Ultimate in Japan

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Ultimate , originally called ultimate frisbee, is a non-contact team field sport played with a flying disc, invented in New Jersey, USA, in 1968. Japanese players and teams rose to prominence in the 1990s, and today are among the strongest competitors in the sport globally.

Contents

History

The frisbee was introduced to Japan in 1969. Japan Flying Disk Athletic (JFA) was established in 1975 in Nagoya, and started meeting in 1976. In 1984, JFA changed its name to JFDA and affiliated with the World Flying Disk Federation (WFDF), which took part in the World Ultimate Meet. Today, over 3,000 play Ultimate in Japan.

In 1992, the 6th world Ultimate championship tournament was held in Utsunomiya and the final match was broadcast by NHK-BS in real time.

In 1995, GAISF accepted WFDF as an official member. In addition, Ultimate was adopted by a sports class that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and other groups held. NHK broadcast Ultimate in the program, "television-sports class". As a result, many people recognized Ultimate.

More than 150 educational facilities adopted Ultimate as physical education. In 1996, at the Japan Flying Disk Athletic meet, players were able to get the cup of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. JFDA dispatched players to the world meet and also held meets in cooperation with the US and Taiwan. Japanese teams - both clubs and national teams - quickly rose to become consistent top finishers in international competition:

In 2012, the world Ultimate meet was held in Sakai city for the first time in 20 years and 1,392 players took part, with Japan's women's team beating the USA in the final to take the gold. In 2013, IOC dubbed WFDF as a semi-official association and took a step toward becoming an Olympic event. Japanese player Tanaka, who is a member of Japanese Ultimate team Buzz Bullets, went to Taiwan and taught Ultimate to many athletes. As of 2014 July 20, the number of member nations and areas of WFDF is 57, but this is insufficient to become an Olympic event. [1]

National Championships

Although in 2013, four official national Ultimate championships took place, in 2014, two new ones were added.

Japanese National Team

The Japanese National team has a long history, placing 1st at the world championships many times. As of January 18, 2015 the World Flying Disc Association ranked the Japanese team 5th in Men's Ultimate, 1st in Women's and 3rd in Mixed. [2]

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References

  1. Kitagawa,Y.The history of Ultimate and the change of its rules.
  2. Administrator. "Ultimate - National Teams - Current World Rankings". wfdf.org.