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Interview with Akiyoshi Matsui (1987)
«It is not my personal victory, it is the victory of the Japanese team.»
(By Power Karate, translated by Florin Deleanu)
Q: First congratulations on your victory. I Think you must have a lot of pressure as you were one of the main favourites.
Matsui: I must frankly admit that I did. And it is quite natural when you see so many great fighters. I was considered one of the favourites, but this did not help me too much. The only thing that I thought of was that I had to shoulder my responsibility.
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Q: However. I think that the pressure grew as your teammates lost one after another.
Matsui: I would not call it exactly pressure. But you know, when you see the faces of your teammates who have lost, you feel so miserable.
Everybody has trained so hard...You get nervous. You know that you have to fight too and you get worried. I guess that everybody actually felt the same pressure. I really think that we felt it all the same.
So, I dare say that this time it was not my personal victory. It was the victory of the whole Japanese team.
Q: You managed to score one ippon with your excellent right mawashi geri to the face, first in your 2nd round match against Ibrahim Kamal and then in the semi finals against Mike Thompson. We all got so excited.
Matsui: In my trainings before the tournament, my right mawashi geri had been relatively good, so I think I just kicked spontaneously. No matter what I kicked, it worked perfectly. When I kicked down Thompson. I was so surprised: «Oh. my God. he’s down!!» I did not realize it. When I kicked I thought it was so flashy. I could not believe that he was down but when I turned around. I saw that everybody in the audience was standing up and cheering. This impressed me so much that I thought: «That is great.»
But I stood there absent-minded and it did not even occur to me that they were cheering me... It was the scene itself that struck me. Even now it still lingers in my memory as the most impressive scene of the tournament. This impressed me even more than the moment when I won the final.
Q: How did you manage to deliver that kick?
Matsui: I kicked Thompson with a low kick which seemed to be strong enough to make him direct all his attention to the leg and lower his hands.
At this moment, I pulled my leg a little bit downward and then I just kicked to the face.
Q: Did you feel relaxed at the beginning of the third day?
Matsui: When I got up I felt so listless that I thought I could not do any movement. I woke up at 8 o’clock. I had not slept well and I still felt drowsy.
The day before I had my match pretty late. I usually wake up at 6 o'clock, but I could not wake up before 8 on that day.
Q: You did not look like being in a great form in your fight against Sotodate either.
Matsui: I was so stiff. I’d been really nervous. Actually I’d got hit in the stomach and it had been hurting for a few days. No bone was damaged but there are so many bouts in a tournament and I could not take the risk of being hit in the ribs. And it certainly made me nervous. Maybe this is why I looked so stiff.
Q: Did you make any tactical plan before the final?
Matsui: No. but Andy's left kakato oroshi, ushiro mawashi and mawashi geri are so fast and this certainly impressed me. So, I was careful not to be caught off guard by any of these teachniques.
Q: How did he actually attack you?
Matsui: In my fights against Nicholas da Costa and Mike Thompson I had to be careful when they got closer. Andy Hug however seemed to have got tired after the match with Masuda and in the final he would just get close to do some combinations and then break. But it was precisely in this moment when I did not expect him to do anything that he attacked.
Q: Andy Hug said that he had trained a lot to improve his low kick. How did you feel about his low kicks?
Matsui: The Japanese are still better as far as the technique and the power is concerned. However, the foreigners have definitely the advantage of the reach...
Q: How did you feel in the moment of victory?
Matsui: I was not so excited. Frankly speaking. I was rather thinking that it was all over and no other bout would follow.
Q: Who are the competitors whom you admire and whose fighting style you study?
Matsui: The fight which impressed me the most was the match of Ademir and Michel. These two are the top fighters. And of course this tournament has shown me again that Andy and Mike (Thompson) are equally great fighters.
Q: There was a rumour before the tournament that you left Tokyo for a special training.
Matsui: It might sound that I talk big if I say it myself, but I think it is the fact that a Japanese competitor won the tournament and cooperation spirit it fostered among the fighters. And of course its contribution to better human relationships.
To all these the general success of the tournament must be certainly added.
Q: What is your aim right now?
Matsui: Now that I do not have to think of the tournament, I am more concerned with my own life. I would like to know more about the would, to travel to many countries and improve my knowledge.
Thank you very much.
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(By Power Karate, translated by Florin Deleanu)
Q: First congratulations on your victory. I Think you must have a lot of pressure as you were one of the main favourites.
Matsui: I must frankly admit that I did. And it is quite natural when you see so many great fighters. I was considered one of the favourites, but this did not help me too much. The only thing that I thought of was that I had to shoulder my responsibility.
Q: However. I think that the pressure grew as your teammates lost one after another.
Matsui: I would not call it exactly pressure. But you know, when you see the faces of your teammates who have lost, you feel so miserable.
Everybody has trained so hard...You get nervous. You know that you have to fight too and you get worried. I guess that everybody actually felt the same pressure. I really think that we felt it all the same.
So, I dare say that this time it was not my personal victory. It was the victory of the whole Japanese team.
Q: You managed to score one ippon with your excellent right mawashi geri to the face, first in your 2nd round match against Ibrahim Kamal and then in the semi finals against Mike Thompson. We all got so excited.
Matsui: In my trainings before the tournament, my right mawashi geri had been relatively good, so I think I just kicked spontaneously. No matter what I kicked, it worked perfectly. When I kicked down Thompson. I was so surprised: «Oh. my God. he’s down!!» I did not realize it. When I kicked I thought it was so flashy. I could not believe that he was down but when I turned around. I saw that everybody in the audience was standing up and cheering. This impressed me so much that I thought: «That is great.»
But I stood there absent-minded and it did not even occur to me that they were cheering me... It was the scene itself that struck me. Even now it still lingers in my memory as the most impressive scene of the tournament. This impressed me even more than the moment when I won the final.
Q: How did you manage to deliver that kick?
Matsui: I kicked Thompson with a low kick which seemed to be strong enough to make him direct all his attention to the leg and lower his hands.
At this moment, I pulled my leg a little bit downward and then I just kicked to the face.
Q: Did you feel relaxed at the beginning of the third day?
Matsui: When I got up I felt so listless that I thought I could not do any movement. I woke up at 8 o’clock. I had not slept well and I still felt drowsy.
The day before I had my match pretty late. I usually wake up at 6 o'clock, but I could not wake up before 8 on that day.
Q: You did not look like being in a great form in your fight against Sotodate either.
Matsui: I was so stiff. I’d been really nervous. Actually I’d got hit in the stomach and it had been hurting for a few days. No bone was damaged but there are so many bouts in a tournament and I could not take the risk of being hit in the ribs. And it certainly made me nervous. Maybe this is why I looked so stiff.
Q: Did you make any tactical plan before the final?
Matsui: No. but Andy's left kakato oroshi, ushiro mawashi and mawashi geri are so fast and this certainly impressed me. So, I was careful not to be caught off guard by any of these teachniques.
Q: How did he actually attack you?
Matsui: In my fights against Nicholas da Costa and Mike Thompson I had to be careful when they got closer. Andy Hug however seemed to have got tired after the match with Masuda and in the final he would just get close to do some combinations and then break. But it was precisely in this moment when I did not expect him to do anything that he attacked.
Q: Andy Hug said that he had trained a lot to improve his low kick. How did you feel about his low kicks?
Matsui: The Japanese are still better as far as the technique and the power is concerned. However, the foreigners have definitely the advantage of the reach...
Q: How did you feel in the moment of victory?
Matsui: I was not so excited. Frankly speaking. I was rather thinking that it was all over and no other bout would follow.
Q: Who are the competitors whom you admire and whose fighting style you study?
Matsui: The fight which impressed me the most was the match of Ademir and Michel. These two are the top fighters. And of course this tournament has shown me again that Andy and Mike (Thompson) are equally great fighters.
Q: There was a rumour before the tournament that you left Tokyo for a special training.
Matsui: It might sound that I talk big if I say it myself, but I think it is the fact that a Japanese competitor won the tournament and cooperation spirit it fostered among the fighters. And of course its contribution to better human relationships.
To all these the general success of the tournament must be certainly added.
Q: What is your aim right now?
Matsui: Now that I do not have to think of the tournament, I am more concerned with my own life. I would like to know more about the would, to travel to many countries and improve my knowledge.
Thank you very much.
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