Japan women’s national volleyball team held a press conference in Tokyo on May 11 to mark the start of their season. The Asian Championship, set for August in Tianjin, China, will offer a direct qualification spot for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if the team wins. Head coach Ferhat Akbash said, “Our top goal is to secure the Olympic ticket in the shortest way possible. We will choose players who can handle the pressure and achieve our target. We want to raise the Japanese flag to the highest point.”
Captain Mayu Ishikawa, who recently left Italian Serie A club Novara, expressed her resolve: “To reach our goal, the players and staff will fight together as one.”
The team will compete in the Volleyball Nations League starting in June, where they finished fourth last season. Japan Volleyball Association Technical Committee Chairman Shoji Nanbu addressed the scheduling overlap between the Asian Championship and the September Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, saying, “We will build the best team for the Asian Championship. For the Asian Games, we will also field as strong a team as possible.”