Japan Women’s National Team head coach Masayoshi Manabe has named a 26-player roster that will train in Japan for over a month before traveling to China for the Asian Championship – Japan’s first tournament of the year.                                                                                                           A number of players are missing from the roster. Setter Hitomi Nakamichi, wing spiker Risa Shinnabe, middle-blocker Nana Iwasaka, and libero Arisa Sato are among the notable names that left off the team.

Five players received first national team call-ups. The debutantes include Nozomi Tsuchida, Nana Sakamoto, Airi Miyabe, Sayaka Iwasaki, and Mio Sato. 16-year-old Airi Miyabe who won MVP at last year’s Asian Girls (U17) Championships is the youngest player on the roster. Miyabe also led her team Kinrankai Girls’ Senior High School to victory at the 67th All Japan High School Volleyball Championship earlier this year. We can openly say that she is one of the most promising talents on the Japanese team that can hopefully mature into a world-class player one day.

The Japan’s training camp will take place in 4 cities – Tokyo, Okinawa, Satsumasendai and Himeji from April 14 to May 23. The team will then be competing in the Asian Championships in China before departing for Switzerland (Montreux Volley Masters) and a trip to Brazil. Japan will return home for the second leg of training at Ajinomoto National Trainign Center in Tokyo from June 22 to June 29 before taking part in FIVB World Grand Prix.

The Japan National Team will conduct its final leg of the training camp at Ajinomoto National Training Center in the final stages of preparation for season-ending World Cup which will be held in Japan in late August to early September. Manabe’s main goal of the season is to clinch a 2016 Olympic berth at this year’s World Cup (top two teams will secure Olympic tickets).

 

2015 Japan National Team Roster:

 

(No./ Name/ Age/ Height/ Team/ Position)

 

1. Chizuru Koto (32 / 171 / Hisamitsu / S)

2. Nozomi Tsuchida (28 / 167 / Ageo / S)

3. Natsumi Fujita (23 / 167 / Toyota / S)

4. Haruka Miyashita (20 / 177 / Okayama / S)

5. Saori Kimura (28 / 185 / Toray / WS)

6. Arisa Takada (28 / 175 / Toray / WS)

7. Saori Sakoda (27 / 175 / Toray / WS)

8. Mizuho Ishida (27 / 174 / Denso / WS)

9. Yukiko Ebata (25 / 176 / RC Cannes / WS)

10. Yuki Ishii (23 / 180 / Hisamitsu / WS)

11. Miyu Nagaoka (23 / 179 / Hisamitsu / WS)

12. Risa Shiragaki (23 / 179 / NEC / WS)

13. Mami Uchiseto (23 / 170 / Hitachi / WS)

14. Yuka Imamura (21 / 176 / Aoyama Gakuin University / WS)

15. Yurie Nabeya (21 / 176 / Denso / WS)

16. Arisa Inoue (19 / 180 / University of Tsukuba / WS)

17. Sarina Koga (18 / 180 / NEC / WS)

18. Nanaka Sakamoto (18 / 176 / Denso / WS)

19. Airi Miyabe (16 / 181 / Kinrankai Girls’ Senior High School / WS)

20. Mai Yamaguchi (31 / 176 / Okayama / MB)

21. Kana Ono (22 / 180 / NEC / MB)

22. Riho Otake (21 / 182 / Denso / MB)

23. Kotoki Zayasu (25 / 159 / Hisamitsu / L)

24. Sayaka Iwasaki (24 / 158 / NEC / L)

25. Mio Sato (22 / 153 / Toyota / L)

26. Sayaka Tsutsui (22 / 158 / Hisamitsu / L)

 

(Photo: jva.or.jp)