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

March 29, 2017 By judo fan Leave a Comment

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

March 27, 2017 By judo fan 2 Comments

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.

Mashu Baker graduates university, headed to the Japan Racing Association (JRA) Team

March 25, 2017 By judo fan Leave a Comment

2016 Rio Olympics – Judo – Men -90 kg Mashu Baker (JPN) of Japan poses with his medal.

Nikkan Sports News reported that Mashu Baker, gold medalist in the -90kg weight division at the 2016 Rio Olympics graduated from Tokai University (Kanagawa Prefecture) today and will continue his judo career on the trade team, Japan Racing association (JRA). JRA is the trade team of Rio Olympic teammate Hisayoshi Harasawa as well as Canadian olympian, Kyle Reyes, and former national team member Kaihan Takagi. The team is one of the best in Japan with a roster full of elite athletes. Baker stated to the press that he is set to become a “wandering judoka” as the company does not have a main dojo. He plans to train at various dojos, including his former university. He will live in the same dormitory as Harasawa and plans to train together at various locations.

Though he is the favorite to win next week’s All-Japan Weight Class Selection Championships (April 1・2), he suffered a pulled muscle in his left leg in February. He has said himself that compared to last summer’s olympic games that he is not in good condition but wants very much to qualify for an opportunity to win a world title, which he still does not have (roughly translated).

JRA’s judo team is one of the most decorated trade teams in Japan’s judo history. 2000 Sydney Olympic champion Makoto Takimoto and 4-time world champion, Naoya Ogawa both competed for this club. However, the training and work schedule is quite intense. According to the website of Token Corporation (All-Japan Judo Federation sponsor), athletes are all required to live in a dorm, begin training at 6:30am for about an hour before heading to the main office in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, where they work from 9:30am, to 3:00pm. After that, they train at various clubs around Tokyo. While judo has made great progress to establish itself as a commercial sport, the life of an elite Japanese judoka is still a far cry from more popular sports such as basketball and baseball.

Hopefully, this transition will prove to be a good fit for Baker in his run-up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

High school student qualifies to the 2017 All-Japan Open Weight Class Championships

March 14, 2017 By judo fan Leave a Comment

2017 Chugoku Region Representatives Akira Okushima (L) and Sosuke Matsumura (R)

Last month, I wrote about the 1st leg of qualification for the All-Japan Open Weight Class Championships, which will be held at the Nippon Budokan, in Tokyo on April 29th. On March 5th, regions all over Japan held their 2nd and final leg of qualification. The number of athletes chosen to represent their particular region varies by the area due to population of judo participants. Tokyo is allowed 10 athletes, while many of the smaller regions are granted 2 spots in the tournament.

In this year’s Chugoku region qualification round, 2nd year high school student, Sosuke Matsumura took first prize, and is set to become only the 8th high school student to qualify for the All-Japan Open Weight Class Championships since the first edition in 1948. His predecessors include Kosei Inoue and Yasuhiro Yamashita. Though Matsumura has yet to make a name for himself abroad, he holds the distinction of being the All Japan heavyweight champion as an elementary school student, as well as junior high school student. At last summer’s All-Japan Inter-High tournament, he finished 5th in the +100kg division. Here is his final match, where he defeats All-Japan veteran, Akira Okushima, who also qualified in the second spot for next month’s tournament.

At 17 years old, his chances to win seem to be a longshot. The Chugoku Region lacks top-class universities and trade teams, so the competition is sparse in comparison to the larger regions such as Tokyo. Additionally, while some of the lower weight classes have seen high school students get on the top step of the podium (Ryoko Tani comes to mind), the youngest competitor to ever win the open weight tournament was Satoshi Ishii, who won the 2006 edition at 19 years and 4 months. In Kosei Inoue’s debut, he lost in the second round to Michiaki Kamochi, the current coach of Hisayoshi Hirasawa. Here is a short clip of Inoue’s first round match in the 1996 edition of the tournament:

https://youtu.be/0ax6h5x9UFA?t=31m44s

Of the high school students, Yamashita had the best showing in his debut, finishing 3rd before losing to Haruki Uemura, gold medalist at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. There is also limited footage of this tournament, but here is a clip of his quarter-final match: