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New names successfully challenged for titles against Japan's stars at the 66th Japanese Championships, which concluded Sunday at Tokyo's Yoyogi Arena. Pictured: Coached by the great Hiroyuki Tomita, Juntendo University eclipsed KONAMI for the men's team title.

New names successfully challenged for titles against Japan's stars at the 66th Japanese Championships, which concluded Sunday at Tokyo's Yoyogi Arena.

The fall edition of the Japanese championships includes contests for team and apparatus finals; the all-around finals are held in the spring each year.

2012 Olympian Ryohei Kato, 19, led Juntendo University to first place in the men's team competition, contributing all six events for 90.950 (highs of 15.400 on floor exercise and 15.700 on parallel bars). Teammate Shogo Nonomura, 19, also impressed with 15.950 on vault and 15.500 on high bar.

World and Olympic champion Hiroyuki Tomita, recently elected to the FIG Men's Olympic Technical Committee, scored another victory as coach of Juntendo.

KONAMI, the defending champion, loss the title by barely more than a point. Even Kohei Uchimura, the greatest gymnast in the world, wasn't enough to overcome the youthful Juntendo in the final. Uchimura was sharp on floor exercise (15.600), pommel horse (15.400 and vault (15.900 for stuck Yurchenko 2 1/2) but his missed routine on high bar (14.000) left his team in second. The team also suffered misses from veterans Makoto Okiguchi on vault and Koji Uematsu on high bar.

Uchimura, who skipped still rings and parallel bars to protect his sore shoulder, said he was "extremely frustrated" with the loss in the team event.

Uchimura was unable to defend his individual titles during Sunday's finals, as he skipped Friday's qualification to rest.

2010 Youth Olympic champion Yuya Kamoto impressed with 16.000 on parallel bars for seventh-place Kensai High School. Meanwhile, three-time Olympian Naoya Tsukahara, 35, contributed four events for fifth-place Asahi Seimei.

Kato claimed Uchimura's title on floor exercise, as half the apparatus titles went to teenagers. Kaito Imabayashi, 18, led a sweep of the medals for Juntendo on pommel horse, with all three gymnasts scoring above 15.000. Takumi Sato, 17, claimed vault (16.125 average).

Yasuhiro Okamura, 26, was best on still rings while Yosuki Hoshi, 27, won parallel bars. World and Olympic team member Yusuke Tanaka, 23, thrilled with 16.300 on high bar in KONAMI's only win.

World and Olympian Koko Tsurumi led Nippon Sport Science University to a comfortable victory in the women's team competition. Uchimura's younger sister, Haruhi, conributed three events to the team score.

Tsurumi won uneven bars in finals, where Momoko Owaza won women's vault and two-time Olympian Yuko Shintake was first on balance beam.

Former junior sensation Mai Murakami, now 16, won floor exercise.

Following the competition, three retiring Olympians were honored. 2004 and 2008 Olympian Kyoko Oshima, 21, and 2008 Olympian Takuya Nakase, who turns 30 on Nov. 19, will be hanging up their grips. 2004 Olympian Hisashi Mizutori, 30, who had announced his retirement after the spring national championships, also was saluted.

The season is not over for Japan's top stars, slated for the the Toyota Cup, Dec. 15-16. Uchimura headlines the men's field, along with Olympic teammates Kato, Kazuhito and Yusuke Tanaka, and Koji Yamamuro. Japan's women's lineup is Tsurumi, Murakami, Shintake, Rie Tanaka, Yu Minobe and Wakiko Ryu.

External Link: Japan Gymnastic Association

66th Japanese Gymnastics Championships
Nov. 2-4, Tokyo

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