2010 World Championship Nippon got bronze medal. It was 32 years apart to obtain a medal again. Thanks to Manabe Masayoshi along with Saori, Ebata, Takeshita, Otomo, Sano etc made miracle happened. 2011 rank 4th in World Cup and got bronze medal in London Olympics in 2012.
After Motoko Obayashi retired in 1996, there was no star in Nippon until Kimura Saori appeared. 201012 Nippon probably was the most watchable team after 90s. The speed, defense, tactics and jersey were all good. Backup players as well act as “2nd line of defense” to the team. This series aims to show you “how shorts players beat talls” and how Nippon demonstrated the real spirit of volleyball..
PostMatch Commentary :
12 WGP happened a month before London Olympic. With Saori and Takeshita tiredness in OGQ, Manabe decided to let key players rest. The lineup include #15 Kano, #16 Sakoda, #7 Yamaguchi, #2 Nakamichi, #10 Iwasaka and #4 Inoue. None of them are lineup in the Olympic Game of 2012.
Turkey side also let players to rest and prepare for Olympic, their outside hitter #17 Neslihan was rest and let another player #6 Usupehlivan replace her position. Even Japan used all lineup and it's 0:3 game, but Nippon still demonstrated a very quick and smooth attack mode. They didn't make many mistakes just Turkish attack was too strong. It is funny to see backup players performed.