is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

who has represented the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in international competitions including the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Early life and education

She was born on August 25, 1996 in

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Sugbo; fil, Lungsod ng Cebu; hil, Dakbanwa sang Sugbo), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas Regions of the P ...

to a

mother from

Mandaue Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Mandaue; fil, Lungsod ng Mandaue), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 ...

and a

father. She spent some part of her childhood in Cebu City and studied at St. Paul Learning Center. She moved to Japan when she was eight years old. Watanabe entered

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

to obtain a degree in sports science. She was a second year student by February 2016.

Career

Philippines

She first competed for the Philippines at the

2011 Southeast Asian Games The 2011 Southeast Asian Games, ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 2011) officially known as the 26th Southeast Asian Games, or the 26th SEA Games, and commonly known as Jakarta-Palembang 2011, was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held from ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. She won a gold medal for the Philippines at the

2013 Southeast Asian Games The 2013 Southeast Asian Games ( my, ၂၀၁၃ ခုနှစ် အရှေ့တောင် အာရှ အားကစား ပြိုင်ပွဲ), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, or the 27th SEA Games, and comm ...

in the women's 64 kg event. She also won a bronze at the 2013 Asian Youth Judo Championship in

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. As of December 2013, she ranks fourth in her weight division in Japan. Her mother, Irene Sarausad has assured that her daughter will continue in representing the Philippines. Watanabe won the Philippines' first gold medal at the Asian Youth Judo Championship during the tournaments 2014 edition held in December 13–14 in Hong Kong. In order to qualify in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, Watanabe competed in the Paris Grand Slam in February 2016 and will compete at the Asian Judo Senior's Championship held in

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

on April of the same year. Watanabe ended as one of the top 16 judokas at the tournament held in Paris. On February 12, 2017 at the

Grand Slam Paris The Paris Grand Slam (formerly International Tournament of Paris) is an international, judo competition held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, as part of the IJF World Tour Grand Slam series organized by the IJF. Venues * Sta ...

, Watanabe won a bronze medal after defeating Lucy Renshall of the United Kingdom in the under 63 kilogram event. The medal was the first for the Philippines in the IJF World Judo Tour. She later settled for silver after losing to Austrian Kathrin Unterwurzacher in the final of the same category at the 2017 European Women's Open Tournament in Austria. Watanabe breached the top 25 of the Judo world rankings which was released by the International Judo Federation in the same month. She was ranked 23. The Philippines' first silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games was from Watanabe who lost to

Nami Nabekura is a Japanese judoka. Nabekura's favorite technique is Uchimata. Judo career Nabekura started practicing judo at the age of 5, following her two brothers. She often beat Hifumi Abe when they were in elementary school. Abe says that experienc ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the women's -63 kg final. Watanabe qualified for the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan via a continental quota. In preparation for the games, she has trained with her coach in the

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

and also sparred with male judokas at Waseda University. Competing in the Women's −63 kg, Watanabe failed to progress beyond the Round of 32 since she was eliminated via an ''

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In Judo In Judo, an ippon may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the four ...

'' by

Cristina Cabaña Cristina Cabaña Pérez (born 6 May 1993) is a Spanish judoka. Introduced to Judo at school in Merida, Spain, she trains in Brunete, Spain, with her coach Joaquin Ruiz Llorente. She was selected to compete at the 2020 Summer Games and drawn a ...

of Spain.

Tournaments in Japan

Watanabe won a silver at the 2014 All Japan High School Judo Championship. She later won gold medals at the All Japan College University Championship and All Japan Teams Championship in 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Kiyomi 1996 births Living people Filipino female judoka Filipino people of Japanese descent Judoka at the 2014 Asian Games Judoka at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for the Philippines Asian Games medalists in judo Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Sportspeople from Cebu City Waseda University alumni SEA Games medalists in judo SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines SEA Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Competitors at the 2011 SEA Games Competitors at the 2013 SEA Games Competitors at the 2015 SEA Games Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games Competitors at the 2019 SEA Games Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for the Philippines