Our Town 2025 Hiroshi Yuasa, Kazuhiro Sasago, Yusaku Sakai, Hidenori Ishikawa

Champion of the All Japan Sports Wellness Fukiya Team Championship!

At the national tournament held at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on May 27, 2025, the team "ART35 Inagi A," formed by Mr. Yuasa (81 years old, resident of Nagamine), Mr. Sasago (84 years old, resident of Higashi-Naganuma), Mr. Sakai (80 years old, resident of Kawasaki City), and Mr. Ishikawa (73 years old, resident of Sakahama), won first place in the 8m class team competition.
In this competition, each participant shoots 5 arrows within 3 minutes at a target 8 meters away (scoring 7, 5, 3, 1, or 0 points from the center outward). This is done over 6 rounds (a total of 30 shots). The total score of the top 3 members in each team becomes the team's score, which determines the ranking.
This tournament featured 32 teams from across the country, and "ART35 Inagi A" won the championship in a close battle with just a 2-point difference from the second-place team, scoring 576 points.

This team was formed by selecting three members, with Mr. Yuasa, the President of the Inagi City Sports Wellness Fukiya Association, regularly inspecting practices held at various locations throughout the city.
When asked about the tournament, Mr. Yuasa, who selected the players, said with a smile, "I chose the members thinking 'We can win with this team!' and I was happy that the strategy worked perfectly." Mr. Sakai, who has been competing for about 10 years, expressed his joy, saying, "This is my first victory, including other tournaments, and I am very happy." Mr. Ishikawa, who participated at the young age of three years since starting the sport, reflected, "I was nervous because it was my first appearance and couldn't perform as usual, but the three senior members scored well and were very reliable."

Sports Wellness Fukiya mainly has classes at 6m, 8m, and 10m. The four usually practice in different classes, but for this tournament, they focused their practice on the 8m class. When asked about the key points important in the competition, Mr. Sasago explained, "It's the same for all classes, but maintaining concentration is essential. Keeping a consistent blowing force during the 3 minutes and continuing to shoot five times leads to a high score."

We asked the four individuals who have been diligently practicing about their future goals. "Next, I want to win the 8m individual event at the All Japan Open Championship this fall" (Mr. Yuasa). "I don't know how long I can continue, but I want to keep practicing to compete for a long time" (Mr. Sasako). "Since concentration is an issue, I want to focus on improving my mental strength during practice" (Mr. Sakai). "In the 10m class, I want to be able to hit the 7-point spot three times in one round" (Mr. Ishikawa).

Each of their goals is different, but let's continue to look forward to the success of the four athletes.