World medallists Kinoshita and Irie proved top performance in the Japan National High School Selection Tournament

The 29th Japanese National High School Selection Tournament was held in the city of Miyazaki where the country’s top youth talents met in a five-days long competition. Japan’s AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships duo Rinka Kinoshita and Sena Irie both won their finals by impressive performance.
The first edition of the Akira Yamane Cup was held in the city of Miyazaki parallel to this important youth competition which was also a selection event for the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships. Eleven winners have been crowned in Miyazaki where three female and eight men weight classes were in action.
Miyazaki’s Misaki Nasu competed in the last edition of the AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships in Guwahati but she lost her first contest. The strong pinweight (46kg) boxer stopped Ako Yaguchi in the semi-final and continued her winning path against Yuka Sadamatsu in the final of the national event.
AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Rinka Kinoshita was excellent in the whole competition and the Tottori-based boxer celebrated her next national title in Miyazaki. The 18-year-old flyweight (51kg) boxer defeated Karen Yasumura and Makoto Koga in the final stages of the competition and secured her place in the travelling team to the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships.
Sena Irie also achieved bronze medal in the Guwahati 2017 AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships as Rinka Kinoshita and proved similar strong performance in Miyazaki. Irie stopped Rin Tsutsumimoto with her strong punches which was their re-match following the Japanese Women’s Youth National Championships.
The first gold medal in the men part of the High School National Selection Tournament was delivered by Takuma Hirano who defeated Shunsuke Sakamoto in the final of the pinweight (46kg). Japanese Youth National Sports Festival winner Shogo Tanaka had to do his very best in Miyazaki to get the title of the light flyweight (49kg) against experienced Ryo Mandokoro.
Hyogo’s promising Kazuki Anaguchi was involved to the Japanese national team in three years ago when he competed in the St. Petersburg 2015 AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships. Anaguchi, who claimed silver in the Japanese Youth National Sports Festival last October, walked over to the gold medal as his opponent Sho Nogami was unable to box against him in the final of the flyweight (52kg).
Reo Nishioka is a new face in the high school level but he was able to get his first title against Masaki Matsuo in the final of the bantamweight (56kg) winning the contest by split decision. ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships quarter-finalist Shoi Someya will be turning 17 only later this year but his skills were enough to beat Ryunosuke Kogawa in the final of the lightweight (60kg).
Sora Tanaka won the gold medal in the Puerto Princesa 2017 ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships and he was named as the Best Boxer of the event. The 17-year-old talent joined to the youth age group in January and in spite of his amazing international results he had difficulties in the final against Reito Tanaka. The final verdict was split decision for Sora Tanaka who is planning to get his second Asian title in Bangkok.
Japanese Youth National Sports Festival winner Sho Patrick Usami has got Canadian roots but has been fighting for Japan in the international events. Usami moved up to the welterweight (69kg) but he was able to win his third national event within eight months after beating Daigo Sunaga in the final. The last gold medal of the whole competition was acquired by Kosei Nogami who did enough against Takuki Tokiyoshi in the final of the middleweight (75kg).

List of the winners in the Japanese National High School Selection Tournament
Women’s 46kg: Misaki Nasu
Women’s 51kg: Rinka Kinoshita
Women’s 60kg: Sena Irie
Men’s 46kg: Takuma Hirano
Men’s 49kg: Shogo Tanaka
Men’s 52kg: Kazuki Anaguchi
Men’s 56kg: Reo Nishioka
Men’s 60kg: Shoi Someya
Men’s 64kg: Sora Tanaka
Men’s 69kg: Sho Patrick Usami
Men’s 75kg: Kosei Nogami