Full Court Press: Onzuka’s Shocking Exit as Japan’s Women’s Basketball Team Falls in Paris Olympics
Toru Onzuka to Retire as Japanese Women’s Basketball Team Manager
Supervised by Hiroshi Etsuka
Toru Onzuka, the manager of the Japanese women’s basketball team, will retire at the end of his term, it was learned on the 10th. The team was eliminated in the first round of the Paris Olympics. Multiple sources revealed this, and the Japan Basketball Association will begin full-scale selection of a successor for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Onzuka, who contributed to the team’s silver medal win as a coach at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, was promoted to manager after the Tokyo Games. In the final world qualifying round for the Paris Olympics in February this year, the team won two games against higher-ranked opponents by relying on speed and shooting power, and qualified to participate. However, in the actual event, where they were aiming for a podium finish for the second consecutive tournament, they lost all three games in the first round.