On 12-13th of June The 21st Japan Weight Category Championships were held in Furitsu Taikukan Hall in Osaka. Tournament gathered 280 competitors and 6000 spectators. During the opening ceremony Kancho Shokei Matsui handed 8 dan certificate and belt to Shihan Makoto Nakamura and 6 dan certificate to Shihan Masatoshi Yamada.
Comment:
Many surprises appeared during this championships. Some favourite fighters and previous Japanese champions were defeated by the promising rookies and some new star fighters showed up during this tournament too. According to Kancho Matsui's statement "The level is growing up every year".
One can say that the Japanese definitely have restored after winning back the championship title last year. Out of 14 foreigners taking part in the championships, only four reached the finals. Only in the superheavyweight category, in which none of the japanese star fighters like Yasuhiko Kimura, Gun Irisawa or Kentaro Tanaka took part, the hosts had to bow to the foreigners. The hard-fought between the Russians, young and not well experienced Japanese and "The White Warrior" from Czech Republic, was won after all by the last one - Jan Sokup, who had spent the last three years in Kagoshima (south of Japan) training together with the current world champion - Hitoshi Kiyama. Other European, who spent the last three months training in Honbu Dojo - Alejandro Navarro, after excellent performance in "Ichigeki", once again flashily showed himself in Osaka. The Spaniard made a big impression on the Japanese audience and was pretty close to get to the finals.
Most probably these two promising karateka will meet again this year in Warsaw, fighting for the title of "The Strongest European" on November 27th.
Galleries:
Opening Ceremony Eliminations Finals Medalists
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