The members of the Japan national team that will participate in the Women's Basketball World Cup, which will be held in Australia from this month, were announced, and 12 people, including captain Maki Takada, who won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, were selected.

The Women's Basketball World Cup, which will open in Australia on the 22nd of this month, will feature 12 teams, including Japan, ranked 8th in the world, and the winning team will be given the right to participate in the Paris Olympics the year after next.



On the 8th, head coach Toru Onzuka of the Japan national team held an online interview and announced the 12 representative members.



▽The captain is Takada, the same as the Tokyo Olympics, and six other members who participated in the Tokyo Olympics, such


as


▽Momoka Okoye,


▽Yuki Miyazawa , and


Himawari Ako


, were selected.



In addition, although he was unable to participate in the Tokyo Olympics due to injury, Raimu Tokashiki, who has experience playing in the WNBA, the world's top American women's professional league, was also selected.



On the other hand, Rui Machida, who played in the WNBA this season and was active as the commander of the Japanese national team at the Tokyo Olympics, was not selected due to the difficulty of adjusting her condition.



The tournament will be divided into two groups of six teams each, and a round-robin preliminary round will be held, and the top four teams will advance to the final tournament, where the final will be held on the 1st of next month.



Japan is scheduled to play Mali, ranked 37th in the world, in the first match on the 22nd of this month, and NHK will broadcast all matches of the Japanese national team at the World Cup live.

12 members of the Japanese national team

The 12 members of the Japanese national team participating in the World Cup.



▽ Center and power forward Maki Takada, 33 years old, who will serve as captain following the Tokyo Olympics.



▽ Raimu Tokashiki, 31 years old, who is 1.93 cm tall and has experience playing in the WNBA, the world's highest peak.



▽ Stephanie Mauka, 23 years old, who participated in the Tokyo Olympics as a 3x3 representative of Japan.



And


▽ Tokyo Olympics member Momoka Okoe, 23 years old, four people.

The small forward and shooting guard are ▽Yuki Miyazawa, 29 years old, and

▽Himawari Ako, 24 years old



, both of whom contributed to winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics .

And

▽ Mai Yoshida, 24 years old.

▽ Nanako Toto, 21 years old.

And

young people such as ▽ 20-year-old Aika Hirashita, the youngest member of the team, were also selected.

▽ As a point guard, 28-year-old Shiori Amma, who won the MVP in the German professional league this year.

▽ Saori Miyazaki, 27 years old, representative of the

Tokyo Olympics, ▽ Mai Yamamoto, 22 years old, who participated in the 3x3 at the Tokyo Olympics.


















Takada "The key is how to win against America"

Following the Tokyo Olympics, Maki Takada, who was nominated as captain, said, "We are practicing with the goal of winning the World Cup, and the team atmosphere is improving." , I think the key is how to beat the United States, so I'm practicing to beat the United States and win the championship.There are still problems, but I want to make the most of the results." It smeared.



Also, regarding how to play in the World Cup, he said, "We won the first match against France at the Tokyo Olympics and gained momentum, so I think the first match against Mali will be important."

Onzuka head coach "I want to advance Japanese basketball in the World Cup"

Head coach Toru Onzuka, who served as an assistant coach at the silver medal-winning Tokyo Olympics and has been in charge of the team since September last year, said, "I want to advance Japanese basketball further at the World Cup."



And about the reasons for selecting the 12 members, he said, "I aim to be the best in the world with the ability to respond quickly to any situation. I can demonstrate my abilities in both offense and defense, and when I simulate various scenes in the game, I chose a player that I want to use a lot," he said.



After that, he enthusiastically said, "All of them are wonderful players, and to be honest, there were some instincts at the end, but now I want to entrust them to these 12 players. I want to fight to the end in order to revitalize Japan in basketball." rice field.