Tokyo, March 9, 2006: The Japan Volleyball Association has taken the first step on the long road to this year's World Championships by naming a provisional squad of 35 players for the men's event.
The list will be reduced to 22 on March 29 for the World League, and then to 18 before the final registration deadline of April 28.
Under head coach Tatsuya Ueta, the men's team will have 10 training camps to prepare for the World Championships in November, as well as playing World League Pool A games against Serbia and Montenegro, USA and Poland in July and August.
The provisional list is headed by 36-year-old captain Masaji Ogino and includes 12 other players who had World League experience in 2005.
They are Yu Koshikawa, Brazil-born Marcos Sugiyama, Hiroyuki Kai, Ryuji Naohiro, Tatsuya Fukuzawa, Kota Yamamura, Nobuharu Saito, Yusuke Matsuta, Kenji Onoue, Daisuke Usami, Hiroyoshi Hanano and Osamu Tanabe.
The JVA will name the squad of 22 at a press conference at the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences in Tokyo on March 29 (1.30pm), and a training session will follow.
The JVA plans to announce a women's squad of around 20 players before the end of March for a busy year which includes international tournaments in Switzerland and Italy, the World Grand Prix, World Championships from October 31 to November 16 and finally the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
