Jun Mizutani, Ai Fukuhara And Co. In Germany Before The Olympics! (Video)

The Olympic Japanese team made up by Jun Mizutani, Seiya Kishikawa, Koki Niwa, Ai Fukuhara, Kasumi Ishikawa and Sayaka Hirano arrived in the German city of Dusseldorf on July 21 to train at the German Federation's training center, where Timo Boll and Co. are also training. However, it isn't a surprise that Japan has decided to get there before London because the team also trained in Dusseldorf before the 2012 World Team Championships held in Dortmund.

Japan arrives in these Olympic Games with high expectations despite being a young team but with experience: Mizutani 23, Kishikawa 25 and Koki Niwa 17. Japan got the third seed in the men event and is the favorite for one of the medals. However, they know that they can have an eventual match against China in semifinals, what can be dangerous for their ambitions. On the other hand, Jun Mizutani captured the third seed in the singles event after reaching the fifth place in the world ranking list, his best place ever.

The women team is the second seed and has more chances to reach the Olympic final. However, they have a long and hard way to go because they can have an eventual match against Singapore or South Korea in semifinals. Ai Fukuhara and Co. didn't have a good result in the World Team Championships as they lost to South Korea led by Kim Kyungah in quarterfinals and had to put up with the fifth place. In the singles event, Ishikawa is the best ranked player in the team and got the fourth seed after Ding Ning, Li Xiaoxia and Kim Kyungah. Fukuhura is in the fifth place of the seeding list before Feng Tianwei, Tie Yana and Wang Yuegu. 

The Japanese team will fly to London tomorrow as the Olympic German team.

Video kindly shared by KYODO NEWS

Photo and info. source: goraku-albcal16.blogspot.com - borussia-duesseldorf.com