Ahead of the Japan-event gymnastics championships, which serve as the selection process for the World Championships, starting on the 10th, ace HASHIMOTO Daiki and TANIKAWA Sho, who is aiming to make the national team, made final preparations at the venue.

The selection for the World Championships will be based on the results of three events: the All Japan Championships in April, the NHK Cup last month, and the All Japan Championships starting on 4 September.

The men's national team consists of five players, three of whom have already been decided: Hashimoto, who won gold medals at both the Olympics and the World Championships and won three consecutive Japan Championships and NHK Cups, Kazuma Kaya, who finished second in the NHK Cup, and Teppei Miwa, who finished third in the NHK Cup.

The remaining two will be decided based on the results of the three national team selection tournaments, including the Japan event championships, and how much they can contribute to the score when the team all-around members are formed.

The remaining two spots are contested by Kazuki Minami, who placed first in the NHK Cup Yuka, Tanigawa, who is good at pommel horse and parallel bars, and Shohei Kawakami, who finished second on the horizontal bar at the NHK Cup.

Of these, Tanigawa practiced pommel horse, which is said to be the key to joining the national team, and performed while checking the feeling.

Hashimoto will participate in two events, horizontal bar and pommel horse, so he was doing a light menu on the 10th.

On the women's side, Urara Ashikawa, who won the gold medal on the balance beam at the World Championships in Ototoshi, and Makoto Okamura, an 3-year-old third-year high school student, are competing for the remaining spot on the World Championship team.

Ashikawa had honed his expressive skills on the balance beam, which he was good at, so he carefully checked it while watching the video of his performance.

Sho Tanigawa aiming to join the national team: "I want to enjoy the tension"

TANIKAWA Sho, who is aiming to make the World Championship squad, said with a smile, "My strong desire to join the national team motivated me to prepare for the event championships from the day after the NHK Cup.

On top of that, for the Japan event championships starting on 10 September, he said, "I want to concentrate on my performance and do my best, and I want to enjoy the tension."

Urara Ashikawa: "I think we can go into the match without worry"

Ashikawa Urara said, "I was able to confirm my usual performance in practice, so I think I will be able to enter the match without worry."

Ashikawa was left out of the national team last year and entered the World Championships as a substitute.
Ashikawa said, "This is my last chance to play for the national team, but it's a shame that I can't perform because I'm nervous, so I want to perform in my own way without thinking too much. That's what I want to give myself confidence."