulder was originally sustained prior to the 2016 Rio Olympics where he won the gold medal, but the injury was kept hidden from the media.

Further, his physician had been recommending surgery since prior to the olympics, but set the recovery period at about 8 months, meaning he would likely be out of high-level competition for up to a year. He had suffered from a series of subluxations in the same shoulder prior to the olympics.

For Baker, the tournament turned out to be the perfect storm, as his decision to compete was left until the final hours. His family cancelled their trip from Tokyo to Fukuoka, anticipating his withdrawal due to an injury to his leg. The timing was also difficult as his entrance into his new company after graduation from university overlapped with the tournament. His former coach at Tokai University, Kenichiro Agemizu reported to the press that prior to the tournament he had hardly been able to train.

However, the pressure to compete in the tournament was great as entrance was nearly a prerequisite for consideration for selection to the world championship team. Now Baker must decide on the timing to undergo surgery, but we can be almost certain that he will miss the April 29th All-Japan Open Weight Championships.

The Japan’s team has a large number of high profile athletes sitting out with injury at the moment. It makes one marvel at the thought that Ryoki Tani competed in 5 consecutive olympic games and went on winning streaks nearing the hundreds at certain points in her career.

 

*UPDATE: Baker will not be taking part in the open weight championships, but his selection for the world championships is still a possibility depending on his surgery and recovery. (source: https://mainichi.jp/articles/20170406/k00/00m/050/131000c)

2017 All-Japan Weight Class Championships round-up: the winners and losers

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2017 All-Japan Judo Weight Class Selection Championships -100kg final. Wolf defeats Haga.

The 2017 All-Japan Judo Weight Class Selection Championships took place in Fukuoka, Japan this past weekend. The results are up: http://www.judo.or.jp/p/40054 and though there were no major surprises, the tournament is always pivotal in shaping the future of Japan’s national team. The highlight clips, provided by All-Japan Judo Federation’s corporate sponsor, Token Corporation are here in a (very handy) playlist, and while you are there, please subscribe to the Judofan.com youtube channel.

As always, this tournament is a quasi-trials for the world championships and in an olympic year, the olympics. However, that is not without one major caveat. It’s really only a trials when the favorite wins. Otherwise, it’s more of a national championship. This was certainly the case this year, when many of Japan’s top athletes were either out due to injury, or absent due to other circumstances. In various categories, the winner was not selected for the world championship team that will represent Japan in Budapest this summer. However, the magnitude of this tournament is still quite large for many of the athletes as it will determine their place on the national team in this coming year. Though the results have mostly been determined, the official announcement will take place on April 29th, at the conclusion of the All-Japan Open Weight Championships. For a Japanese judoka, selection to the national team has huge implications in regards to sponsorship, funding, training, tournament assignments, etc. Thus, perhaps more important than determining a worlds team, this tournament can really alter the trajectory of an athlete’s career based on their results here. Here is a look at some of the winners and losers at the conclusion of this tournament.

First for the losers:

Ai Shishime (-52kg, Ryotokuji Gakuen) : Despite winning the tournament, she was passed up to represent Japan at the world championships, with the selection going to her teammate, Natsumi Tsunoda. Last year, she narrowly missed out on qualification to the olympics after finishing second in the same tournament.

Nae Udaka (-57, Komatsu) : The former world champion is the oldest member of the Japanese national team and at 32, her chances to represent Japan on the world tour are narrowing. Like Shishime, Udaka was passed up for the world championship selection despite winning, with the AJJF favoring her Komatsu teammate, Tsukasa Yoshida. 10 years Udaka’s junior, Yoshida has produced a string of podium places at grand slam tournaments, and looks to be the heir to Kaori Matsumoto at  the -57kg category.

The women’s -63kg division –  The AJJF announced that they will not be sending a representative to the world championships in this category, which is a shame not just for the athletes, but for the viewers as well!

Toru Shishime (-60, Ryotokuji Gakuen) : A year ago, he won this tournament but was denied an opportunity to go head-to-head against Takato as a final appeal for a place at the 2016 Rio Olympics. This year, after going out in the first round, he must be biting his nails, waiting to see if he still has a place on the national team going into this next year.

Daiki Kamikawa (+100kg, Keiyo Gas) : For years, Kamikawa was hyped as the next great Japanese heavyweight, and he backed that up with a world championship win in 2010, defeating Teddy Riner in a controversial final. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the peak of his career and though he has been near the top of the ladder for the last few years, he needed a better result here. If he doesn’t place either first or second in the open weight championships later this month, his chances of staying on the national team are probably pretty slim. It has been difficult to watch him struggle as it’s my personal opinion that he possesses some of the best and most pure judo in the heavyweight category.

Ryu Shichinohe (+100kg, Kyushu Electric Power) : Like Kamikawa, Shichinohe has been at the very top of the judo food chain for a number of years, but he seems to perform better internationally than he does domestically. He won this tournament in 2012 and 2013, but has not been able to repeat those performances since. Due to his solid international record, he will probably stay on the national team, but the +100kg category is quickly getting crowded and one has to wonder how much longer we will be seeing him in action.

Now, on to the winners:

Nae Udaka (-57kg, Komatsu) : Yes, she was also in the losers category, but her longevity at the top of the judo world makes this achievement extraordinary and so she deserves a spot in this category as well. To stay injury free and to be competing at this level for so long is something that is rarely ever accomplished. To add to that, she won with some really attractive judo.

Uta Abe (-52kg, Shukugawa Gakuin High School) : Abe was the youngest competitor in the tournament and though she didn’t win, a third place finish here is quite an accomplishment. She has been nearly unbeatable in high school tournaments in Japan, and her performance here confirms that she is on track to be the favorite for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Ryuju Nagayama (-60kg, Tokai University) : He proved here that his win over his university senior, Naohisa Takato at the 2016 Tokyo Grand Slam was no fluke, winning in convincing fashion for the second time in the span of a few months. There are a number of great -60kg players at the moment, but at only 20 years old, he will be awfully hard to beat for the time being. He is my pick to win the world championships this summer.

Hifumi Abe (-66kg, Nippon Sports Science University) : He won this tournament scoring ippon in all of his matches and proved without a doubt that he is the king in the -66kg category. He had three extremely tough opponents, but nobody posed a threat. At 19, he is already entering his third year on the senior national team, but will be making his world championships debut. Anything less than a gold would be surprising.

Aaron Wolf (-100kg, Tokai University) : Wolf went to war with his university elder Ryunosuke Haga in a nail-biter that went over 8 minutes into golden score. Wolf gets his first crack at the world championships this summer and he looks to be in the form of his life.

Takeshi Ojitani (+100kg, Asahi Kasei) : Post Rio Olympics, Ojitani has now won every major tournament that he could possibly win. He started with the Kodokan Cup last November, followed by wins at the Tokyo and Paris Grand Slams. Later this month, he will defend his title at the open weight championships, where he is the #1 seed. The former 2x junior world champion is slowly starting to distance himself from his rivals. During his first win at the All-Japan Open Weight Championships, a high-profile coach mocked Ojitani saying, “How can someone win the All-Japan Championships when his only technique is osoto-gari?”. That’s no longer the case with his newaza being nearly on par with his tachiwaza, adding to the fact that he’s nearly unmovable.

 

There are many more athletes missing from this list but at the risk of going on forever, I’ll stop here. Now, we wait to see how the open weight tournaments (4/16 for women and 4/29 for men) determine the rest of the world championship team roster and the national team roster going into this next year. Judofan wants to send a HUGE thank you to all of the athletes that make judo so exciting.

 

News short – Masashi Ebinuma to become athlete/coach starting April 1

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Masashi Ebinuma to coach Park 24 judo team managed by Hidehiko Yoshida.

Park 24, the trade team of 2016 Rio bronze medalist, Takato Naohisa, and managed by 1992 Barcelona gold medalist, Hidehiko Yoshida, announced on their website today that double-olympic bronze medalist, Masashi Ebinuma will take on coaching responsibilities for the men’s team while concurrently competing as an athlete. He will join his older brother, Satoru Ebinuma as coach of the men’s team, while former world champion, Ryuji Sonoda will move to become the head coach of the newly formed women’s team. Hidehiko Yoshida will continue on as the general manager of the team.

The placement of Sonoda as the women’s head coach is fairly suspect given his conduct in the scandal concerning the Japanese women’s national team that took place several years ago. The scandal was large enough that it created a complete overhaul of the coaching staff as well as executives in the All-Japan Judo Federation. Not only are there ethical and moral concerns of such a move, but the precedent this sets leaves much to be desired. Hopefully, mental and physical well-being of the young women joining the team will take priority over competition results..

As to Ebinuma, we wish him the best of luck in his new career trajectory and we look forward to seeing him in action as his long and illustrious career continues on.

A look at the 2017 All-Japan Open Weight Championships (April 29th) brackets

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Official draw from the All-Japan Judo Federation homepage (Source – http://www.judo.or.jp/p/40224)

I may be getting ahead of myself since the All-Japan Weight Class Championships will be held this weekend, but most of the search engine traffic linking to my site  is related to people searching for the draw for the open weight tournament on April 29th. The brackets have been up for a couple of weeks and though we are still over a month out, I am already excited to see how this tournament plays out.

The noteworthy athletes’ names have been translated and can be seen in red. Before looking at those athletes however, let’s first discuss how they got here. The champion and runner-up from the previous year get the top 2 seeds going into the tournament as well as an automatic invite. Therefore, you see Takeshi Ojitani (#1) and Daiki Kamikawa (#23) at the top of each half of the bracket.

3 additional players were awarded special entries and were not required to participate in a qualifying tournament. Those slots were awarded to Mashu Baker (#9), Shohei Ono (#31), and Hisayoshi Harasawa (#34). To be selected in this way, one must: (I) be a 2016 Olympic Champion, (II) be a 2016 Olympic medalist in the +100kg category, (III) be a 2016 Tokyo Grand Slam champion in the +100kg category, or (IV) be either ranked in the top 22 in the +100kg IJF rankings, or be specially selected by the All-Japan Judo Federation (source). Everyone else was required to enter through a regional preliminary tournament(s).

Now, for an analysis. With no disrespect intended to some athletes, Takeshi Ojitani (#1) and Daiki Kamikawa (#23) should have a fairly clear path into the quarterfinals. For everyone else, it will be a really good fight to get into the quarterfinals, and from there, anything can happen. Mashu Baker (#9) will likely have a very tough round of 16 match with national team member Shohei Shimowada (#6), who used to compete in the -90kg category and now competes at -100.

2-time world silver medalist, Ryu Shichinohe (#12) has what is in my opinion, the toughest route to the quarterfinals of any of the top contenders. He needs a win at this tournament like fish need water and it will be no easy task. He gets by far the most high-profile 1st round match against Daigo Kagawa, who is my pick as this year’s dark-horse for the tournament. Kagawa has had a stellar judo career going back all the way to elementary school. He was the All-Japan heavyweight champion in high school and in 2014, became the youngest ever competitor in the All-Japan Open Weight Championships at 17 years and 2 months of age. This year, he finished second in the most competitive qualifying region (Tokyo), only losing out to Yusei Ogawa (#17), also only 20 years of age. Ogawa is the son of former great, Naoya Ogawa who won this tournament an astounding 7 times. I pick Ogawa to make it into the quarterfinals.

On the other side of the bracket, Kamikawa should be safe until the quarterfinals. His opponent there is anyone’s guess. The group from #28-33 is the most intriguing group for a number of reasons. At #28, Aaron Wolf qualified into this tournament having finished 3rd at the Tokyo qualifier, losing to his younger teammate at Tokai University, Daigo Kagawa. At slot #31, is the competitor that has made the most headlines, Shohei Ono, who I will reserve a seperate blog post to. Ono gets a bye in the first round, but will have a mountainous task of winning in the 2nd round. His opponent will either be -90kg competitor Kensei Ikeda of the Japan Racing Association Team or high school entry, Sosuke Matsumura, a 142kg 17-year-old, who won the All-Japan High School Championships last week. Ikeda and Matsumura will both be very tough for Ono to overcome.

Finally, 2016 Olympic silver medalist, Hisayoshi Harasawa should have a fairly clear path into the quarterfinals. Former Jr. World’s silver medalist, Masaru Momose (#37) may give him some problems, but my money is on Harasawa to get to the quarterfinals with relative ease. The final athlete on the list I want to mention is Hirotaka Kato (#42), the winner of the 2012 edition of this tournament. He’s always the one player that can spoil the party for the top contenders. His newaza is probably the best in this tournament, and his unorthodox style poses problems for everyone. He’s been competing in the elite ranks for quite a long time, and though I don’t think he has what it takes to win again, he’s the most likely to pull off a major upset.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and supporting this blog. The traffic to it has grown considerably in the past month. I will do my best to keep bringing you original and insightful content about judo. If you have the chance, please register an account and let us know who you think will be the 2017 All-Japan Open Weight Champion.