Tokyo Games gold medalist Wolf Aron has been selected to represent the men's 100kg judo class at the Paris Olympics. Judo representatives have now been appointed in all 14 classes of men and women.
The All Japan Judo Federation held a training committee meeting on the 14th, and deliberated on representatives for the men's 100kg class, the only sport in which no representative had yet been decided.
As a result, Wolff, who won this weight class at the Grand Slam Paris, an international tournament held in Paris this month, was selected to represent the team.
The race to represent the men's 100kg class had been narrowed down to Wolff and 19-year-old Michihiro Arai, who came in second place at the Grand Slam Tokyo, an international tournament held last December.
While Arai was defeated in the third round at the Grand Slam Paris, Wolff won his first match in an international tournament since the Tokyo Olympics by winning without getting into overtime even once, so he will strengthen his skills. The committee determined that there was a ``clear difference.''
Japan national team men's coach Keiji Suzuki said of Wolf Aron, ``The content of the match was not bad, and they showed us that they played well without going into overtime.Now that they are in a position to challenge for consecutive championships, they are firmly aiming for their goal. I want him to go into battle with high expectations.''
With this, all classes of judo, men and women, have been officially selected to represent the Paris Olympics.
Hifumi Abe in the men's 66kg class and his younger sister Uta, in the women's 52kg class, will become the first siblings in history to win two consecutive titles, as well as Takanori Nagase in the men's 81kg class and his younger sister Uta in the women's 78kg class. Teru Sone will also be aiming for a gold medal following the Tokyo Games.
Also, Ryu Saito, a rising young athlete in the men's 100km+ class, will aim to win the gold medal in his first appearance.
Commenting on the players, Jun Konno, chairman of the training committee, said, ``Though our circumstances are different, including veterans, players seeking back-to-back championships, and players competing for the Olympics for the first time, we all have one goal.I think we have a very good team. ” he said.