Sports
Fukuoka is the home of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, one of Japan's top professional baseball teams. Threatened with bankruptcy and forced by its creditors to restructure, in 2004 former owner Daiei sold the Hawks to Softbank Capital.
Fukuoka is home to a professional soccer team, Avispa Fukuoka.
Annual sporting events include:
- The All Japan Judo Category Championships is held in early April.
- The Kyushu Ekiden, beginning in Nagasaki and ending in Fukuoka, the world's longest relay race, held in October.
- The November tournament of professional Sumo is held at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center
- Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championships, with start/finish at Heiwadai Athletic Stadium, held on the 1st Sunday of December.
Fukuoka has hosted the following sporting events.
- 1995 Summer Universiade
- 2001 World Aquatics Championships.
- 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
- Fukuoka International Women’s Judo Championships from 1983 to 2006.
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“The whole idea of image is so confused. On the one hand, Madison Avenue is worried about the image of the players in a tennis tour. On the other hand, sports events are often sponsored by the makers of junk food, beer, and cigarettes. What’s the message when an athlete who works at keeping her body fit is sponsored by a sugar-filled snack that does more harm than good?”
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