The 2008-2009 Japanese National Figure Skating Championships concluded this past weekend, and it's Mao Asada and Nobunari Oda taking the singles titles. This is Mao's third straight national title in a row and Nobunari's first. Narumi Takahashi (高 橋 成 美) and Mervin Tran (マーヴィン トラン) won the pairs title and were helped by being the only entrants in the event. In ice dancing, Cathy Reed and Chris Reed are the ice dancing champions. This brother and sister team was born in the United States and due to their dual citizenship (mother is Japanese), they are eligible to compete for Japan.
I was thinking about the results and realized something: In Japan, there are three sports that are super popular: figure skating, baseball and sumo wrestling. They're as different as can be, aren't they? Anyway, back to the Japanese Nationals -- Japan will certainly have a strong field of singles skaters going to the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles. Especially the women -- Since 2002, a Japanese woman has medaled at every Worlds, except in 2005. Mao won Worlds in 2008, Miki Ando won in 2007 (Mao took the silver in 2007), Fumie Suguri medaled three times, and Shizuka Arakawa won in 2004.
Results for the top 10 ladies are as follows: (Note: SP=Short Program; FS=Free Skate)
| Pl |
Name |
Points | SP | FS |
| 1 |
Mao ASADA (浅 田 真 央) |
182.45 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 |
Fumie SUGURI (村 主 章 枝) |
178.59 | 5 | 1 |
| 3 |
Miki ANDO (安 藤 美 姫) |
174.09 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 |
Akiko SUZUKI (鈴 木 明 子) |
173.98 | 6 | 3 |
| 5 |
Yukari NAKANO (中 野 友加里) |
172.60 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 |
Nana TAKEDA (武 田 奈 也) |
164.73 | 4 | 5 |
| 7 |
Kanako MURAKAMI (村 上 佳菜子) |
147.83 | 7 | 8 |
| 8 |
Satsuki MURAMOTO (村 元 小 月) |
146.27 | 8 | 7 |
| 9 |
Ayane NAKAMURA (中 村 愛 音) |
138.07 | 13 | 9 |
| 10 |
Ayumi MIYAMOTO (宮 本 亜由美) |
132.79 | 9 | 10 |
Results for the top 10 men are as follows:
| Pl |
Name |
Points | SP | FS |
| 1 |
Nobunari ODA (織 田 信 成) |
243.70 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 |
Takahiko KOZUKA (小 塚 崇 彦) |
225.94 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 |
Takahito MURA (無 良 崇 人) |
200.48 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 |
Yasuharu NANRI (南 里 康 晴) |
197.69 | 6 | 3 |
| 5 |
Daisuke MURAKAMI (村 上 大 介) |
187.50 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 |
Kensuke NAKANIWA (中 庭 健 介) |
184.18 | 7 | 6 |
| 7 |
Tatsuki MACHIDA (町 田 樹) |
183.73 | 5 | 8 |
| 8 |
Yuzuru HANYU (羽 生 結 弦) |
181.65 | 8 | 5 |
| 9 |
Takemochi OHGAMI (大 上 偉 才) |
176.74 | 9 | 9 |
| 10 |
Hirokazu KOBAYASHI (小 林 宏 一) |
168.68 | 10 | 10 |
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