DATE: May 31, 2003
PLACE: Tokyo Gymnasium
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| Tomita(left) and Ishizaka, both win NHK Cup and 2002 Nationals. |
MEN
The top 3 of Day 1 were in a dead heat for the NHK Cup championship. Takehiro
Kashima, Naoya Tsukahara, and Hiroyuki Tomita performed very cleanly and
steadily today from floor. However, Kashima missed his landing on his full
twisting Kasamatsu vault. Tomita and Tsukahara showed very safe performances
on parallel bars. The final rotation, horizontal bar, would decide the
champion.
Tomita performed first, but he took a little stop after his piked stalder
with one and a half twist, which he couldn't do the previous day at all.
However, he stuck his double-double layout dismount to score 9.600. Next,
Tsukahara, the top after the fifth rotation, performed and hit Kollman
+giant with one and a half twisting hop in mixed grip, but stopped completely
after piked Endo with one and a half twist in El-grip. His score was only
9.100. As a result, Tomita won his second NHK Cup in a row.
A dead heat was also shown in the Worlds Trials and Universiade Trials.
In the Worlds Trials, Tomita, Tsukahara, and Kashima led the trials with
a big margin, but the battle for the three other spots was very tight.
Isao Yoneda was fourth after day 1 and showed good routines until rings.
However, big mistakes on vault and parallel bars cost him in the trials,
and he dropped to seventh finally to lose the chance to compete in these
international meets. Yushi Sato, third in the 2002 Nationals, climbed to
the number 6 spot in place of Yoneda, with great performances in his favorite
events, parallel bars and horizontal bar. He would make the worlds team
for the first time. Two veterans, Akihiro Kasamatsu and Tatsuya Yamada
also would make the worlds team even though they had big mistakes.
As for the Universiade, Yuki Yoshimura injured his ankle on the final rotation,
floor, and his low score on this event cost him a chance to compete in
the Worlds Trials, but he won the Universiade Trials. The 2002 Pan Pacific
Junior champion, Masaki Endo was second, followed by Naoya Tabara. The
champion on floor at the 2002 Nationals, Daisuke Nakano, was fourth. Akifumi
Sasaki and Takuya Shigemura tied for fifth place but Sasaki made the team
by a tie break rule in the selection procedure.
| World Championships Roster |
Universiade Roster |
Hiroyuki Tomita(Central Sports)
Naoya Tsukahara(Asahi Life Insurance）
Takahiro Kashima（Central Sports）
Akihiro Kasamatsu（Chukyo Univ. Chukyo Club）
Yushi Sato（Meikei Club）
Tatsuya Yamada（Daishokai G.C.） |
Yuki Yoshimura（Nihon Univ.）
Masaki Endo（Meiji Univ.）
Naoya Tabara（Tokushukai G.C.）
Daisuke Nakano（Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.）
Akifumi Sasaki（Junyu Club） |
WOMEN
Kyoko Oshima defended her top position, but she missed her double layout
dismount and allowed Manami Ishizaka to take the lead in the NHK Cup. Ishizaka
was still steady on beam and floor, and won the NHK Cup, which was her
second big title after the 2002 Nationals. Oshima followed Ishizaka to
win second, and Ayaka Sahara was third with solid routines on every event,
including her new vault (front handspring piked barani out).
These three also led the Worlds Trials. Ishizaka and Oshima tied for the
first in the total score. They became top guns on the Japanese worlds team.
Erika Mizoguchi, the 2001 national champion, climbed to fourth, even though
she couldn't perform in the final group. Fifth place went to the 2001 Olympian,
Miho Takenaka, and six place was Maika Mizutori, a 2001worlds team member
(*Japan did not participate due to the security concerns after September
11).
As for the Universiade Trials, Satomi Yamamoto, Chiemi Takeda, and Shigeko
Morishige kept their positions solidly. Aiming for the two other spots,
Yuka Kawamura and Hitomi Hagiyama were forced to perform under big pressure
in which any mistake would destroy their chances, but in the final rotation,
they showed very clean vaults and made the team.
| World Championships Roster |
Universiade Roster |
Manami Ishizaka（Asahi Life Insurance G.C.）
Kyoko Oshima（Asahi Life Insurance G.C.）
Ayaka Sahara（Liberal G.C.）
Erika Mizoguchi（Asahi Life Insurance G.C.）
Miho Takenaka（Chukyo Univ.)
Maika Mizutori（Tokoha Gakuen J&S High School G.C.） |
Satomi Yamamoto（Sendai Univ.）
Chiemi Takeda（Osaka Kyoiku Univ.）
Tomoko Morishige（Fujimura Club）
Yuka Kawamura（Juntendo Univ.）
Hitomi Hagiyama(Nippon Sports Science Univ.) |
to REPORT of DAY 1
to Interview with World Championships Roster
|
