The first Touch tournament of the year was completed over the weekend, and one of Japan’s best players made an appearance amid his globe-trotting tour to coach, promote and play the game.
Japan player Hideaki Nara accepted an invitation from Chinese Taipei Touch Association president Ting Fan to join the Taipei-based Team Hukit at the Chinese Taipei Touch Tournament on Saturday and helped them claim the winner’s trophy.
Nara’s next destination is the Australian National League in Coffs Harbor, north of Sydney, from Wednesday to Friday next week.
Photo courtesy of Sean Carless
The step up in intensity is likely to be far greater than the change in the weather — going from an overcast Taipei to summer on Australia’s east coast should be nothing compared with the shift from playing against the fledgling squads who represented Taipei and Greater Taichung to mixing with many of the world’s top players in Australia’s premier domestic competition.
Not that the social nature of the Taipei Touch scene seemed to bother Nara, who goes by the nickname “Hitch” — inspired by the Will Smith movie of the same name — due to Australians and New Zealanders struggling to pronounce his name during his years spent in the two countries learning and playing Touch.
On Saturday, when he was not playing, he could be found chatting about the game, sharing advice with the mixture of players or snapping photos to go on his Web site, www.narahide.com. From Australia, he has plans to go to Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines.
“I hope India, even Pakistan, UAE and then Europe,” the 30 year old said, outlining a hectic schedule.
Nara graduated from Nippon Sports Science University and spent a year in Auckland, New Zealand, where he played for the Counties Manukau representative side, which speaks volumes for the man’s ability — a glimpse of which can be seen on his YouTube channel, Hitch Touch.
He was working for the Japan Touch Association, which boasts about 7,000 players and stages close to 50 tournaments in a year. Nara said the game has great potential.
“I think countries like Japan and Taiwan can one day compete with New Zealand and Australia,” he said after describing his experiences at the World Cup in Edinburgh in 2011, where Japan finished fourth.
“However, it will take some time,” he added.
Nara said he once tried out for the Japan rugby sevens team.
“I could beat a lot of guys and score tries, but, look at me,” he said, indicating his slight frame. “Tackling was a problem. That was my first experience with tackling.”
However, Nara added that rugby players were a vital source of talent for the Japan Touch scene.
“I will see the rugby players in the off season and say to them: ‘What are you doing? Eating? Drinking? Come and play Touch,’” the Japanese player said.
Saturday’s results were:
Cup champions: Team Hukit; runner-up: SBCs; third: Juggernauts (Taichung); fourth: Pacific Dragons.
Plate champions: Flashmob RFC (Hong Kong); runner-up: Taipei Baboons RFC; third: Strive (Hong Kong); fourth: Dilwl SU Rugby (Hong Kong).
Wok champions: DMB; runner-up: Taipei Hulks; third: Westlake OBs; fourth, Fivewoods RFC.
Luka Doncic on Monday scored 36 points as the in-form Los Angeles Lakers powered to their sixth straight victory with a 100-92 defeat of the Houston Rockets. A crucial showdown between the third and fourth-ranked NBA Western Conference teams ended with the Lakers pulling away in the final minute of the fourth quarter to claim an impressive win on the road. The victory gives the Lakers (43-25) a valuable cushion over the Rockets (41-26) as they jostle for post-season positions in the West. Doncic was once again instrumental in dragging the Lakers over the line while a hard-nosed defensive effort
‘THAT’S US’: Before each WBC game, Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the dugout for the tambor, coastal Afro-Venezuelan music and dance Venezuelan players on Monday night danced in the dugout before the first pitch, then pranced past Italy and into their nation’s first World Baseball Classic (WBC) final. Ronald Acuna Jr, Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez hit run-scoring, two-out singles in a rapid seventh-inning rally that sparked a 4-2 victory and vaulted Venezuela into a title matchup against the US. Players celebrated in the clubhouse before quickly turning focus to the final. “A lot of dancing,” Garcia said. “We have to show the world who Venezuela is.” Before each WBC game, Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the dugout for
Japan’s national baseball team manager Hirokazu Ibata has said he would step down following Japan’s 8-5 loss to Venezuela in Miami in the quarter-finals of the World Baseball Classic. The newspaper Sports Hochi reported Ibata saying it was his “intention to resign.” Japan are the defending champions and had won the event three times. It marked Japan’s first failure to reach the WBC semi-finals despite a team stacked with MLB talent including Shohei Ohtani. “The result is everything,” Sports Hochi reported Ibata as saying. “Although we lost this time, I hope Japan will grow stronger and win next time.” Japan
Retired NBA big man LaMarcus Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star, is to visit Taiwan early next month for the first time to promote an NBA event, the league’s Taiwan Web site said on Monday. During his visit, Aldridge would meet fans on April 4 and 5 at Banciao Stadium in New Taipei City during the Rising Stars Invitational Taiwan Regional Qualifiers, NBA Taiwan wrote on Facebook. Tickets became available on FamiTicket on Monday at noon and can be reserved until 11:59pm on March 31, with a maximum purchase of two tickets per person, it said. The tickets are divided into three
RSS