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

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: