Mina Watanabe

Mina Watanabe ( Japanese 渡 邉 美 奈 Watanabe Mina ; born September 16, 1985 ) is a former Japanese judoka . In 2009 she was third in the middleweight championship in the weight class up to 70 kilograms.

Athletic career

Mina Watanabe was the 2003 U20 Asian champion. In 2004 she finished seventh at the Junior World Championships, but won the Fukuoka Cup at the end of the year . In 2005 she won the Asian Championships in Tashkent. In 2006 she won the World Cup in Budapest and took second place at the East Asian Championships. In late 2006 she won again at the Fukuoka Cup. In 2007 and 2008 she was third in the Japanese championships. At the end of 2008, she took third place at the first Grand Slam tournament in Tokyo . At the 2009 World Championships in Rotterdam, she defeated the Slovenian Raša Sraka in the quarter-finals and lost to the Hungarian Anett Mészáros in the semi-finals . With a victory over the British Sally Conway , she won a bronze medal. In the final of the Grand Slam tournament in Tokyo in 2009, she met Anett Mészáros again and this time Watanabe won. At the World Championships 2010 in Tokyo Watanabe finished seventh. Two months after the World Championships, the 2010 Asian Games took place in Guangzhou , Watanabe lost to North Korean Sol Kyong in the quarter-finals and ultimately came in fifth. In 2012 she was third again at the East Asian Games in Gochang, where she competed in the light heavyweight division.

Web links

• Tournament results at judoinside.com

Footnotes

1. ↑ According to the article East Asian Games , there were no East Asian Games in 2012. According to this list of results 2012 East Asian Games Gochang at judoinside.com already. Maybe they were East Asian championships.