Historic first senior gymnastics competition Japan - Germany

* 18. September 2022

♦ In fact, it has never happened before:
An official Friendly country Meet of gymnastics seniors between JAPAN and GERMANY!
"Real" age group seniors, between 30 and 70 years of age (!!) will compete against a Japanese age group selection on September 18 in the Tachikawa-Tachihi arena in western Tokyo. The first team members - all of them enthusiastic recreational athletes, some of them also former league gymnasts - who have succeeded in continuing to actively pursue their sport even in their personally certainly not always uncomplicated professional lives!
* Initiator and idea giver as well as Riegenführer is the German Jens KRUEGER employed for 10 years with a Daimler enterprise in Tokyo - former German 3^rd federal league and Bavarian national league - which continues to operate its sport also in Japan, e.g. 2021 also with the All-Japanese championships actively was. Although the pandemic times have delayed this project by a good two years, now it's really going to come true!
The first German team members have already arrived in the Japanese capital.
On September 16, there will be a reception at the ambassador's office in Tokyo, and on September 18, the team will take to the equipment ...:

* The competition Arena in West Tokyo.

The SENIOR GYMNASTICS TEAM JAPAN,

... ... already convinces with attractive action pictures of their biographies and lets expect that the German competition guests must probably "warm up" or better: that one can expect an exciting competition !!
• Kyouzo WATANABE (76) (Foto, rechts →)
Japan's oldest competitor in this national selection was a multiple Japanese university champion in his youth.
Since he turned 70 years old in 2017, he has been Japanese age group champion 5 times in a row!
• Chiyozou SHINOHARA (66)
• Yoshinao KIMOTO (61)
• Osamu TSUKEN (51)
• Takahide SUGAI (34)

+ + +
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The SENIOR GYMNASTIC TEAM of GERMANY

... but the Age Group 60⁺ gymnast was injured at short notice and the AG 70⁺ gymnast withdrew due to a pandemic.
So the following gymnasts will compete in Tokyo:

♦ Team leader :	⇒ Jens KRUEGER (54) - former club "Exquisa Upper Bavaria", (Regional League)
♦ Maik SCHAEFER(57) *former GDR spartakiade talent from Chemnitz;later Bonner Turnverein	♦ Wilfried HOFER (55) * former member of KTV Ries
♦ Roland HAGNER(50) - also from KTV Ries, German Snior champion (2021)	♦ Frank POLLMEIER (49) - former TuS Leopoldshoehe; active since more than 25 years (!)
♦ Jan ANSELM (34) - TV Iffezheim; KTV Straubenhardt (3^rdLeague)	♦ Sebastian MERKER (31) - student from HSV Weimar (city of Goethe)