Hifumi Abe

Hifumi Abe (阿部 一二三) is a Japanese judoka.

Abe began training judo in 2003, at the age of 6, in his hometown of Kōbe in Hyōgo prefecture.

He began competing in elementary school.

His father, Koji, is a firefighter at the Kobe City Fire Department.

He was often thrown by Nami Nabekura when they were in elementary school.

He said, "such an experience made me what I am".

His name in kanji reads, "one, two, three".

Abe won his first national tournament while attending Kobe Ikuta junior high school, winning in the under 55 kg category.

He then embarked on his junior career while attending Shinko Gakuen Shinko high school.

While still a high school student, he had won the national Inter-High School championships multiple times.

Abe rose to national prominence at the Kodokan Cup, his first senior tournament, where he became the youngest winner at 16-years-old, and the first high school student to win the Cup in ten years since Satoshi Ishii in 2004.

His win was a surprise, especially in the third round when he defeated Masaaki Fukuoka in less than two minutes by ippon, with an uki otoshi.

He defeated Yuki Nishiyama in the final.

Abe transitioned to senior level internationally at the Grand Slam in Tokyo, one of the most prestigious and high-level tournaments of the IJF circuit.

It was his first time being officially coached by a national team coach, namely legendary heavyweight Keiji Suzuki.

Abe dominated his opening fight against Peru's Alonso Wong, scoring a waza-ari and pinning with a kesa-gatame for ippon.

Abe had won several competitions as a cadet including the Asian U17 Championships in 2012, and the European Cup Cadets in 2012.

The World Cadet Championships in Miami was Abe's first high-level international tournament.

He reached the final, meeting Georgia's Koba Mchedishvili, and lost by ippon, settling for silver.

Abe rose to prominence after becoming Youth Olympic champion in 2014.

He won the Tokyo Grand Slam later that year, at just 17-years-old, beating then-World Champion Masashi Ebinuma.

He was the silver medalist at the junior World Championships in Fort Lauderdale.

Abe was a favourite coming into the 2014 World Junior Championships in Fort Lauderdale.

He was one of the few youth Olympic champions in the tournament.

En route to the final, he defeated all his opponents by ippon in two and a half minutes or less, with the exception of future World Champion An Baul in Round 2.

They were separated by a single shido.

In the final, Abe was against Russia's Egor Mgdsyan.

Abe was ahead in the first two and a half minutes, scoring a waza-ari and a yuko.

However, Mgdsyan managed to gain two waza-aris in just 45 seconds, effectively securing ippon and defeating Abe, leaving the latter to settle for silver.

Abe defeated the son of Japanese legend Toshihiko Koga, Hayato, at the 2015 Inter-High School Championships.

The junior national tournament was held in Saitama. Abe defeated Takamasa Sueki in the final.

Abe transitioned from cadet to junior level at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing.

He played ippon judo throughout the tournament, and defeated Ukraine's Bogdav Iadov by waza-ari using sode tsurikomi goshi, and then seoi nage for ippon, securing a gold medal for Japan.

Both throws that were showcased in the final are his favourite techniques.

He graduated in 2016.

Abe is presently training at the Nittaidai.

He has been coached by Atsushi Nobukawa since elementary school.

His sister, Uta Abe, is the youngest circuit winner in IJF history.

The tournament was held on Abe's 16th birthday.

Abe is the current national half-lightweight champion at the All-Japan Judo Championships and won the gold medal in the 66 kg competition at the 2020 Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.