ABU DHABI // Wakabe Tomita had to spend several years of her judo career playing second fiddle to Sarah Asahina, the No 1-ranked junior women’s heavyweight in Japan.
However, the Japan Judo Federation gave her a chance ahead of Asahina last week at the International Judo Federation (IJF) Junior World Championships in the capital. She rewarded their loyalty with a double-gold performance.
Tomita won both her heavyweight 78kg+ final against Brazil’s Camila Noguiera and the final bout in the gold-medal-winning team event over Morgane Duchene of France.
“Judo is very competitive sport in Japan and only the best will be selected for the national team, so one needs to have patience and wait for their turn,” Tomita said through an IJF translator.
“I have been the second or third choice for the past six years, so this was a great opportunity, a chance I have been waiting for so long.
“It turned out to be a fantastic moment for me to win a double gold on my debut in the World Junior. And that wouldn’t have been possible without being given the opportunity by our federation.”
Before her success at the World Junior, Tomita’s best achievement was a silver medal at the Asian Junior earlier this year.
“Obviously the two gold medals I won at the World Junior now goes on top of the silver medal in my CV,” she said.
“I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the competition in Abu Dhabi. I’m very happy for my parents who travelled all the way to watch me, and all my teammates, coaches, and friends back home.”
Tomita’s parents had flown especially to watch her over her two days of competition but had to leave before seeing their daughter in her final event to catch a plane back to Tokyo.
Tomita says she was six years old when she first took a shine to judo after watching Ryoko Tani, Japan’s five-time Olympic medal winner and a record seven-time world champion on television.
“She became my role model and judo became my first love when I started practicing the martial art. I did swimming as a sport, but stopped when I got more serious in judo,” she said.
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