Japan women's national goalball team
Japan women's national goalball team is the women's national team of Japan. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Its women's team has internationally completed including at the IBSA World Goalball Championships and the Paralympic Games.
Paralympic Games competition
At the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece, the team finished third.[1]
2012 London
The team beat Sweden in the semi-finals which went into sudden death extra-throws,[2] then took gold in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, England with a victory over China.[3] The Japanese women's goalball team included Masae Komiya, Rie Urata, and Akiko Adachi, led by coach Naoki Eguro.[2] Haruka Wakasugi was the youngest player.[4]
2016 Rio
Athletes for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were Akiko Adachi, Eiko Kakehata, Masae Komiya, Yuki Tenma, Rie Urata, and Haruka Wakasugi, with escort Emi Kato, assistant coach Sayaka Sugiyama, and head coach Kyoichi Ichikawa.[4][5]
Japan also lodged an unsuccessful protest with the International Blind Sports Federation regarding the late attendance of the Algeria team with a concern that they were disadvantaged compared to other teams.[6]
2020 Tokyo
As the host nation, Japan automatically gets one of the competition positions.[3]
World Championships competition
The 2002 IBSA World Goalball Championships were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The team was one of ten teams participating, and their first World Championships.[3] They finished ninth overall.[1] They improved their ranking in the 2014 Championships in Espoo, Finland, but losing to Turkey to get fourth place.
FESPIC Games
In 2006, the team participated in the 9th edition of the FESPIC Games held in Kuala Lumpur. They were one of three teams competing, the other two being Iran and China.[7]
IBSA World Games
The 2003 IBSA World Games were held in Quebec City, Canada with 10 teams competing. The first stage was pool play with 5 teams per pool and the top two teams in each pool advancing to the next round. The team made it out of the round robin round. Japan finished third after winning the bronze medal game.[8]
The 2007 IBSA World Championships and Games were held in Brazil. The women's goalball competition included thirteen teams, including this one. The competition was a 2008 Summer Paralympics qualifying event. Masae Komia was sixth in the competition in scoring with 17 points.[9]
Goal scoring by competition
Player | Goals | Competition | Notes | Ref |
Masae Komia | 17 | 2007 IBSA World Championships and Games | [9] | |
Yuki Naoi | 10 | 2007 IBSA World Championships and Games | [9] | |
Masako Nomura | 3 | 2007 IBSA World Championships and Games | [9] | |
Akiko Adachi | 3 | 2007 IBSA World Championships and Games | [9] |
Competitive history
The table below contains individual game results for the team in international matches and competitions.
References
- "Final Ranking in Paralympic Games". Madrid, Spain: International Blind Sports Association. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- "One year on: A look back at Japan's goalball shocker". International Paralympic Committee. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- "Four things you should know about Japan's goalball teams". International Blind Sports Federation. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- "Japanese Women's National Goalball Team Grabs Ticket to Rio 2016 Paralympics". University of Tsukuba Special Needs Education School for the Visually Impaired. 15 November 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- "Results book - Goalball" (PDF). International Blind Sports Federation. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- ETCHELLS, Daniel (13 September 2016). "Japan's women's goalball team has protest turned away over Algeria fiasco". Inside the games. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- "Goalball Tournament Results". Madrid, Spain: International Blind Sports Association. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- "IBSA World Games Brazil 2003 Results". Madrid, Spain: International Blind Sports Association. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
- "IBSA World Games Brazil 2007 (Paralympic Qualifying tournament)". Madrid, Spain: International Blind Sports Association. Retrieved 9 February 2014.