Tomohiko Hoshina is not a newcomer in Philippine sports.
The high school teacher in Tokyo, whose mother is from Bulacan, had actually bagged silver for the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games in 2007.
Although he has improved through the years by competing in top European tournaments, it wasn’t evident in the SEA region after he missed the 2009 Games in Laos and when the SEA Games Federation scrapped his weight division, the plus 100 kg, in the 2011 meet in Indonesia.
In the 2012 London Olympics, however, the 25-year-old Hoshina suffered a quick loss in the first round.
South Korean Kim Sung Min won by ippon over Hoshina after only one minute and five seconds of the six-minute heavyweight contest at ExCel London.
