Japan's women's basketball team played a warm-up match against Latvia ahead of next month's World Cup and won by a large margin of 83-54.
Japan's women's basketball team, ranked 8th in the world rankings, played a warm-up match against Latvia, ranked 24th in the world, in Sendai City on the 11th ahead of the World Cup in September.
Japan struggled in the early minutes as they were unable to score their signature three-point shots, but they took possession of the ball with aggressive defense and scored a number of goals led by Tokashiki Ramu, who returned to the national team for the first time in half a year.
In the second half, they did not give the opponent the initiative with their concentrated defense, and in the final fourth quarter, point guard MOTOHASHI Nako's three-point shot and other shots pushed the team to an 83-54 victory.
Head coach Toru Onzuka said, "While we struggled to make three-point shots, we were able to show the results of our practice in defense."
Twelve teams, including Japan, will participate in the Women's Basketball World Cup, which will open in Australia in September.