Three athletes from the judo club “Yassanjuku” (Representative: Sekino Haruhisa) in Ono, Atsugi City, participated in the “2024 National Mutual Aid Cup Kanagawa Prefecture Elementary School Judo Tournament” held at the Kanagawa Prefectural Budokan on June 16th, and won top prizes.
The tournament was sponsored by the Prefectural Judo Federation and others. The National Mutual Aid Association provided special support, and it also served as a selection tournament for training athletes. Fifth and sixth graders competed in four weight classes, from A (lightweight) to D (heavyweight).
First champion in 12 years
The winners of this year’s competition were Ishida Hisagi (5th grade, Mita Elementary School), Kouchi Kazuki (5th grade, Tsumada Elementary School), and Kouchi Issa (6th grade, Tsumada Elementary School).
Ishida participated in the 5th grade boys’ A class. He started judo around the second grade, and Sekino said, “He started later than his peers, but I was impressed by how seriously he practiced.” His specialty is “toying with his opponent with quick movements, breaking down his opponent’s body with footwork, and then throwing him over his shoulder.” He won all three matches up to the finals by ippon.
In the final, the match was so close that it went to a decision, but he won 3-0 and took his first victory. “I’m happy to have won,” said Ishida.
This is the first time in 12 years since the prefectural tournament in 2012 that Yasanjuku has produced a champion.
Kazuki participated in the 5th grade boys’ C class. He is good at Uchimata, a throwing technique, and says with a smile, “It’s fun to lift up the opponent.” In this tournament, he advanced to the semi-finals, and although he attacked his opponent, he fell in the middle and unfortunately missed the finals. “I feel very frustrated. Next time, I want to aim for the championship,” he said, looking ahead to the next tournament.
Issaku participated in the 6th grade boys’ D class. His specialty is the O-soto-gari, and he is the captain of Yasaburo Juku. Until last year, he said, “I felt that I was not good at tournaments and matches,” but this year he advanced to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, he endured a fierce attack from his opponent, but lost his balance and was narrowly defeated. “I’m happy to come in third, but I want to aim higher next time,” he said.
After witnessing the players’ efforts, Representative Sekino expressed his expectations, saying, “I am truly happy that we have a prefectural champion for the first time in 12 years. I hope that they will continue to approach practice and matches with the mindset of ‘going to win.'”
There is no higher-level tournament this time, but Ishida was selected as a training athlete for the Kanto region, and Kazuki and Issaku were selected as training athlete for Kanagawa prefecture. From now on, the representative players will compete against each other through practice and matches.
2024-07-04 15:21:42
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