Japan Judo Federation announces draft Olympic team

The All Japan Judo Federation announced for most categories the selection for the team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The host nation picked a 12-member team including reigning men’s U73kg Olympic champion Shohei Ono and back-to-back women’s U52kg world champion Uta Abe.

The federation has instituted a three-stage selection process for Olympic team members, and this second stage involves a review of strong international competitors’ records.

The committee plans to pick judoka who have been judged by more than two-thirds of the attendees at Thursday’s meeting as having outclassed their rivals by a large margin.

In addition to Ono and Abe, Hisayoshi Harasawa in the men’s +100kg division and Chizuru Arai in the women’s U70kg are among judoka who appear to be poised for Olympic team selection at this stage.

Nineteen-year-old Akira Sone became Japan’s first judoka to qualify for the games through the first stage of the selection process last November after she won the women’s +78kg championship at the Grand Slam Osaka.

Reigning world champion Joshiro Maruyama and 2017 world champion Hifumi Abe, older brother of Uta, remain in a two-man race for selection in the men’s U66kg class.

The berth looks likely to be decided at the All-Japan Weight Class Championships, which will be held April 4-5 in Fukuoka.

MEN

-60 Takato Naohisa

-73 Ono Shohei

-81 Nagase Takanori

-90 Mukai Shoichiro

-100 Wolf Aaron

+100 Harasawa Hisayoshi

WOMEN

-48 Tonaki Funa

-52 Abe Uta

-57 Yoshida Tsukasa

-63 Tashiro Miku

-70 Arai Chizuru

-78 Hamada Shori

+78 Sone Akira