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 :Category:Goalball at the Summer Paralympics|Paralympic Games.

Paralympic Games competition

At the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece, the team finished third.

2012 London

The team beat Sweden in the semi-finals which went into sudden death extra-throws, then took gold in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, England with a victory over China. The Japanese women's goalball team included Masae Komiya, Rie Urata, and Akiko Adachi, led by coach Naoki Eguro. Haruka Wakasugi was the youngest player.

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.
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.

2020 Tokyo

As the host nation, Japan automatically gets one of the competition positions.

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. They finished ninth overall. They improved their ranking in the 2014 Championships in Espoo, Finland, but losing to Turkey to get fourth place.

2018 Malmö

The team will be attending the championships in Malmö, Sweden.

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.

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.
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.

Goal scoring by competition

PlayerGoalsCompetitionNotesRef
Masae Komia172007 IBSA World Championships and Games
Yuki Naoi102007 IBSA World Championships and Games
Masako Nomura32007 IBSA World Championships and Games
Akiko Adachi32007 IBSA World Championships and Games

Competitive history

The table below contains individual game results for the team in international matches and competitions.
YearEventOpponentDateVenueTeamTeamWinnerRef
2003IBSA World Championships and Games7 AugustQuebec City, Canada100
2003IBSA World Championships and Games7 AugustQuebec City, Canada10
2003IBSA World Championships and Games7 AugustQuebec City, Canada03
2003IBSA World Championships and Games7 AugustQuebec City, Canada66
2003IBSA World Championships and Games11 AugustQuebec City, Canada12
2003IBSA World Championships and Games11 AugustQuebec City, Canada03
2006FESPIC Games25 NovemberKuala Lumpur52
2006FESPIC Games26 NovemberKuala Lumpur26
2006FESPIC Games27 NovemberKuala Lumpur11
2006FESPIC Games28 NovemberKuala Lumpur33
2007IBSA World Championships and Games31 JulBrazil111
2007IBSA World Championships and Games1 AugustBrazil30
2007IBSA World Championships and Games2 AugustBrazil42
2007IBSA World Championships and Games3 AugustBrazil41
2007IBSA World Championships and Games4 AugustBrazil41
2007IBSA World Championships and Games5 AugustBrazil05
2007IBSA World Championships and Games5 AugustBrazil21
2007IBSA World Championships and Games6 AugustBrazil4 4