Let’s take a look back at the exciting battles that each club at Osaka University of Sport Science fought in 2025.
The tennis club lost all five matches in the Kansai University Inter-University League in September. Although they led until midway through the relegation game, they came from behind to lose 4-5 to Ritsumeikan University, and were relegated to Division 2 for the first time since 2023.
Captain Jiei Murakami (3rd year, Faculty of Physical Education, Yanagawa High School, Fukuoka)
The replacement match will begin with three doubles matches, followed by four singles matches and two doubles matches. Our university had two wins and one loss in doubles with Ryota Katayama (4th year, School of Sports Science, Okayama University of Science High School) and Takahiko Narimatsu (Matsuyama Nishi High School, Ehime), Jiei Murakami (3rd year, School of Sports Science, Yanagawa High School, Fukuoka), and Kairu Shimobayashi (Seifu High School, Osaka) winning. In the singles, Rintaro Hirayama (also from Kagoshima Jitsugyo High School) and Shunya Hada (4th year in the School of Sports Science, from Seifu High School, Osaka) won, making the score 4-3 and a chance to stay in the first division. In the next two singles matches, Katayama made it 6-5 in the first set, then had a set point at 40-0, and Yusei Kakiuchi (also from Saikyo High School, Yamaguchi) took a 5-2 lead in the first set, and it looked like he had won the match with nine minutes.
However, Katayama missed set points in the 5th and 6th innings and lost the first set after consecutive deuces. Kakiuchi suffered an unexpected convulsion and the score was 5-7. In the end, both of them lost and the team was relegated to the second division with a score of 4-5.
The team was led by point-getters Katayama and Kakiuchi, as well as Hirayama, who was in a good mood after winning two league games, but could not win one step further. Coach Kotaro Miyaji said, “In order to take another step forward, we need to gain more match experience.” Next season, he plans to further strengthen his skills with a view to participating in tournaments other than university tournaments.
Worth a look
