Kitajima gears up for Japan s/c nationals

Breaststroke specialist Kosuke Kitajima announced his participation to the Japan Swimming Short Course Nationals taking place on February 26-27, 2011, at the Tokyo-Tatsumi International Swimming Center. He has been training with many world-class swimmers under Dr. Dave Salo at the University of Southern California (USA) since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Before the Japan Nationals, Kitajima will come home and prepare for the competition.

Moreover, the Annual Meeting of Japan Swimming Federation will be held at the Chuo University Memorial Hall in Tokyo on February 20. The election for the next two-year term presidency will be held and a new president will be announced, whose task will be to improve the federation's organisation.

More aquatics news: on February 1, the Synchronised Swimming Committee announced the national team for the German Open to be held in Bonn on March 11-13 and the French Open in Paris on March 16-19. The team is formed by 13 swimmers including new talents Yumi Adachi, Yukiko Inui and Chisa Kobayashi. The team leader is Masami Hanamure and was already team leader at the Beijing Olympics.

Moreover, on February 4, the junior national swimming team (ten girls and ten boys) travelled to Australia to compete at the New South Wales Open Championships, taking place on February 11-13 with head coach Kenichiro Mori. Haruka Miyazawa, 18 years old and distance freestyler, leads the girls' team while Takuya Kagami, 18 years old and backstroker, is the boys' team captain. The young hopes are expected to improve their personal best times in many events. Good luck to them!