PARALYMPICS/ Japan beats U.S. to claim gold in tense wheelchair rugby final

By TAKAAKI FUJINO/ Staff Writer

September 3,ビジャレアル 対 グラナダ 2024 at 18:14 JST

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Japanese wheelchair rugby players celebrate after winning the gold medal at the Paris Paralympics on Sept. 2. (Shigetaka Kodama)

PARIS--Practice makes perfect and the Japanese national wheelchair rugby players relied on their defense honed through hard work to forge a stirring comeback against the powerful U.S. squad.

Japanese team captain Yukinobu Ike looked as if he was fighting hard to contain his joy before the game was over.

For the 44-year-old player and his teammates, winning a gold medal at the Paralympics was a long-held dream.

It took six Paralympics. And finally, it came true on Sept. 2, in Paris, in a way that could not have been more gratifying--beating the U.S. team that had medaled in all the previous six Paralympics.

Japan had competed in six consecutive Games since the 2004 Athens Paralympics and won bronze medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and the 2021 Tokyo Games.

This time in Paris, the team gained momentum by winning all its first-round matches.

Japan won its semifinal match against Australia in extra time to advance to the finals for the first time.

In the gold medal match, at the start of the game, mistakes were noticeable. Players could not pass the ball to each other and lost possession easily.

By the end of the first period, the United States held a three-point lead.

However, from that point on, Japan seized the initiative through its solid defense.

Working in tandem, the Japanese players drove deep into enemy territory and stymied the U.S. passing attack.

In the second period alone, Japan forced two turnovers and took a one-point lead.

The Japanese players continued to apply stifling pressure, forcing the U.S. players to make mistakes and widening the lead.

Defense is one of the key areas the team had focused on refining in preparation for the Paris Games.

Kevin Orr, the previous head coach, resigned for health reasons in the summer of 2023, and Kotaro Kishi, a former member of the Japan national team, replaced him.

Until then, the focus had been on practice in the form of actual games, but Kishi, 52, brought a different approach.

He asked the players to break down each play and work out their positioning and direction of their wheelchairs down to the centimeter.

Team member Kae Kurahashi, 33, was pleased with the results. She said, “We can play with the feeling, ‘We did this in practice.’”

After the first period in which the United States took the lead, Kishi instructed his players as he had repeatedly told to them in the past: “Let’s play the way we have practiced.”

Indeed, they did and defeated the United States 48-41 to win their first gold medal.

After the match, Kishi apologized for not having anything inspirational to share with the media on what he told his players. 

“It's the same as usual and it’s not interesting,” he said.