Teenage star Hayato Tsutsumi won his first ever elite competition in the Japanese National Championships
The 87th edition of the Japanese National Championships for their men boxers was held in the city of Fukui where super talented AIBA Youth World Champion and two-time ASBC Asian Youth Champion Hayato Tsutsumi has done a winning start in the elite level. Rio 2016 Olympians Arashi Morisaka and Daisuke Narimatsu both won their strong weight classes in the National Championships in Fukui.
The number of the elite male boxers was 101 in the Japanese National Championships in Fukui where the flyweight (52kg), bantamweight (56kg) and lightweight (60kg) were the most popular ones in the event with the participation of 15 athletes. The Japanese boxers have been preparing hard to the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games therefore the level of the National Championships was the highest.
Tomoya Tsuboi is member of the national team since 2015 and following his triumph over Ryusei Matsumoto he had to meet in the final of the light flyweight (49kg) with ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships bronze medallist Tosho Kashiwasaki. The 21-year-old boxer found the best fighting distance in the first round and won the opening title contest of the Japanese National Championships.
Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships competitor 21-year-old Ryusei Baba had to do his very best to beat ASBC Asian Youth Champion teenage hope Ryutaro Nakagaki in the semi-final of the flyweight (52kg). Following his close triumph, Baba was able to control his final against another experienced boxer, Ryoma Kitaura.
AIBA Youth World Champion and two-time ASBC Asian Youth Champion Hayato Tsutsumi competed in his first ever elite competition in Fukui but his efforts were enough to get the gold medal. The 18-year-old super talented boxer eliminated Rio Olympic Test Event winner Ryomei Tanaka in the semi-final and defeated Taipei City Cup winner Mikito Nakano in the final of the bantamweight (56kg).
Rio 2016 Olympian Arashi Morisaka competed in his first international event still back in 2011 and after several years of experiences he proved he is the best Japanese boxer at the lightweight (60kg). The 21-year-old boxer had hard job in the semi-final against ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships bronze medallist Kenji Fujita but after that success he was able to beat also National Champion Rentaro Kimura in the final.
Rio 2016 Olympian and ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships bronze medallist Daisuke Narimatsu is Japan’s most experienced international level boxer who returned to the world of boxing at the light welterweight (64kg). The 28-year-old boxer defeated Nobuhiro Hiranaka and Yuta Akiyama in the last two competition days in Fukui.
Hiroaki Kinjo is the member of the national team at the welterweight (69kg) since 2016 and he was able to defend his throne in this category. He eliminated ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships bronze medallist teenage talent Issei Aramoto in the semi-finals and continued his winning path against Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Toshihiro Suzuki.
Yuito Moriwaki was born in 1996 and he trains in the Hosei University but he is not a well-known boxer in Japan therefore his triumphs over Ren Umemura and Ryudai Onikura were surprises in the final stages of the middleweight (75kg). The light heavyweight (81kg) is a new category in Japan which returned to the official program of their National Championships in 2014 and this time Hisaki Takakura was too strong for Ran Tomomatsu.
List of the winners in the Japanese National Championships
49kg: Tomoya Tsuboi
52kg: Ryusei Baba
56kg: Hayato Tsutsumi
60kg: Arashi Morisaka
64kg: Daisuke Narimatsu
69kg: Hiroaki Kinjo
75kg: Yuito Moriwaki
81kg: Hisaki Takakura