Japan selected Olympic and World medallists to the Asian Games

Japan selected 10-strong team to the boxing tournament of the Asian Games which will start in Hangzhou, China on September 23. Japan’s two World Champions as Tomoya Tsuboi and Sewon Okazawa and the Olympic Games bronze medallist Tsukimi Namiki are the spearheads of the travelling team.

Japan hosted the Asian Games twice previously, firstly in Tokyo in 1958, secondly in Hiroshima in 1994. Furthermore, the country will organize the next 2026 edition in Aichi-Nagoya after the Games in Hangzhou.

Japan’s top boxers earned 13 gold, 13 silver and 38 bronze medals in the history of the Asian Games and the country topped the medal standings once, in 1958. Japan achieved only one bronze medal in the last 2018 edition in Jakarta where Daisuke Narimatsu was their best boxer but their current team is stronger in comparison

The average age of the travelling team is 25.5 years, which is much above the previous statistics of the Japanese boxing squad. Japan earned medals in all of the recent major competitions as the Olympic Games, World Boxing Championships and ASBC Asian Boxing Championships.

Tsukimi Namiki trains in the Self-Defense Forces Physical Educational School and her career highlight is a bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympic Games. She has medals from World and Asian Championships as well and the 25-year-old boxer could be one of the favourites at the women’s light flyweight (50kg) in Hangzhou.

Another favourite, Rinka Kinoshita had brilliant youth results and she arrived to the top of the podium at the 2022 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships. Nippon Sport Science University’s Satsuki Yoshizawa (57kg), another Army boxer, Ayaka Taguchi (60kg) and the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships silver medallist Mai Kito (66kg) are the further women boxers of the team.

Self-Defense Forces Physical Educational School’s Tomoya Tsuboi and Sewon Okazawa both earned gold medals at the 2021 World Boxing Championships in Belgrade. Tsuboi moved down to the flyweight (51kg) while Okazawa competes now at the light middleweight (71kg) following their switches to Olympic categories.

Their young featherweight (57kg) boxer, Shudai Harada represented Japan at the ASBC Asian U22 Championships, World Boxing Championships and FISU University Boxing World Cup. Yuta Akiyama moved down to the light welterweight (63.5kg) and he will use his 10 years of international experiences to make surprises in Hangzhou. The ASBC junior and youth medallist Issei Aramoto is a strong puncher at the men’s light heavyweight (80kg).

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