Preview of 22nd Japan Handball League


Men's First Division: 'High-Level' Competition

In the 1996-97 Play-off Final, Daido Steel, finishing in the first place in regular season, captured the title repelling Nakamura Niyaku Corporation who aimed at the third consecutive champion. The highlight of the 1997-98 Japan Handball League, succeeding to a fever of World Championship Handball-Kumamoto which got over 200, 000 spectators, is, above all, a series of battles led by All-Japan players whose skills got close to World-class.

Daido Steel, the defending champion, has an established opinion for their dynamic offense and their powerful defense. Their offense may center on All-Japan trio, Sueoka, Tomimoto and Fujii, combining with Jin Suk Lim's powerfulness and also Ogimoto and Shibata's swiftness. On defense, they make the best use of their higher heights. With a complete goalie unit, Akiyoshi, Hayashi, and Hihara, it is highly possible for them to lead the championship again.

Nakamura Niyaku Corporation, who hopes to recapture the title, was annoyed by injuries of key players such as Oh, 1996-97 Best Scorer and Field Goal Prize recipient in 6 consecutive years, GK Inoue, side Yao. However, the team showed its latent powers in the conquest over the National Jitsugyo-dan Championship in the beginning of the last season by Cho, Takagi, and Kinami's hard fighting. Cho, the Ace, was the key player for the Korean Team to appear in the Final 8 in the World Championship tournament in Kumamoto. His prominent scoring will be spotlighted this season.

Wakunaga Pharmaceutical, 3rd place in the 1996-97 season, got favored. The size of defense line, BRAMANIS with All-Japan players, Nakayama, Sugiyama, and Yamaguchi, is supposed to be No. 1 in the league. Goalie Tada and Tsubone's persistence are outstanding too. On their offense, it is a good news for them that solid feeder Moriyama's joining boost for their set offense, a pending problem: Sugiyama's post plays collaborating with Nakayama and BRAMANIS, and side plays by veteran Hotta.

Nisshin Steel, who aims at their comeback, has its strength in experienced carriers of veterans such as Gennai the gutsy and four others: Hayashi the Technician, Sakaguchi the Anti-Aircraft Gun, and Udagawa the Guardian. It is interesting to see how the team, starting over from the scratch, rewarded with the result of enhancing running abilities and of strengthen mental training under the new head coach Yunaka. They cannot overcome the long-run season without gaining young players' power such as Kakutani and Kusuhara since there's no change about its lineup centering on veterans.

Osaki Electric - Nagayama as a control tower takes control of powerful long-range attacks by Uozumi, Morimoto, and Moriwaki. Tsuchiya, who was converted to post, swift Tsuji, Masaru Ono, and rookie Arao also increase scoring by their energetic maneuver. Shuto, establishing the JHL goal streak record, is still to be reckoned with in good form. The point is how they save the goal by their aggressive defense centering on goalie Sato's bold keeping.

Honda, under the command of the new head coach Taguchi, confronts with their foes by a fresh lineup such as rookies- Araki, Ikebe, Saito, and Haga in addition to lefty Kayaba, Kato the Leader, Hiromasa, and Sasanami. On the other hand, here gather the ables with great carriers such as Yayoshi, Hihara the gutsy, and a GK duo - Hashimoto, who appealed his presence in the World Championship-Kumamoto games, and Shikata. They were supposed to upset Daido Steel in the opener, then want to ride on the wave through the season.

Sanyo Fashion House - while ace Iwamoto, who sat out the last season with a knee injury, leads the vanguard as a captain, there are bunch of distinguishable players in a row - Tanaka, Watanabe, Nagaoka, Goshima, promising rookie Nakagawa, and a Goalie tandem, Motomura and Takahashi. The point may lie in their mental stamina since they have enough potentials to slip in the upper echelon. Hokuriku Electric Power, a new comer, places all bets on their speedy plays, a strong point. The point is whether they make the best use of their mobility of Yokogoshi the Ace, Kakutani, Tezuka, Kitagawa, and Kitamura. It depends on how the defense hold out so that they blow off their handicaps in body size.

 

Women's First Division: In Big Confusion

Izumi goes for the champ again, although there was replacing in key players. Lim, proud of leading the world in skills, works at full blast as a player-head coach. She leads strongly young players such as Tamano, Kawamoto, rookie Aoto, and GK Karube while she makes the strong duo with southpaw Hon. Since they defeated the All-Japan team at Hiroshima in July, they get great expectations that they will make it this year again.

Hitachi-Tochigi is eager to achieve their long-cherished wish to win their first champ. The frustrating and humiliating 2nd-place JHL finish in the last season spurs the solid starting players: captain Okidoi, floater Pek, Matsumoto, post Wang, two sides - Isano and Nakayama, and Goalie Konno. The team is also favored since they returned with confidence after winning a 'long-awaited' champion in the National Jitsugyo-dan Championship in May.

Hokukoku Bank tries its luck on swift plays in transition from their offensive defense centering on Kamide the Hustler, and the distinguishable Goalie tandem - Yasuda and Okizono. With a remarkable progress of large-sized post Yumiko Tanaka, their set plays make it too. Above all, they may feel secured with their at worst 3rd-place finishes in 5 consecutive years.

Tateyama Aluminum slipped into 4th-place in their first season last time. Although Pek, a source of goal scoring, left Tateyama, Choi, who can assist to score well, joins them. Led by all-round player Ru, Tanaka, who grows up in her carrier, Shinya, and Yuki Yamazaki watch for a chance to upset.

Osaki Electric looks for a foothold to coming back to the queen of the league. Post plays and side plays by Hozumi, Sakugawa, and Funatsu will deepen their offense and defense led by Kim, who make a duo with new face Song. Although Kawamura and others' sitting out will suffer, speedy offense and defense will be expected with coming-up talented and promising rookies - Kouren, Sato, and Takahashi.

Omron showed a poor finish, 6th-place, in the last season. Key players trio - Tamura, Tanaka, and Takahashi, were eager to revenge themselves to the foes, while supporting players such as Sugihara and Tano brush up their distinctive stubbornness. Even though the Chinese duo, GK Wang and southpaw hitter Shi will be absent to participate the Chinese National Championship from several games in the beginning, it will not be a big loss to the team since younger Goalie Yamaguchi and center Sumi are enough to back up.

Seventh-place Jusco and returning Daiwa Bank have got attentions too. Jusco raises its power surely since younger players such as Ikeda, Urata sisters, and rookie Tsuji come to the fore while they have reckoned players - ace Haji, lefty side Yamagata, and GK Matsuo. Daiwa Bank has the outstanding Scorer Tanaka, while the progress of post Fujiura and southpaw Yamashita stands out. The team may throws the league into confusion if veterans such as Yamao, Nishiguchi, Omata, and Kubo catch the point exactly in the games.

With the World Championship in December, the schedule in Women's First Division is, though a long-run campaign, so intensive and tight: the first round will finish in a month from the September 20th opening game, while only four weeks from the January 6th opener complete the second half. Thus, this season is rather stormy since every team has nearly equal in strength. Conditioning such as injuries may affect the campaign well.

 

Men's & Women's Second Division: Hot Races to First Division

In Men's Second Division, Toyota Auto Body, which seeks the chance to comeback, may take the lead to shape the big three with Sankei, adding the depth in stability with younger players, and Honda Motor-Kumamoto, who got a powerful rookie. However, there's little difference between lower echelon teams: Denso, seeking a rollback operation, ARACO Kyushu, who made a splash in their first season, Toyota Motor Corporation, the former First Division team, Tokuyama, who improves year by year, and the new comer KFC. This is the league in confusion where every team has a chance to leap.

In Women's Second Division, Chateraise, welcoming the powerful duo of Olympian gold medalists from Denmark, is by far the best team in Women's Second Division. Worthy of notice are Sony-Kokubu, who is pleased by their 2nd-place finish in the last season, and Brother's persistence, getting heated to get out their long slump. Munekata needs their 'first win' to gain momentum.