Former olympic champion and now sexual assault convict, Masato Uchishiba is back in the news. Nishi-Nippon Newspaper is reporting that his former employer, Kyushu University of Nursing and Social Welfare is being required to pay roughly $41,000USD to Uchishiba’s victim. However, this seems a fairly meager amount considering that the original amount sought was nearly 10 times that. Uchishiba is currently serving a 5-year term for sexually assaulting a member of his judo team during a training camp.
With all of the recent news about Shohei Ono entering the All-Japan Open Weight Championships, it is hard not to be reminded that the last great lightweight champion to have a go at the heavyweights was Masato Uchishiba, who, coincidentally lost his 2009 bout against the second smallest competitor in the tournament, Katsushi Matsumoto of the Hyogo Police Department. Matsumoto went on to the quarterfinals, something even Ono was unable to accomplish when he entered for the first time in 2014.
As for Uchishiba, I truly hope he rehabilitates and repents of his actions while inside of prison, though his blog doesn’t seem to indicate that he is particularly remorseful. Somehow 5 years and $41,000USD doesn’t seem like a harsh enough penalty for the damage he caused.
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