Fil-Japanese judokas eye Asiad breakthrough

JAKARTA – Among the Philippines’ last medal hopes, Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Kiyomi Watanabe and Mariya Takahashi and four other Philippine judokas chase their dreams in the 18th Asian Games in the next two days at the Jakarta Convention Center here.

Without a single medal won since judo was first played in the Asiad in 1986 in Seoul, the Philippines is banking on six Japan-trained Fil-Japanese judokas in a bid to nail the elusive first win here.

Shugen Nakano is the first to see action on the mat today before Watanabe, Takahashi, Kohei Kohagura, Magumi Kuragoshi and Keisei Nakano launch their own quests Thursday.

John Baylon, for all his longtime domination and supremacy in Southeast Asian judo, has failed to break into the medal round in the Asiad meet.

The Philippine judo association hopes to end the drought through its crack team of Fil-Japanese judokas here.

Watanabe, Takahashi and their teammates have all been schooled in Japanese judo centers, and their training has produced good results, with the worthiest being their two-gold and three-bronze haul in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last year.

Watanabe stretched her SEAG reign to six years while Takahashi made a golden debut – double shining performances that they hope to bring over to the Asian level.

But they know it is not easy as they face a formidable field led by the dreaded judokas from Japan, Korea and China.

Being the No. 1 exponent of the sport in the world, Japan, no surprising, is the most bemedalled country in the Asiad with a haul of 47 gold, 34 silver and 29 bronze medals. Next is Korea (37-25-41) then China (20-15-32).

Only 15 other countries in Mongolia, North Korea, Kazakhstan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Turkmenistan, Lebanon, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Indonesia and Myanmar are in the all-time Asiad medal table.

Watanabe is inspired by her first-place feat in the World Cup in Taipei last year as she tries to improve on her No. 7 ranking in the 2014 Asiad in Incheon.

One of the toughest hurdles in her -63kg category is 21-year-old Japanese Nani Nabekura, who is ranked No. 3 in the world.

Takahashi, meanwhile, is fresh from her No. 9 finish in the world juniors in Zagreb, Croatia. She also placed second in the World Cup in Hong Kong last year.

But if she’s to make it to the top here, she would need to get past -70kg Japanese bet Soki Niizoe, a World Cup champ in Budapest last year.

Takahashi, who took up the sport in her fourth grade in Hyogo, Japan, is ranked No. 78 in the world at -70kg and 98th at -63kg. Niizoe is No. 26 at -70kg.