Sakushin Gakuin, Last Year’s Champion Became the Champion Again!

All Japan Gateball Championship does not have any preconditions such as gender or age for the participating players. As a result, it is believed to decide the true number one team in Japan. 

On September 28 and 29, the 35^th All Japan Gateball Championship was held in Shiga prefecture, next to Kyoto, the western part of Japan. Total of 48 teams including 47 teams representing all 47 prefectures and the last year’s champion, Sakushin Gakuin, gathered at the Nagahama Bio University Dome.

Also, the championship functioned as the event to select Japanese representative to the 8th Asia Gateball Championship in China next year.

Strong teams such as Sakushin Gakuin, last year’s champion, Manto-gumi A, last year’s Runner-up came back to the dome.

Teams played in two leagues. In the 1^st League, all 48 teams were divided into 12 groups in which 4 teams played each other.  The top 2 teams in each group would move onto the 2^nd League where 6 groups of 4 teams played each other. 8 teams, the top team in each group as well as top 2 teams among the runners up in each group, played each other in the final Tournament.

In the 1^st League, many people were cheering for the young players, Yusei Wada (age 11) and Kenshin Wada (age 8), of Shonan Chigasaki team. The Wada brothers were key players in Sagamikko team, the champion at the 24^th All Japan Junior Gateball Championship in August this year.

In the 2nd League, only Sakushin Gakuin and Manto-gumi A won all 3 games. The remaining 6 teams completed the league with two wins and one loss. 

In the semi-final of the tournament, Kenshin Wasa, the youngest player, of Shonan Chigasaki  played an active part but in the end lost against Manto-gumi A. 

The final game was the same match between Sakushin Gakuin and Manto-gumi A with last year’s. The audience was keen to see how Manto-gumi would stop Sakushin Gakuin from winning again. In the end, the game ended with 16 to 7 and Sakushin Gakuin won a sweeping victory.  Sakushin Gakuin became the champion again for two consecutive years.

“We were under the strong pressure that we would not be allowed to lose as we were being chased behind this time. As such, we were very nervous in the beginning and we were almost losing in the first game today. But as we continued playing, we got back to our normal selves and could enjoy playing our games. We are very very happy to make the champion again,” said Naoki Katayanagi, captain of Sakushin Gakuin.