On Wednesday (24^th July), the Japanese Wheelchair Basketball Federation presented Japan Men’s National Team that will compete at the 2018 World Championships.

Building and looking ahead to Tokyo 2020, the Japanese Head Coach has selected a mix of youth and experience, including the young and upcoming talent of 19-year-old Renshi Chokai, to the oldest and most experienced in the team in the form of Reo Fujimoto, who at 34 years old has competed at four Paralympic Games, his first being Athens 2004.

Selected alongside Chokai, are four other players Takahiro Akeda, Takayoshi Iwai, Rin Kawahara, and Takuya Furusawa, who all represented Japan at the U23 Men’s World Championships 2017 in Toronto, Canada.

Head Coach Shimpei Oikawa makes only one change to the team that finished third in the 2017 Asia Oceania Championships to qualify for a place at the World’s and will be looking to better their ninth position finish from Incheon, South Korea 2014.

Takahiro Akeda (1.0)
Takayoshi Iwai (1.0)
Rin Kawahara (1.5)
Akira Toyoshima (2.0)
Kiyoshi Fujisawa (2.0)
Renshi Chokai (2.5)
Takuya Furusawa (3.0)
Hiroaki Kozai (3.5)
Kei Akita (3.5)
Tetsuya Miyajima (4.0)
Naohiro Murakami (4.0)
Reo Fujimoto (4.5)

Picture courtesy of Japanese Wheelchair Basketball Federation