Future stars Nakagaki, Tsutsumi, Imanaga and Aramoto all won the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting in Aizu

The Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting was held in Aizu where their best youth boxers were able to take part in the national event. Defending ASBC Asian Youth Champions as Ryutaro Nakagaki and Hayato Tsutsumi both won their weight classes in Aizu while Taiga Imanaga and strong Issei Aramoto achieved their record number of national titles in the high school competitions.
The Japanese talents claimed two gold medals in the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships in Bangkok and proved they are on the best way to get top results also in their home Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Their younger hopes also achieved two gold medals in the ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Puerto Princesa.
Ginjiro Shigeoka won the gold medal at the pinweight (46kg) in the Japanese High School Selection Tournament in March which was their first national event in 2017. The 18-year-old talent won his second high school level title in 2017 following his triumph over Yuya Tanaka in the gold medal bout in Aizu.
Japan’s best light flyweight (49kg) boxer in this age group is Tatsuya Ogawa who had to miss the Interscholastic Athletic Meeting in Aizu. In his absence a new face 17-year-old Tsuyoshi Kawatani claimed the title following his success over High School Selection Tournament silver medallist Kanato Baba while experienced Ryo Mandokoro achieved only bronze medal in Aizu.
Ryutaro Nakagaki won the gold medal in the 2015 ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Tashkent and repeated that performance in the 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships in Bangkok. Following their Asian titles he kept his title in Japan as well after beating Seiya Sugimoto in the final of the flyweight (52kg).
Japan’s biggest talent in our sport Hayato Tsutsumi won the last two editions of the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships and he is also the current AIBA Youth World Champion. Tsutsumi, whose younger brother Reito won the Asian junior title in Puerto Princesa earlier this month, was too strong for former National Champion 18-year-old Keisuke Matsumoto in Aizu.
ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships bronze medallist Taiga Imanaga dominated his lightweight (60kg) final against Ryunosuke Tsutsumi and continued his strong winning path in the national level events. Sho Usami, who moved down to the light welterweight (64kg), controlled his final against Kazushi Honma which was his second national gold in 2017. The bronze medals were achieved by experienced young talents in this category, Osamu Sato and Reito Takahashi.
ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships bronze medallist Issei Aramoto moved up to the welterweight (69kg) this year and proved he is better than Shion Yoshiba while the bronze medals were captured by Kouki Nogami and Daigo Takahashi. The last gold medal in the event was delivered by High School National Selection Tournament winner Riku Kondo who defeated Kengo Yoshino while an experienced boxer Go Wakaya claimed only bronze medal at the middleweight (75kg) in Aizu.

List of the winners in the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting
46kg: Ginjiro Shigeoka
49kg: Tsuyoshi Kawatani
52kg: Ryutaro Nakagaki
56kg: Hayato Tsutsumi
60kg: Taiga Imanaga
64kg: Sho Usami
69kg: Issei Aramoto
75kg: Riku Kondo