Road to the World Championship. Japan in Europe: double tests against Finland.

Nine days before the start of the World Championship, the Japanese men’s national team (which will debut against Italy on Sunday 9 September at 7 pm, in Rome) has reached Europe stopping in Finland. Against the local team (another protagonist of the world championship) the team will play two friendly matches: tomorrow in Leppävirta and Sunday in Kuopio.

For Japan, the fourteen athletes who will take part in the World Championship, debuting against Italy in Rome on Sunday 9 September, in the inaugural match of the world championship are:

Setters: Naonobu Fujii (Toray Arrows), Masahiro Sekita (Panasonic Panthers)
Spikers: Tatsuya Fukuzawa (Panasonic Panthers), Masahiro Yanagida (Cuprum Lubin), Yuki Ishikawa (Emma Villas Siena), Hiroaki Asano (JTEKT Stings)
Opposites: Issei Otake (Panasonic Panthers), Yuji Nishida (JTEKT Stings)
Blockers: Akihiro Yamauchi (Panasonic Panthers), Haku Lee (Toray Arrows), Kentaro Takahashi (Toray Arrows), Yamato Fushimi (Toray Arrows)
Liberos: Satoshi Ide (Toray Arrows), Taichiro Koga (Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie)

This is a rather young team with only thirty-years-old-player (Fukuzawa). Lot of japanese players come to Europe to grow tactically and physically.

Finland and Japan to the World Championship.
Finland: POOL D, Varna (Bul). Bulgaria, Poland, Iran, Cuba, Finland, Puerto Rico.
Japan: POOL A, Roma and Florence (Ita). Italy, Argentina, Japan, Belgium, Slovenia, Dominican Republic.