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    26Jun, 2024
    Japan’s men’s volleyball team aims for ‘first Olympic gold in 52 years’ under Blanc

    Japan’s men’s volleyball team for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics has been finalized.

    The Japan Volleyball Association announced on its official social media accounts on Thursday the 13 men’s volleyball players who will compete in Paris.

    The roster includes captain outside hitter Yuki Ishikawa, setters Akihiro Fukatsu and Masahiro Sekita, opposite spikers Yuji Nishida and Kento Miyaura, outside hitters Tatsunori Otsuka, Ran Takahashi and Masato Kai, middle blockers Daishi Onodera, Akihiro Yamauchi and Kentaro Takahashi, 안전 토토사이트 and libero Tomohiro Yamamoto. Shoma Tomita will join them as a reserve.

    Japan’s men’s volleyball team hasn”t won an Olympic medal since winning in Munich in 1972. Starting in 1996 in Atlanta, they failed to qualify for three consecutive Games. In Beijing in 2008, they finished 11th and hoped to make a comeback, but were quickly rejected. In London 2012 and Rio 2016, they failed to qualify for two consecutive Games. In Tokyo 2021, they competed as the host nation and finished seventh.

    They also groaned at the World Championships. Japan’s men’s volleyball team finished third at the tournament for the second time since 1970. Since then, they haven’t finished on the podium. In 2014, they even suffered a shock qualification exit.

    In recent years, their competitiveness on the Asian stage has also been criticized. In the past, Japan”s men”s volleyball team was an absolute powerhouse at the Asian Games. Starting in Tokyo in 1958, they won five consecutive gold medals. They slipped to runner-up in Bangkok in 1978, but quickly regained their dominance at the next edition. However, their results have been uneven since then. In 2006 and 2018, he fell as low as fifth place.

    The downward spiral continued. In 2022, Japan’s men’s volleyball team had a “precipitation”. They hired French coach Philippe Blanc (now head coach of Hyundai Capital). Under Blanc, Japan’s men’s volleyball program reached its second peak. After warming up with a fifth-place finish in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) in 2022 and a 12th-place finish at the World Championships in his first year, the team embarked on a “perfect season” the following year.

    In 2023, Japan’s men’s volleyball team finished third in the VNL, bringing home a medal at the World Championships for the first time in 46 years since the 1977 World Cup silver medal. It didn’t end there. They finished second (5-2) in their group at the Paris Summer Olympics, qualifying for the Olympic Games for the first time in 16 years. At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, she won a bronze medal.

    This year is no different. Having just finished the 2024 VNL qualifiers in fourth place (9-3), Japan’s men’s volleyball team is currently ranked second in the world. Only Poland is higher.

    The Japanese men’s volleyball team will begin their quest to win the VNL title with a quarterfinal match against World No. 9 Canada on May 28. After the tournament, the team will head to the Paris Olympics. It starts on the 26th of next month. It will be interesting to see how far they can go.

    Meanwhile, Blanc will officially take the helm of Hyundai Capital in August 2024, after the Paris Olympics. He will serve a three-year term.

    10May, 2024
    ‘Eternal Libero’ Yeo Oh-hyun Turns Coach…”Please Support My Leadership Life”

    “I want to hear about leaders who breathe with me, who communicate with me.”

    At the NAS Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where the women’s professional volleyball team’s foreign player tryouts were held on Aug. 8 (KST), ‘rookie’ Yeo Oh-hyun (46), a coach from IBK, still walked. “We only trained together in the weight room, but he counted out loud and shouted encouragement from the sidelines. It’s not just me working out. I have to yell more than I did when I was a player to motivate everyone,” he laughs.

    Yeo is still a “rookie coach” who has been with the team for less than two months. He started his job at the Asian Quarterfinal Draft on May 29, and has only been training with the team for about three days because he has been attending foreign player tryouts. “I’ve watched a lot of videos of the women’s team. 스포츠토토사이트 I realized that I had to study a lot because they were not what I thought they would be,” he said.

    Yeo is known as the “man of records” and the “eternal libero”. He played a total of 20 seasons for Hyundai Capital, starting in the V-League Men’s Division in 2005 and continuing with Samsung Fire until last season. He played 625 matches, the most in the organization’s history, and ranked first in reception accuracy (8005) and first in digs (5219). She is more than 1,000 digs shy of the second-best mark in each category. He remained healthy in the 2023-2024 season, appearing in 22 matches. “I’m more proud of the fact that I played a full season without taking a break than I am of titles like 45 or 600 games,” he said of his ’45 Project’ to retire at 45.

    There was one coach who recognized Yeo’s sincerity, persistence, and determination. It was Kim Ho-cheol (69), the head of IBK’s corporate bank. Kim and Yeo had a priestly relationship at Hyundai Capital. When Kim was about to retire, he called Yeo and offered her a coaching job. Looking back, Yeo says, “I was grateful, but honestly, I was more afraid. “I thought, ‘Will I be able to do a good job and won’t I put pressure on the coach?’ I’m grateful that the coach gave me the strength to say, ‘You can do it,'” she said. “Coach Yeo is very self-motivated and sincere enough to play until her 40s. I think she can be a good coach.” “I think the players will learn a lot from her in terms of defense and reception. That’s what I was hoping for,” Kim explained.

    Yeo has tasted plenty of victories in his career, and is the second most decorated coach of all time (nine) behind Yoo Kwang-woo (39, Korean Air – 11). “Honestly, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t greedy. As a player, I really wanted to fill it up, but it’s a shame that I retired with a missing piece of the puzzle,” Yeo said. He hopes to fill this gap as a coach one day.

    Yeo’s son, Yeo Kwang-woo (Song Sango 3), is following in his father’s footsteps as a libero. It’s a close call. Had Yeo stayed in the game longer and her son entered the draft straight out of high school, it could have been an unprecedented situation of father and son playing together. “When I told him (I was retiring), he said, ‘Real? ‘ He said, ‘Dad, why? “He said he decided to try something new for once,” Yeo confessed.

    Despite her successful career, Yeo still has one regret. He was unable to say goodbye to the fans of Cheonan, the home of Hyundai Capital, where he last played. “I can’t do it right now, but I’m not far away. I’m still in the volleyball world, so I’ll have a chance to say goodbye to the fans at some point,” he said. “I want to thank them for their support and applause. I hope you will continue to support me as I grow as a coach,” she said.

    Yeo, who worked harder than anyone else, is now on the path of leadership. She is determined to do her best in this field as well. “I’m new to the women’s game, but Coach Kim told me that volleyball is played by the same players anyway. As a player, I wanted to be a fighter and a passionate player, and now I want to help our players do the same.”