Hikaru Shinohara and ASBC Asian Junior Champion Reito Tsutsumi named as bests in the Japanese High School National Selection Tournament

The Japanese High National Selection Tournament finished with its finals and the four-day long competition saw three women and eight men champions. Tokyo’s Hikaru Shinohara became the best woman boxer in the event while ASBC Asian Junior Champion Reito Tsutsumi was named as the top male athlete.
The Gunma Prefecture hosted the Japanese High School National Selection Tournament which is a developing boxing region within the country. Japan will be hosting the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and their boxers and their National Federation are focusing to this goal and to achieve medals on home soil.
Japan’s young hopes impressed in the Bangkok 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships, in the recent editions of the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and also in the Puerto Princesa 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships. Their stars from the Puerto Princesa event shined at the Japanese High School National Selection Tournament in the Gunma Province.
The first gold medal of the Japanese High School National Selection Tournament was achieved by Yuka Sadamatsu who claimed silver in the last edition one year ago and gold in the Japanese Youth National Championships three months ago. Sadamatsu had to do her very best to beat Yurika Yamanaka in the final of the 45kg which is a traditional category in Japan.
Tokyo’s Hikaru Shinohara won the gold medal also in the last edition of the Japanese Youth National Championships and she impressed in her final against another top hope Osaka’s Karen Yasumura which was a spectacular contest in the event. Gifu hosted several national events in Japan and their new woman hope Youth National Champion Mona Kimura stopped Saitama’s Minami Takahashi in the final of the lightweight (60kg).
Kagoshima’s National High School Champion and National Sports Festival winner Kazuma Aratake shined at the pinweight (46kg) in 2018. The 17-year-old boxer remained in the lowest category and following his strong semi-final success over Osaka’s Yuga Ozaki, he demonstrated his technique for the title against Ukyo Tabata.
In the second Tokyo vs. Osaka final at the Japanese High School National Selection Tournament the result became the opposite following the women’s flyweight (51kg) title bout. Osaka’s Shyogo Tanaka won the High School National Championships, the High School National Selection Tournament and the National Sports Festival in 2018. Following his gold medal at the Komsomolsk-na-Amure International Youth Tournament Japan’s new hero was enough strong to beat Tokyo’s Kyosuke Takami in the final of the light flyweight (49kg).
Hiroshima’s High School National Champion and National Sports Festival winner Arashi Kajihara won the next title in the event following his success over Ehime’s Toshiya Yano who claimed silver medal in the 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships. The bantamweight (56kg) gold medal was achieved by Ehime’s Keito Matsumoto who was slightly better than Tokyo’s Daisuke Uzuka.
Chiba’s pride Reito Tsutsumi, whose brothers are also top boxers, claimed gold medal in the Puerto Princesa 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships and he performed strongly in all of his recent competitions. Following his silver medal from the top Russian youth event, he controlled his final fight against Kaito Kawakami. Reito Tsutsumi won all of the rounds in each scorecard in their meeting and received the Best Male Boxer Trophy in Gunma Province.
Sora Tanaka was Japan’s second gold medallist in the Puerto Princesa 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships and he is famous of his unstoppable attacks. The 18-year-old boxer, who claimed bronze at the Bangkok 2018 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships, had to do his very best to beat Chiba’s next top future hope Reito Takahashi in the final of the light welterweight (64kg).
Takumi Matsukobo earned bronze medal in the last edition of the event which he changed into gold in Gunma Province where he was effective against Iwate’s Seiryu Waga in the final of the welterweight (69kg). Nara’s ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships bronze medallist Rei Nakano dominated the last final of the event and triumphed over Ryusei Kurobe winning the bout unanimously.

List of the winners in the Japanese High School National Selection Tournament
Women’s 45kg: Yuka Sadamatsu
Women’s 51kg: Hikaru Shinohara
Women’s 60kg: Mona Kimura
Men’s 46kg: Kazuma Aratake
Men’s 49kg: Shyogo Tanaka
Men’s 52kg: Arashi Kajihara
Men’s 56kg: Keito Matsumoto
Men’s 60kg: Reito Tsutsumi
Men’s 64kg: Sora Tanaka
Men’s 69kg: Takumi Matsukobo
Men’s 75kg: Rei Nakano

Don’t forget you can keep up with all of the action, news, results and photos by following ASBC on Facebook and Instagram.
ASBC website: www.asbcnews.org
ASBC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ASBC.Boxing/
ASBC Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/asbc_official/