The weight lifting club competed in the 69th All-Japan Student Individual Championships held at Habikino Coliseum (Habikino, Osaka) from May 12 to 14, with captain KAWAKAMI Naoya (4th year, School of Political Science and Economics) winning the 102 kg class and TERANISHI Koshiro (2nd year, School of Business Administration) winning the +109 kg class.
Weightlifting involves lifting a barbell overhead in a single motion for a “snatch” and lifting the barbell to around the collarbone and then overhead for a “clean and jerk” three times each to compete for the highest total weight. The tournament was held by weight, with the weight class trials of both players taking place on the 14th, the final day of the competition.
Competing in the 102 kg class, KAWAKAMI lifted 148 kg, a new record for the event in his third snatch, taking first place with a total of 321 kg. In the heaviest class, TERANISHI won with a total of 315 kg, edging out second place by 3 kg.
There were five competitors who finished on the podium, including 55 kg-class FUKAMI Takeshi (2nd year, School of Political Science and Economics) and 96 kg-class AOYAGI Masataka (3rd year, School of Political Science and Economics), both of who took second place, and 81kg-class ADACHI Ryoma (4th year, School of Law), who took third place.
Comment from captain KAWAKAMI Naoya
I’m glad to have won my first college game. It was a game in which I could feel the support of my OB seniors and my family. I feel that all the members of the club have made good progress toward this year’s goal of winning third place in the intercollegiate championship. We would like to build on that. We look forward to your continued support.
Comment from Head Coach NAKATA Kentaro (graduated from School of Political Science and Economics in 2014)
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of our stakeholders who support our activities on a daily basis. Thank you. And I really respect the hard work of each player. I think it was the result of their diligent effort, thinking daily about how to balance their studies and practices for winning competitions with limited training time. As tournaments continue in the future, we will strive to make a further leap forward and work hard as a team not to become complacent about the results. Thank you for your continued support.
≪Japanese version≫
