Krush Supernova Tournament to Include Koya Urabe, Masaaki Noiri

Koya Urabe and Masaaki Noiri lead the pack as Krush has announced half of the participants for its sixteen-man, 63 kg. Supernova Tournament. The tournament, which will showcase fighters under the age of 22, is scheduled for October 10th at Shinjuku Face.

Despite losing in the finals of both the Krush 63 kg. Tournament and the K-1 World MAX 2011 63 kg. Japan Tournament, Koya Urabe continues to be central to the discussion of who the division's best fighter may be in Japan. Neither of Urabe's tournament losses on the year have done much to detract from his standing in the division. In fact, the K-1 63 kg. MAX Japan tournament gave Urabe a certain aura of resilience, as he took a massive amount of damaging leg kicks in his quarterfinal bout against Yuki, subsequently topped Tetsuya Yamato for a second time, and then fought a competitive final against Yuta Kubo.

For Masaaki Noiri, his inclusion in the Krush Supernova Tournament signals that he may be sticking around at 63 kg. Noiri was a semifinalist in the Krush 60 kg. Tournament before moving up to 63 kg. for the K-1 Japan event in June. There, Noiri again made it to the semifinal round, where he lost to eventual tournament winner Yuta Kubo. At just 18 years old, Noiri holds a great deal of potential, and his K-1 Koshien win in 2009 gives him credentials to match.

The other six tournament competitors announced by Krush are: Sho Ogawa, Shimpei Keita, Tsukasa Fuji, Daizo Sasaki, Kengo Sonoda, and Fumiya Osawa.

Look for the other eight competitors for the Krush Supernova Tournament to be released soon.