As a Tokyo Olympic basketball girl, Japan advanced to the semi-finals by beating Belgium, which is ranked 6th in the world ranking, 86-85 in the quarter-finals.


It is the first time for both men and women to advance to the semi-finals in basketball.

"Everyone basketball" makes a good start

The representative of Japan who continues to make good progress.


In the absence of an absolute ace, we have established a style in which everyone works together to attack with a three-point shot as the axis.



Ramu Tokashiki has been the ace of the Japanese national team so far.


He is 1 meter and 93 centimeters tall and plays in the American Women's Professional League WNBA.


He made a big contribution to the final 8 of the previous tournament, but he broke his knee ligament in December last year and did not become a representative.



In this difficult situation, coach Tom Hovasse made a bold decision.


To some extent, the members are selected based on "speed" and "three-point shoot" that allow Japan to take advantage of the height.


We aimed for a style in which all five people work together to attack.



The center is Rui Machida, a point guard who serves as the command tower.


Despite being small with a height of 1 meter and 62 centimeters, he avoids the opponent with a sharp dribble and produces a score with a pass with a wide field of view.


The number of assists in the qualifying league is the highest among all the players who participated.


In the third match against Nigeria, he was in line with the record of one Olympic match with 15 assists.



Guided by that pass, the shooters are moving.


In the quarter-finals on the 4th, Yuki Miyazawa scored seven three-point shots, and Saki Hayashi made a come-from-behind three-point when he was leading two points just before the end.


The success rate of the entire team also exceeded 40%.



Then, if the opponent's defense gathers outside, captain Maki Takada and others will stretch their bodies under the goal and score points.



Even if there is no ace, each one fulfills their role and has created a style of "all basketball" in which they attack in tandem.



Coach Hobus is confident that "there is no size, we only have this style. If we have 40% or more three points, we can play a good match with any opponent."



The goal is the first gold medal in history.


Following the new style of the Japanese national team, we will challenge the semi-finals next.