Features
[JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] B.League Forges Ahead with Ambitious Goals
Developing five B.League players and sending them to the NBA by 2030 is one of the league's top objectives over the next several years.
The B.League is entering its ninth season. It's not an old league, but it already has a considerable amount of history ― accomplishments celebrated by the fans and chronicled by the media.
When the first game of the 2024-25 campaign tips off on October 3, the league will take another step closer to being in business for a decade.
At the same time, the decision by the late FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann and other top global basketball officials to force a merger of the bj-league and the NBL (the successor to the JBL) in 2016 continues to look like a stroke of genius. Clearly, suspending the Japan Basketball Association in November 2014 from participation in global basketball activities was a necessary step to create a sense of urgency within the JBA.
It worked.
Furthermore, as this reporter has observed and heard from watching countless games and speaking to hundreds of players and coaches and fans in Japan since the merger, it was the right thing to do. It improved the game in all aspects of operations and governance. In addition, it planted the seeds for the possibility of unified leadership within the Japan Basketball Association and a new era of cooperation and a commitment to visionary goals.
B.League Outlines Big Goals
Shinji Shimada, the B.League chairman, outlined key future objectives for the ambitious hoop circuit at a news conference on Thursday, June 27 in Tokyo.
One of the bolder objectives is something that Japanese basketball fans will have no trouble rooting for. Shimada said the B.League wants to develop five players who'll go from the B.League into the NBA by 2030.
As the B.League revamps its business operations, it is raising the bar for revenue goals and attendance figures (a target of of 7 million for the 2028-29 season). Teams in B1 (first division) and B2 (second division) had a combined attendance of more than 4.5 million for games during the 2023-24 season.
Name recognition and reputation as a top-quality league are connected goals as well, according to Shimada.
The rebranded top division will be known as B.Premier starting in the 2026-27 season. B2 and B3 will become B.League One and B.League Next, respectively.
Setting Sights on Greater Global Recognition
Recognizing the success of the NBA as the world's premier basketball league and also the popularity of teams and leagues in Europe, Shimada said the B.League refuses to settle for mediocrity. Instead, ambition is at the heart of the league's goals.
"There are many perspectives, but at least in terms of the size of the league, we have already jumped to second place after the NBA this year," Shimada was quoted as saying by Sports Hochi on Thursday. "The scale of business of the top clubs is almost on par with the top clubs in Europe, [and] the competitiveness is also increasing considerably.
"By 2050, the most popular basketball leagues in the world will be the NBA and the B.League, both in name and reality."
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Hachimura, Watanabe Named to Preliminary Roster for Paris
Japan's 16-man preliminary roster for the Paris Olympics was released on Wednesday. However, the roster will need to be trimmed down to 12 players for the Olympic tournament in France.
For Akatsuki Japan, Rui Hachimura of the Los Angeles Lakers and former NBA small forward Yuta Watanabe headline the preliminary list of players. Other notable names include B.League standouts Yuki Togashi, Makoto Hiejima, Yuki Kawamura, Yudai Baba and future pro Keisei Tominaga.
Watanabe is coping with a left calf muscle injury, he told reporters on Saturday during a team workout at the Ajinomoto Training Center in Tokyo.
"I was diagnosed with a separated left calf around the beginning of June," Watanabe was quoted as saying by Basket Count, a Japanese-language basketball website, "and I was told it would be up to eight weeks [for full recovery]."
He then said, "I was recovering well, but I aggravated the same spot. So I did not participate in today's practice. In many cases, it takes longer than it should if the injury is aggravated, so I don't know how many weeks it will take [to fully recover].
In other words, Watanabe's availability for the Paris Olympics is in jeopardy.
Japan's preparations for Paris will continue in Tokyo with games on Friday and Sunday, July 5 and 7 against South Korea at Ariake Arena.
Sport Climbing
Nonaka Targeting an Olympic Gold in Paris
After collecting a silver medal in the women's sport climbing combined competition final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Miho Nonaka wants to do even better in her second Olympics.
Nonaka, 27, secured one of Japan's two spots in the event along with Ai Mori by placing second behind Brooke Raboutou of the United States in the Olympic Qualifier Series final on Sunday, June 23 in Budapest.
Two days later, Nonaka outlined her goals for the Paris Games during a news conference at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture.
"I want to try hard for an even higher medal," she said, according to Kyodo News.
The combined competition includes lead climbing and bouldering.
Olympics.com described the objective of lead climbing this way: "In the lead event, athletes climb as high as they can on a wall over 15 meters high in six minutes without having seen the route ahead of time." And in bouldering, "athletes climb 4.5-meter high walls without ropes, in a limited period of time and in the fewest attempts possible."
In the women's competition, Olympic medals will be awarded on August 10.
Boxing
'Monster' Inoue Doesn't Plan to Meet WBA's Demands
Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue is forging ahead with his training routine while at the same time saying he'll likely ignore the WBA's directive for a mandatory title defense.
If Inoue (27-0, 24 knockouts) doesn't fight Uzbekistan's Murodjon Akhmadaliev by September 25, he'll be stripped of his WBA championship belt.
Instead of facing Akhmadaliev in his next fight, Inoue's likely next opponent is Irishman TJ Donehy (26-4, 20 KOs), with September 9 the target date for the bout in Japan.
"If I have the belt stripped, that's fine," Inoue was quoted as saying by Kyodo News on Friday, June 28.
"I'm not so particular about that belt," he added.
Inoue is one of four nominees for a 2024 ESPY award in the best boxer category. The others: Terence Crawford, Seniesa Estrada and Oleksandr Usyk.
Global sports media giant ESPN will hold the 32nd annual ESPY Awards, or ESPYS, on July 11 at Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
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Baseball
Dodgers' Ohtani Breaks Team Record for Consecutive Games with an RBI
On Wednesday, June 26, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani belted a leadoff home run for the second day in a row. It was his National League-best 25th homer of the season.
In doing so, Ohtani broke the team record for consecutive games with an RBI (10). He previously shared the mark with Hall of Famer Roy Campanella in 1955, among others.
The Dodgers earned a 4-0 road win over the Chicago White Sox.
Ohtani's streak ended at 10 when he went 1-for-3 and didn't drive in a run in a 5-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Friday.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts is as impressed as anyone about Ohtani's success of late as a batter. (He's hitting 311 with 11 homers and 23 RBIs in June through Friday.)
"Shohei's just really on a heater right now and swinging the bat so well," Roberts said, according to The Associated Press. "You know the leadoff homers, the consecutive games with a run batted in, all that stuff. ... If they throw it over the plate in his zone, he's going to hit it hard."
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Track and Field
First-Ever UK Ekiden Staged in Oxford
The inaugural UK Ekiden began in Oxford, England, featuring 18 teams and a 10-stage race on Monday, June 24. It ended on the same day in Windsor after more than 180 runners participated in the 122-km route, which followed the Thames Path.
Ekiden races (long-distance relay races) enjoy huge popularity in Japan, particularly the two-day Hakone Ekiden with massive TV viewership during the New Year holiday.
Company and university teams competed in the race category (five men and five women per team). In the runners category, any mix of runners could be entered as a team, according to the event's official website.
Oxford University finished first in 7 hours, 48 minutes, 14 seconds in the race division. Cambridge University was the runner-up in 8:25:12.
Among running clubs, the winner was Team Paris Marathon in 9:15:07.
Excitement About the UK Ekiden's Establishment
John Ridding, CEO of The Financial Times, spoke enthusiastically about the newspaper's sponsorship of the event.
"We're thrilled to have supported this historic event which strengthens the cultural ties between Japan and the UK and demonstrates the value of teamwork, collaboration and international exchange at a time of divisions," Ridding said, according to the BBC.
The race was held several days before Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako's visit to Oxford on Friday.
UK Ekiden founder Anna Dingley spoke after the race, which UK Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom watched in person.
"It was inspiring to see the energy and endurance from the runners and to feel their sense of camaraderie, which is what the ekiden is all about," Dingley said. "We are deeply impressed that the Hakone Ekiden reached the milestone of 100 races, and hope that the UK Ekiden also continues for the next 100 years. Thank you to all the runners and supporters."
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Javelin Thrower Kitaguchi Captures National Title
Reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi won her fourth national title in the women's javelin throw at the 108th JAAF Athletics Championships on Friday, June 28 in Niigata.
Kitaguchi captured the title with a top throw of 62.87 meters.
The 26-year-old has five victories and one runner-up finish in six national and international competitions in the 2024 season.
Briefly…
In 14 games in a Trenton Thunder uniform (through June 28), Japanese slugger Rintaro Sasaki is batting .271 with three home runs, two doubles and 10 RBIs in the MLB Draft League. He's also walked nine times and has a .523 slugging percentage.
The J.League's third-place Gamba Osaka was set to play host to the first-place FC Machida Zelvia in a compelling Sunday evening clash in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. Zelvia, playing its first season in J1, aka the first division, has scored 31 goals en route to a 12-4-4 start in the 2024 season. Gamba has 21 goals and an 11-5-4 record to date.
According to a Central Research Services, Inc survey of 1,200 people ages 20 and up in Japan in April 2024, Ohtani is their favorite Japanese athlete, Jiji Press reported on June 20. The Dodgers superstar was listed No 1 by almost 60% of the survey participants. Ohtani also topped the list in 2022 and 2023.
In this year's survey, retired athletes were also among the top favorites. Baseball legends Ichiro Suzuki and Shigeo Nagashima were listed second and third, followed by pro golfer Hideki Matsuyama and two-time Olympic skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu.
Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.