Japan women’s national team, as known as the Fire Bird NIPPON, held a press conference on Friday, May 26 at the Ajinomoto National Training Center in Tokyo. In the press conference, the president of Japan Volleyball Association, Kimura Kenji recalled the history of women’s volleyball which first become an official event in Tokyo Olympics 1964. Japan won their first ever Olympic gold medal at their home. Their glory history continued with gold medal in Montreal Olympic and two silver medals in the Mexican Olympics and Munich Olympics. In London Olympic 2012, they also won the bronze medal. The president added that the situation of world volleyball is changing and he knows that it is not easy to win a medal, but they will try their best to get the best results in Tokyo Olympic 2020.
The new head coach of Japan women’s team, Nakada Kumi said, “This season we are conveying five enhancement points to the players: speed, accuracy, linkage, concentration and the strength not to be beaten in the world. I will try my best to build a team that remains in the legend.”
Coach Nakada also announced that she appointed Iwasaka Nana as the captain. Iwasaka said “I am surprised since I have never experienced a responsible position as the captain until now, because I have to build up a team in a limited time until 2020, hoping that the players and the staff will fight in united spirit.
The Japanese team will be holding a domestic camp until June 29 (Thursday) and will head to Apeldoorn (the Netherlands) to attend a pre-training camp for FIVB World Grand Prix 2017 on Friday. From Friday, July 7, they will go to the Netherlands for the first week of the preliminary round.
Source and Photo: Japan Volleyball Association
