Hoshi's comments from the official site.
I am very happy because I achieved my goal – the gold medal. I managed to perform everything that was planned, despite the fact that our captain injured his knee yesterday and that it was up to me to do extremely well.
He always looks sleepy in the photos of this competition. Why?
I want to see his performance except pommel horse!
He can smile like this!!!
There are no photos of the Japanese gymnasts on FISU's Photo Gallery.
Not even one picture.
Is this a new way of bullying? lol.
Congrats!
Kyoichi WATANABE, Makoto OKIGUCHI, Takuya NAKASE, Yosuke HOSHI, Takuya NIIJIMA
I believe this article on the official site is incorrect. The comment quoted here was not made by Hoshi, but by Nakase. It's no big deal though. This kind of thing happens a lot in the international competitions. I'm happy they posted this picture (they look great in the uniform of this season).
The supposedly best Japanese team (at least when they were selected), including top gymnasts such as Kohei Uchimura, Koki Sakamoto, and Kazuhito Tanaka, will compete at Japan Cup. None of the Universiade team won't. What a shame.
Takehiro Kashima (Central Sports), who retired last year, is with the team as a new national-team coach in Belgrade. He must be very happy since Juntendo gymnasts, Watanabe (Juntendo), Hoshi (Central Sports) and Niijima (Central Sports), came into their own, though Hoshi's HB score 14.75 is a bit too low for him.
Okiguchi seems to have finally regained his form. He got an E score of 9.400 for each of the two attempts on vault. One of them is Lopez! Wow.
Watanabe and Hoshi qualified for the individual AA final tomorrow. Nakase took the third place in qualification, but he isn't allowed to compete in the final because of the two-gymnasts-from-one-country rule. Even if he could, he might be sidelined because of the knee injury. According to a Japanese article, his injury seems really bad. I'm worried about him.
I'm also worried about Hoshi in the individual final. He commented before the competition that his problem was a lack of stamina. I really hope he will get over it. Hang in there, Hoshi!!!
By the way, the ceiling of this stadium has a beautiful shape. Wonderful.
Some other pictures of the Japanese team:
The second report on the podium training of the men's team was posted with some photos on the JGA's official blog.
The Japanese team are looking good.
As for the other teams they trained with, it says that the Korean team are looking particularly great. It seems four of them are going to compete at Japan Cup too. The report also says the Chinese team will surely do great in the competition. Apart from those two teams, they mention an amazing North Korean gymnast who wowed people with his new skill (Yoo with full twist?) on Vault.
Who's doing the handstand on p-bars in the second photo? I don't think it's Hoshi. Is it Niijima? The pictures are too small.
Fuji TV has decided to use a singing idol as an extra commentator on the broadcast of Japan Cup (here).
The article says they have appointed him as "a field navigator." What's that? Is he going to hang around on the arena floor during the meet?
That's exactly what I dreaded.
It's not that I don't like him. I'm just wondering why they can't get out of their own mannerism.
So disappointing.
According to some German articles (Vier Wochen in Japan), Fabian Hambüchen is already in Tokyo (technically in Saitama), doing his four-week training, this time with KONAMI gymnasts.
As far as I understand these articles with the help of Google translator, Hambüchen is trying to master (or has mastered) some special skills! Will he show us those skills at Japan Cup? His coach/dad and teammates will join him one week later. Maybe they are going to do their training at NTC, as they did last year. It seems that the German team will stay in Tokyo until Japan Cup is over.
Fabi is becoming ubiquitous in Japan . . . lol.
JGA opened an English site for Japan Cup (here).
Much soberer than the Japanese one created by Fuji TV (here).
Every time I see those tiny, stupid characters on the Japanese site, I feel like stamping on them all. I must confess though, I kind of like the "pommel horse" horse, and the still ring with limbs (only one ring! Why?!). It took me a while to recognize each apparatus.
Fuji TV is going to broadcast Japan Cup as well as this year's Worlds.
Surely, it's not only me who dread they might make a mess of these events. They often do so with other sport events. I really hope they won't this time.
