Tokyo, October 24, 2006: Women's World Championships favourites Brazil arrived in Japan on Monday afternoon to finalise their preparations for their gold medal challenge.
Twelve players were among a party of 19 to arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport from Frankfurt, and the last three members of the 22-strong delegation are due to join them on Tuesday.
The Brazilians are staying at Akabane, a short journey from their training base at the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences, and will practice with the Japan team.
After checking into their hotel in the early evening, they wasted no time in getting down to business by holding a weight training session in the JISS gym.
They have asked to remain at JISS all day instead of returning to their hotel for lunch, as they fine tune their play before heading for Kobe on Sunday, October 29. Their first-round opponents in Pool C are Puerto Rico, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, USA and Cameroon.
Although Brazil have never won the women's world crown, the team of head coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes will start here as the red-hot favourites. They have won the World Grand Prix annual tour title for the past three years, and last year added the World Grand Champions Cup (inter-continental championship) to their cabinet, also in Japan.
