TEAM COMPOSITION

JPN / Japan - Team Composition

Team manager	TORIBA Kenji
Head coach	UETA Tatsuya
Assistant coach	NAKAGAICHI Yuichi
Doctor	HAYASHI Mitsutoshi
Therapist / trainer	MOROKUMA Naoki
Journalist	WATANABE Keitaro

	No.	Name	Lastname	Shirt Name	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Spike	Block
	1	Takeshi	KITAJIMA	KITAJIMA	16.12.1982	195	85	346	330
	2	Yuta	ABE	ABE	08.08.1981	191	85	342	320
L	3	Takeshi	NAGANO	NAGANO	11.07.1985	176	69	310	300
	4	Naoya	SUGA	SUGA	17.05.1985	178	85	325	315
C	5	Daisuke	USAMI	USAMI	29.03.1979	184	88	320	310
	6	Yoshifumi	SUZUKI	SUZUKI	31.03.1983	200	98	340	330
	7	Takahiro	YAMAMOTO	YAMAMOTO	12.07.1978	201	98	345	335
	8	Kazuyoshi	YOKOTA	YOKOTA	01.05.1986	194	85	345	325
	9	Takaaki	TOMIMATSU	TOMIMATSU	20.07.1984	191	85	350	330
L	10	Osamu	TANABE	TANABE	10.04.1979	181	73	330	300
	11	Yoshihiko	MATSUMOTO	MATSUMOTO	07.01.1981	193	80	340	330
	12	Kota	YAMAMURA	YAMAMURA	20.10.1980	205	96	340	320
	13	Kunihiro	SHIMIZU	SHIMIZU	11.08.1986	192	99	340	320
	14	Tatsuya	FUKUZAWA	FUKUZAWA	01.07.1986	189	86	355	345
	15	Daisuke	YAKO	YAKO	07.10.1988	193	88	355	330
	16	Yusuke	ISHIJIMA	GOTTSU	09.01.1984	197	102	345	335
	17	Yu	KOSHIKAWA	KOSHIKAWA	30.06.1984	189	88	345	330
	18	Yuta	YONEYAMA	YUTA	29.08.1984	185	80	340	320
	19	Masashi	KURIYAMA	KURIYAMA	14.07.1988	189	86	335	330
	20	Takashi	DEKITA	DEKITA	13.08.1991	199	88	345	330

C=Captain L=Libero

Team profile

In the past year, Japan have been boosted by the return of Daisuke Usami, the team’s experienced setter and captain who missed almost a year because of an ankle injury. He came back following last year’s FIVB Men’s World Championship just in time to compete at the Guangzhou Asian Games in November 2010. His inspiration led the team to gold after beating Korea in the semifinals and Iran in the final.

This year Tatsuya Ueta's team had to play all 12 of their FIVB World League matches away from home due to the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Japan's eventual record was not encouraging, with their sole win coming against Germany in a group that also featured Bulgaria and Russia. A couple of weeks ahead of the Asian Championship in September, they lost their most effective outside spiker, Kunihiro Shimizu, who damaged knee ligaments. With their confidence dented, they lost in the quarterfinals, having been beaten by India, Iran and Korea.

Ueta has to work on reinvigorating his squad once their key attacker Shimizu rejoins them. Failure to do so will harm their chances of a top-three finish at the FIVB World Cup on home soil. They have proven they can find success on home soil having won Japan’s first FIVB medal in 32 years – a bronze at the 2009 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup.

Coach profile

Tatsuya Ueta became Japan coach in 2004, immediately after the squad failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. A player for Nippon Steel Blazers in 1987 he went on to represent Japan from 1989 to 1993 before going into coaching in 1995. He became coach of the junior national team in 2001. His best result with the senior side is a bronze medal at the 2009 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup however more recently he suffered two tough campaigns at the FIVB World Championship 2010 in Italy and this year’s World League.