She would look out of place at the world championships. Yesterday, the selection committee of the Japanese federation formalized the men’s selection which would take part in the Asian Games in Hangzhou (China) from September 10 to 25. An impressive team that will include two 2021 Olympic champions, with Shohei Ono (-73kg) and Aaron Wolf (-100kg). For Ono, it will undoubtedly be a smooth recovery competition, before his return to the world circuit and the Tokyo Grand Slam at the end of the year.
Regarding Aaron Wolf, the choice of the Japanese-American was far from consensus. Indeed, we learned that several members of the selection committee would have preferred Ryunosuke Haga to him. The Olympic medalist from Rio did indeed win – brilliantly – the Japanese championships two weeks ago, and also remained in a final at the Zen Nihon at the end of December. Members who criticized the fact that Wolf has not yet participated in any competition since his coronation at the end of July at the Budokan (neither at the Zen Nihon 2021, nor at the Japanese championships and the next Zen Nihon due to injury) while that he has appeared many times in the media since his title.
For the holder in -60kg, a vote took place within the committee between Genki Koga and Ryuju Nagayama.
Male Selection
-60kg : Ryuju NAGAYAMA
-66kg : Ryoma TANAKA
-73kg : Shohei ONO
-81kg : Takeshi SASAKI
-90kg : Sanshiro MURAO
-100kg : Aaron WOLF
+100kg : decided after Zen Nihon
