Japan men's national goalball team
# Japan men's national goalball team

Japan men's national goalball team is the men's national team of Japan. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Its men's team has internationally completed including at the IBSA World Goalball Championships and the Paralympic Games.

## Paralympic Games

### 2020 Tokyo

As the host nation, the team will compete in the 2020 Summer Paralympics, with competition from Wednesday 25 August to finals on Friday 3 September 2021, in the Makuhari Messe arena, Chiba, Tokyo, Japan.

Athletes: Kazuya Kaneko (B3), Yuta Kawashima (B2), Koji Miyajiki (B3), Yuto Sano (B3), Yuji Taguchi (B2), Ryoga Yamaguchi (B1).

The following is the Japan roster in the men's goalball tournament of the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Japan (H) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 15 | +22 | 9 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Brazil | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 17 | +18 | 9 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | United States | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 35 | −10 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Lithuania | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 31 | −7 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Algeria | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 43 | −23 | 1 | |

**Round-robin**

| 25 August 2021 13:15 | Algeria | 4–13 | Japan | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Bas Spaans (Netherlands), Woradet Kultawongwattana (Thailand) |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 25 August 2021 13:15 | Belhouchat 3 Larbi 1 | Report | Kaneko 7 Miyajiki 3 Sano 2 Yamaguchi 1 | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Bas Spaans (Netherlands), Woradet Kultawongwattana (Thailand) |
| 27 August 2021 13:15 | Japan | 11–1 | United States | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Reza Dehghan (Iran), Woradet Kultawongwattana (Thailand) |
| 27 August 2021 13:15 | Sano 6 Miyajiki 3 Kaneko 2 | Report | Walker 1 | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Reza Dehghan (Iran), Woradet Kultawongwattana (Thailand) |
| 28 August 2021 14:45 | Lithuania | 2–10 | Japan | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Warrick Jackes (Australia), Bas Spaans (Netherlands) |
| 28 August 2021 14:45 | Montvydas 1 Pavliukianec 1 | Report | Sano 4 Miyajiki 3 Kaneko 2 Yamaguchi 1 | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Warrick Jackes (Australia), Bas Spaans (Netherlands) |
| 29 August 2021 09:00 | Japan | 3–8 | Brazil | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Reza Dehghan (Iran), Launel Scott (Canada) |
| 29 August 2021 09:00 | Yamaguchi 2 Sano 1 | Report | Sousa 5 Moreno 3 | Makuhari Messe, Tokyo Referees: Reza Dehghan (Iran), Launel Scott (Canada) |

## World Championships

### 2002 Rio de Janeiro

The team competed in the 2002 World Championships, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From Pool B, the team placed last.

### 2006 Spartanburg

The team competed in the 2002 World Championships, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States of America.

### 2010 Sheffield

The team did not compete in 2010 World Championships in Sheffield, England.

### 2014 Espoo

The team competed in the 2014 World Championships from 30 June to 5 July 2014, in Espoo, Finland. They placed seventh in Pool B.

Athletes: Yoshu Nobusawa (#1), Masatoshi Ito (#3), Maki Tsujimura (#6), Hiroshi Kobayashi (#7), Kento Torii (#8), and Yuta Kawashima (#9).

### 2018 Malmö

The team competed in the 2018 World Championships from 3 to 8 June 2018, in Malmö, Sweden. They placed fifth in Pool B, and were ninth in the final standings.

### 2022 Matosinhos

The team competed in the 2022 World Championships from 7 to 16 December 2022, at the Centro de Desportos e Congressos de Matosinhos, Portugal. There were sixteen men's and sixteen women's teams. They placed third in Pool C, and sixth in final standings.

## IBSA World Games

### 2011 Antalya

The team competed in the 2011 IBSA World Games from 1 to 10 April 2011, in Antalya, Turkey. They placed seventh in Group A, and were fourteenth in the final standings.

### 2015 Seoul

The team competed in the 2015 IBSA World Games from 10 to 17 May 2015, in Seoul, South Korea. They placed third in Group B, and were eighth in the final standings.

## Regional championships

The team competed in IBSA Asia goalball region, and from January 2010 became part of the IBSA Asia-Pacific goalball competition region.

### 2013 Beijing

The team competed in the 2013 IBSA Asia Pacific Goalball Regional Championships, from 11 to 16 November 2013, in Beijing, China. Of the six men's teams (Australia, China, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Thailand), Japan lost to Iran 4:14 to take silver.

### 2015 Hangzhou

The team competed in the 2015 IBSA Asia Pacific Goalball Regional Championships, from 8 to 12 November 2015, in the China National Goalball Training Centre, Hangzhou, China. Of the five men's teams (Australia, China, Iran, Japan, Korea), Japan placed fourth, ahead of Australia.

### 2017 Bangkok

The team competed in the 2017 IBSA Asia/Pacific Goalball Regional Championships, from Monday 21 to Saturday 26 August 2017, in the Thai-Japan Sports Stadium, Din Daeng, Bangkok, Thailand. They placed second in Pool A, and won the bronze medal match against Australia, 11:3.

Athletes: Masatoshi Ito (#3), Yuta Kawashima (centre, #9), Hiroshi Kobayashi (#7), Yoshu Nobusawa (#1), Yuji Taguchi (#8), and Ryoga Yamaguchi (#5).

### 2019 Chiba

The team competed in the 2019 IBSA Goalball Asia-Pacific Regional Championships, from Thursday 5 to Tuesday 10 December 2019, in the Chiba Port Arena, Chiba, Japan. They placed third in the round-robin, and third overall. Athletes were Kazuya Kaneko (#7), Yuta Kawashima (#9), Koji Miyajiki (#2), Yuto Sano (#4), Yuji Taguchi (#6), and Ryoga Yamaguchi (#5).

* Japan throwing towards Thailand (Dec 2019).
* Indonesia throwing towards Japan (Dec 2019).

### 2022 Bahrain

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 IBSA Goalball Asia-Pacific Regional Championships were moved from November 2021 to 21 March 2022 in Asan, South Korea. The championships was finally held at the Bahrain Sports Federation for Disabilities Sports Centre, in Riffa, Bahrain from Monday 25 July 2022 to Friday 29 July 2022. The top two teams of each division are eligible for the World Championships in December 2022.

There were five men's teams: Australia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Thailand. They placed first in the round-robin, and first overall.

Athletes: #3 Ito Masatoshi, #5 Yamaguchi Ryoga, #6 Sano Yuto, #7 Kaneko Kazuya, #8 Miyajiki Koji, #9 Kawashima Yuta.

Team staff: Coach Rikiya Kudo, assistant coach Todo Ai, staff Mikami Yukako.

