Our Town Inagi 2023 Athletes active in sports

Inagi Poires, who represented Inagi City, won the tournament held in Hino City and other cities in February and March.

When I asked the club's representative, Daiya Hosaka (23, from Inagi, third from the left in the back row of the photo), what he thought of the tournament, he said, ``This is my third time participating in this tournament, but I'm happy to finally win.'' Captain Ippei Kobayashi (23, resident of Koyodai, second from the left in the front row of the photo) said, ``It was a wonderful memory to be able to win at a time when the members are now working adults and it's difficult to get together.''

This year's winning club has decided to participate in the next tournament, and they talked about their future goals, saying, ``We want to win the next tournament as well and achieve consecutive championships.''

At the tournament, held in Yokkaichi City from March 29th to 31st, the pair of Mr. Nakamura (photo right) and Ms. Ogawa (photo left) (then second-year students at Inagi Daisan Junior High School) won the team competition and came in runner-up in the individual competition. Won.

When asked about their thoughts on the tournament, both Nakamura-san and Ogawa-san reflected on the frustration of losing, saying, ``In the final of the individual competition, I lost again to the opponent I lost to in the prefectural tournament, so I was very disappointed.''

We asked the two of them about their future goals. Mr. Nakamura said, ``I want to participate in the national tournament (National Junior High School Soft Tennis Tournament), which I have never participated in in the team competition. Also, in the individual competition, I want to be in the top 8 or higher in the national tournament.'' I want to participate in the national tournaments in both the individual competitions and take advantage of the frustration of not being able to participate in the past to get into the top ranks nationally,'' he said with a strong focus on future tournaments.

At the tournament held on May 23rd at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Mr. Tateno (68, living in Nagamine, second from the right in the photo), Mr. Tsuji (74, living in Hyakumura, first from the left in the photo), and Mr. Suzuki (79, Koyodai) resident (second person from the left in the photo) won the 6m class team competition.

This team was formed by Mr. Yuasa (79, resident of Nagamine, first from the right in the photo), chairman of the Inagi City Sports Wellness Blowgun Association, who selected excellent athletes from within the city. The three competitors were beginners who had been playing blowguns for about a year, but after two months of intense training under Mr. Yuasa's guidance, they won the championship.

Their future goal is to win the 8m class team competition and the 10m class individual competition at the national competition.

The Hirao Floorball Club won the men's division for the first time in three years at the tournament, which was held on June 25th at the Saiden Chemical Arena (Saitama City Memorial Gymnasium).

Captain Kohei Wada (24, resident of Hirao, front row left in photo) expressed his joy, saying, ``This was my first tournament as captain, so I was happy to win.'' On the other hand, there were times when he expressed frustration, saying, ``I was disappointed that my mistake allowed the opposing team to score the first goal in the final match.''

When asked about his future goals, Ken Iijima (49, resident of Hirao, front row center in the photo), the founder of the Hirao Floorball Club and the winning member of the tournament, answered, ``The Japan Championship will be held this winter, so I'm looking forward to seeing you again. I want to participate and win with this team," he said emphatically.