Premium
Kenya turns to Japan in pursuit of sporting glory
Japanese Yusuke Utashiro, the national judo team's head coach, instructs under-60 kg player James Wambua at the Kasarani Stadium during training ahead of last year's Africa Judo Open Championships in Casablanca, Morocco.
When the history of Kenyan volleyball is written, the name of Japanese tactician Sadatoshi Sugawara will certainly occupy a few pages.
He guided the national women’s team, Malkia Strikers, to their first Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, and to the World Championships in 2002 and 2006.
This saw the Malkia Strikers make their second Olympic appearance in Athens, Greece in 2004, before taking a long break and returning in 2020 in Tokyo and in 2024 in Paris.
Hiroshi Matsuura, the Japanese Ambassador to Kenya, and Shadrack Maluki, president of National Olympic Committee of Kenya, said they are keen to revive such partnerships on a large scale to involve other sports disciplines.
In addition to volleyball, Kenya and Japan have established a working group to expand the partnership to incorporate judo, athletics, and winter sports.
Maluki said that the deal had been formalised with an MoU signed by Japan’s Olympic Committee president, Seiko Hashimoto, on the sidelines of the recently concluded Winter Olympics in Italy. Maluki made these comments during the Japanese Ambassador’s Cup on Saturday at the Moi International Sports Centre gymnasium.
The deal will see exchange programmes for athletes, teams, coaches, referees and judges from both countries, as well as sports and education scholarships at some of Japan’s top universities. The cooperation between Kenya and Japan in judo has already borne fruit since the arrival of Japanese coach Yusuke Utashiro, who was seconded to Kenya by the International Judo Federation (IJF) in 2024.
Zeddy Cherotich made history by becoming the first Kenyan woman to compete in the Olympics, alongside Rael Kulova (U48 kg) and Harun Amin (U66 kg), who secured bronze medals at the 2025 Africa Youth Olympic Games in Angola.
National Olympic Committee President Shadrack Maluki.
Kulova also won gold in the under-48 kg category at the 2025 African Cadet, Junior and Senior Open Judo Championships in Morocco. “This marks the beginning of a strategic and operational partnership based on mutual respect, shared ambitions, and the enduring principles of Olympism,” said Maluki.
He added that they will establish a structured framework for collaboration, bringing together Kenya’s globally recognised altitude training environment and Japan’s advanced elite academy systems and cutting-edge sports science expertise.
Prisons emerged as the overall winners of the Japanese Ambassador’s Cup, winning four gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
Kenya Amateur Sambo (KAS) dominated the boys’ cadet division, winning three gold medals through Benson Harun (-50 kg), Kevin Onganya (-60 kg) and John Ouko (-66 kg). Harun defeated Ephraim Matupa Alengila of Rift Valley in the -50 kg final, while Onganya secured the -60 kg title by beating Ian Ibrahim.
Ouko beat Christian Yafunga Alondo of Rift Valley to claim the -66 kg category. Arnold Yafunga Botay of Rift Valley was supreme in the -55 kg category, edging out Antorney Boit of KAS. Nicholas Maina and Bravin Omondi settled for bronze.
Follow our WhatsApp channel for breaking news updates and more stories like this.
