Sasuke

SASUKE 29, also known as SASUKE RISING 2013 Summer, took place in the beginning of June and aired on June 27. This competition serves as the Japanese qualifier for the 2013 SASUKE ASEAN Open Cup. This will be the second tournament aired in summer. The first one was SASUKE 15. Several competitors, who have not competed in SASUKE for many years, finally returned to SASUKE for this tournament, including fan favorite Nagasaki Shunsuke, who competed for the first time since SASUKE 19; 3-time Second Stage survivor Kobayashi Masaaki, who competed for the first time since SASUKE 16; and finally, Tatayama Masaaki, who set a new hiatus record at 25 tournaments, who competed for the first time since SASUKE 3. The field was almost all Japanese competitors with the only foreigner being Taiwan's Li En Zhi. 21 people completed the First Stage, the 5th best result in SASUKE history (SASUKE 1 had 23, SASUKE 2 had 34, SASUKE 4 had 37, SASUKE 27 had 27). In the Second Stage, the obstacles were the same as SASUKE 28, however the time limit was reduced from 135 to 90 seconds. The Backstream was modified to be harder and proved to be a challenge as more than a half of the remaining competitors failed or timed out there. SASUKE 27 finalists Urushihara Yuuji and Matachi Ryo both had over 40 seconds remaining when they attempted the obstacle but both could not clear it. Ultimately, 4 out of the 21 people to attempt the stage, cleared it. In the Third Stage, Morimoto Yūsuke became the first man to clear the Crazy Cliffhanger. He went on to beat the Curtain Cling and Vertical Limit and made it all the way to the end of the Pipe Slider. However, he missed the mat and fell backwards into the water. The remaining three competitors: Takahashi Kenji, Asa Kazuma, and Kanno Hitoshi all failed the Crazy Cliffhanger.