[Judo]Ulf Aron coaches Ukrainian athletes and urges them to pray for peace, which is “not a given” – Sponichi Sponichi Annex Sports

On the 30th, Ulf Aron (Park 24), a gold medalist in the men’s 100 kg judo class at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, participated in the Ukrainian team judo exchange event held at the Kodokan in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, where a total of 29 men and women aged 13 to 20 participated. I coached the players. The All Japan Judo Federation has been implementing a project since last year to support athletes who are unable to secure a sufficient training environment in their home countries due to the Russian invasion. This was Wolf’s first time participating, and he taught her his specialties, uchimata and ouchikari.

Wolf gave each player careful instruction for about an hour and a half, and after he finished, he handed each player a pair of chopsticks with the date and his name engraved on them, as well as an autographed colored paper, as a souvenir.He said, “It was my first time coaching an overseas player. “If you’re Japanese, you can communicate through words, but since I’m from a foreign country, I thought gestures and words were important. I learned a lot.”

Of the 29 athletes invited this time, 22 are from the capital, Kiv, and seven are from Chernihiv, which is located near the Russian border and has been hit hard. Anna Olynec (17), a female 70kg athlete who has participated in the project for the second year in a row and was runner-up at last year’s U23 European Championship, said, “Some of our fellow judo athletes have also gone to the battlefield. Half of the athletes here. “My father and siblings are on the battlefield,” he said, describing the vivid current situation in his home country.

Wolff, who has announced that he will retire from active judo in June next year, said, “I don’t think it’s normal for me to be doing judo now.I wish there was something I could do.It was a valuable experience. “I hope for peace,” he said.

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