09. April 2012  
Tokyo, Japan  
Artistic Gymnastics

Kohei Uchimura won fifth national Titel, Tanaka her first

Kohei UCHIMURA (JPN)

Reigning World all-around champion Kohei Uchimura and Rie Tanaka won the Japanese Championships, held over Easter weekend in the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, which served as the training gym for the 2011 World Championships.
It was the fifth national title for Uchimura but the first for Tanaka, who has nonetheless become well known in Japan after winning the Longines Prize for Elegance at the 2010 Worlds in Rotterdam.
Although the competition included two full days of competition, results were based solely on the second day, where Tanaka bested Natsumi Sasada and Yumi Iizuka.
2012 Japanese Artistic Gymnastics Nationals
- Tokyo, April 08 -
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Three-time all-around world champion Kohei Uchimura sent his London Olympic rivals a timely reminder of his mercurial talents on Sunday, capturing his fifth consecutive title at the national all-around gymnastics championships.
"The Japan Times" wrote:
"Dubbed "Japan's beautiful machine" by German rival Philipp Boy, Uchimura, the only Japanese gymnast to have already booked his ticket to London, delivered a solid performance to score 92.650 points ahead of Kenya Kobayashi (90.800) and Shogo Nonomura (90.050).
The Japanese Championships are the first part of the Olympic selection process, which concludes following the NHK Trophy May 4-6.
* MEN's All-around
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1. Kohei Uchimura, 92.650
2. Kenya Kobayashi, 90.800
3. Shogo Nonomura, 90.050

4. Ryo Kato, 89.800
5. Makoto Okiguchi, 89.700
6. Junpei? Oka, 89.200
7. Kazuhito Tanaka, 89.100
8T. Shoichi Yamamoto, 88.550
8T. Hiroyuki Imai, 88.550
10T. Yusuke Tanaka, 88.350
10T. Yuyu Saito, 88.350
12. Koji Yamamuro, 88.000
* WOMEN's All-around
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In women's action, Rie Tanaka, who topped the women's preliminaries on Saturday, captured her first national title with 56.450. Natsumi Sasada was second with 54.450 and Yumi Iizuka was third with 54.400.
"I'm happy to win my first title. I didn't make any big mistakes and was able to perform how I know I can," said Tanaka to "The Japane Times". "I won and I am pleased but this is just a passing point to London and I want to do well at the NHK Cup too."
Koko Tsurumi, the 2009 world all-around bronze medalist, failed in her bid for a seventh straight national title, finishing seventh with 52.950.
* Results:
1. Rie Tanaka, 56.450
2. Natsumi Sasada, 54.450
3. Yumi Iizuka, 54.400

4. Asuka Teramoto, 53.450
5. Yuki Uchiyama, 53.200
6. Yuko Hsinchu, 53.050
7. Koko Tsurumi, 52.950
8. Mai Yamagishi, 52.350
9. Yu Minobe, 52.150
10. Wakana Inoue, 52.000
11. Mai Murakami, 51.300