Dec 21, 2020
The Eneos Sunflowers may have extended their All-Japan Championship title streak to eight straight, but that wasn’t the biggest news of the day.
What captured more attention was how they secured this latest Empress Cup while playing without star Ramu Tokashiki and a few other core players.
The team lost Tokashiki during the quarterfinals Wednesday, with the center/forward suffering an ACL tear an injury that may also have a major effect on the national team’s pursuit of gold at the Tokyo Olympics next summer.
The club, based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, was already without key members such as Saki Hayashi and Kadysha Juna Umezawa. Both are also national team members and missing due to injuries.
Dec 20, 2020
The Eneos Sunflowers overcame the loss of their star player Ramu Tokashiki to successfully extend their title streak to eight at the annual single-elimination All-Japan Championship with an 87-80 win over the Toyota Antelopes at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 on Sunday.
It was the 25th Empress’ Cup that the Sunflowers hoisted, the most of all time. With eight straight titles, the Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture-based club has also drawn even with Nichibo Hirano, whose record started in 1965, for the tournament’s longest championship streak.
It was an emotion victory for the Sunflowers, who competed without ace forward/center Tokashiki. The team announced on Saturday that the 29-year-old, considered a key part of Japan’s hopes of medaling at next year’s Tokyo Olympics, had torn her right ACL.
Dec 19, 2020
Ramu Tokashiki, the Japan women’s national basketball team’s top player, has a torn ACL in her right knee her team, Eneos Sunflowers, announced on Saturday.
The 193-cm center/forward suffered the injury during Eneos’ 78-59 win over the Fujitsu Red Wave in the quarterfinals of the All-Japan Championship at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Tokashiki is without question the nation’s best player and had been expected to be a key component of the national team at next summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
The injury deals a major blow to Japan’s chances of winning gold on home soil next year. The Akatsuki Five was already without another key player as Haneda Vickies point guard Nako Motohashi injured her ACL during a training camp in November.