Every week during the countdown to this summer’s IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Lahti, IFAF will profile the nations heading to Finland from August 27-30 by exploring their pedigree and featuring some of the players to watch.
First up is Japan, whose women won the first-ever IFAF Asia-Oceania Flag Football continental crown in a high-scoring final as they defeated Australia 47-29 at the EV Arena Shah Alam in Malaysia back in October.
Japan was the tournament’s only women’s team with prior international experience. They finished sixth at the 2021 world championships and lost to Austria, also at the quarterfinal stage, at The World Games in Alabama a year later.
It was perhaps no surprise when Japan stormed to a 3-0 start on the opening day in Kuala Lumpur, sweeping aside Thailand 60-19, Indonesia 61-6, and Korea in a 39-point shutout. Not a bad day’s work with 160 points scored and only 25 conceded.
The only other unbeaten team early on in Group A was Australia and they were dispatched convincingly by 33 unanswered points on the second day, ensuring Japan topped the table heading into the knockout stages.
Emerging as a clear star of the team – and one to watch at this coming summer’s world championships and beyond – was quarterback Chihiro Iwata. The youngster built on her experience at The World Games to methodically carve apart opposing defenses with Yurika Omi one of her favorite receivers.
New Zealand were beaten 42-14 in the semifinals to set up a rematch against Australia for the gold medal. The Aussies put up a fight, but Japan were irrepressible as Iwata targeted Omi and Yuki Sato for multiple touchdowns in a 47-29 championship game victory.
Watch the final here at the 4-hour mark of Day 3 action at IFAF.TV: https://ifaf.tv/sportitem/65323e7ee9c6406044f370e9
By winning all six continental games and picking up first place bonus points to add to weighted rating points from the two previous competitions, Japan climbed up the IFAF Flag Football World Rankings. Sitting in third place, they trail only the United States and Mexico – the reigning IFAF World and World Games champions respectively – with toppling their crowns no doubt in Japan’s sights in Finland.
Japan’s men similarly blazed their way through the group stages in Malaysia on the way to winning bronze. They scored the historic first points of the continental tournament in the men’s bracket in racing to a 14-point lead over Singapore. A 35-point shutout saw quarterback Rintaro Mori throw for four touchdowns. Kosei Ito had three scoring grabs and Ryosuke Matsuo reeled in two in Japan’s 45-13 win over India. On the second day, the men followed the lead of their female counterparts by edging closest challenger Australia 20-12. Further wins over the Philippines and Kuwait secured top spot in Group A and a 5-0 record.
The likelihood of a Japanese clean sweep of the continental medals looked to be on the cards but semifinal opponents New Zealand had other ideas. In a thrilling end to end contest with the lead changing hands multiple times, the Kiwis upset Japan by one decisive score, running out 40-33 winners.
The eleventh placed finishers at the 2021 world championships still claimed the continental bronze medal and will no doubt head to Finland eager to improve on that finish and on their current world ranking of ninth.
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