The Indoor Hall of Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium will be turned to war zone today, as the host Japanese team take on visiting Nigerians in the on going 2004 Olympic Qualification Tournament to decide the teams that will pick the four tickets at stake for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in August.
The Japanese who have won two matches so far courtesy of their 3-2 and 3-0 victories against Italy and Thailand respectively will want to consolidate their position on the score chart with a promise to ground their Nigerian counterparts in what is being described as the talk of the town in Tokyo.
The Japanese team under leadership of captain, Yoshihara Tomoko are doing everything possible to beat the Nigerian girls who are also improving since they lost the first match to Russia owing to jetlag occasioned by long journey.
However, commenting on today’s match coach Tony Ogumah promised that the Nigerian side who are settling down with the competition after the initial tiredness will give the Japanese a fight of their lives to ensure that the nation’s aspiration of going to the Olympics is being kept alive.
“I know we have watched the Japanese team very well and I know that their strenght is in the attack parading Yoshihara,Tsuji and Narita, but all the same we shall curtail their aggressive play on the court today in Tokyo,” he said. According to coach Ogumah, the Nigerian girls will also be detered by the mammoth crowd who have been thronging the Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo everyday to support their darling team to victory, saying “The story will change after the Japan/Nigeria match.”
“As you could see my team against Italy when they almost humbled the Europeans in the first set of the game by leading 8-7 before the opponents took over, it is in this same spirit that my players will fight the hosts today,” coach Ogumah said.
But the Japanese coach, Yanagimoto Shoichi who vowed to win all the matches concerning his country in the Olympic qualifiers countered with a promise to beat the Nigerian side hands down, adding “My team has prepared very well for the competition and nothing can stop us from doing well.”
It would be recalled that Nigeria lost her first two matches to Russia and Italy 3-0 apiece, while the host country are having maximum points from the matches played so far.
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