Hiroyuki Akimoto

Hiroyuki Akimoto ( Japanese 秋 本 啓 之 , Akimoto Hiroyuki ; born January 31, 1986 ) is a former Japanese judoka . He was 2010 World Champion in the lightweight, the weight category to 73 kg.

Career

Hiroyuki Akimoto fought until the summer of 2009 in the half-light weight, the weight class up to 66 kilograms. In 2004 he won the Junior World Championships. In 2005 he won the Tournoi de Paris when he defeated the French Benjamin Darbelet in the final . At the Japanese championships in the same year he was defeated in the final Masato Uchishiba . In 2006 Akimoto won the Jigoro Kano Cup ahead of Uchishiba. Three weeks later he won the World Cup tournament in Tbilisi, again a week later he was defeated in the final of the Tournoi de Paris against the Brazilian João Derly . At the Asian Games in Doha in 2006, he won a bronze medal. In 2007 he won the Tournoi de Paris with a final victory against the Brazilian Leandro Cunha . In April 2007 he won the Japanese championships. A year later, he finished third at the 2008 Japanese Championships. It was won by Masato Uchishiba, who also competed for Japan at the 2008 Olympic Games and won the gold medal there.

In the summer of 2009 Hiroyuki Akimoto switched to lightweight. At the Grand Slam tournament in Paris , he reached the final in early 2010 and finished second behind the South Korean Wang Ki-chun . In April 2010 he won the Japanese championships, a month later he won the Grand Slam tournament in Rio de Janeiro . At the 2010 World Championships in Tokyo , he defeated his compatriot Yasuhiro Awano in the quarterfinals and Wang Ki-chun in the semifinals. With his final victory over the Dutchman Dex Elmont , he won the world title. Two months later, Akimoto and Wang Ki-chun met again in the final of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Akimoto also won this title. In 2011 Akimoto finished third in the Japanese championships. At the Grand Slam in Rio de Janeiro he missed the medal ranks as fifth as he did at the World Championships in Paris . At the end of 2011 he won the Grand Slam tournament in Tokyo .

After two years of weaker years, Akimoto returned to the top in 2014. He won the Asian Games in 2014 and the Grand Slam tournament in Tokyo. In 2015 he won the Grand Slam tournaments in Paris and Tokyo. After failing to qualify for the Olympic Games in 2016, he declared the end of his career as a competitive athlete in June 2016.

Web links

• Tournament results at judoinside.com

Footnotes

1. ↑ Japanese Championships 2005 at judoinside.com
2. ↑ Jigoro Kano Cup 2006 at judoinside.com
3. ↑ Hiroyuki Akimoto announces Retirement from June 11, 2016 at judoinside.com