The ‘Judo Stars vs Judo Kids’ team match is an opportunity for the very best athletes in the world to have a direct and meaningful impact on the lives of young judoka, offering them the chance to see that anything is possible.
Lined up opposite Olympic champion Natsumi Tsunoda and world champions Soichi Hashimoto, Megumi Horikawa and Joshiro Maruyama were four children, young judoka in pristine white judogi.
Kaname Yara, Nao Sugai, Himari Mori and Rituki Miyazaki were given the task of beating the champions to the beat of the crowd’s applause. Adding to the occasion, Japanese IJF referee Mr Hiroyuki Hirano officiated the match.
First came Kaname Yara to face Tsunoda. Yara made the audacious decision to attack with Tsunoda's signature tomoe-nage and scored a yuko but she soon equalised and then authored the decisive action scoring ippon with the very same tomoe-nage.
This was followed by Sugai and Hashimoto’s contest. Hashimoto took a loss, an ippon scored with a huge ippon seoi-nage. The drama was already unfolding with a 1-1 scoreline.
Mori then took on Horikawa and won giving the Judo Kids the lead but to tie the scores, Miyazaki and Maruyama fought, the double world champion taking the win.
Finishing the match at 2-2 meant a tense draw for the final golden score match and in the spirit of fun, but a twist in the plot meant all 4 would fight all four together and the children stepped up, took a deep breath and threw their superstar opponents.
A feeling of celebration then took over the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium as the 8 judoka waved to the crowd and posed for photos. Fun, inspiration and entertainment were all combined in the best way, a memory those children will never forget.
