Here is a list of the registered members of the 12 men's volleyball countries participating in the Tokyo Olympics!
Pool A
Japan
World ranking: 11th (updated 28/06/21)
#1 Kunihiro Shimizu OP/ 34/ 193/ 348 Panasonic Panthers
#2 Onodera Futoshi MB/ 25/ 201/ 346 JT Thunders Hiroshima
#3 Naonobu Fujii S/ 29/ 183/ 312 Toray Roses
#6 Akira Yamauchi MB/ 27/ 204/ 350 Panasonic Panthers
11 Nishida Yuji OP/ 21/ 186/ 350 JTEKT Stings
12 Seita Sekita S/ 27/ 175/ 320 Sakai Blazers
14 Yuki Ishikawa (C) OH/ 25/ 191/ 351 Power Valley Milano (Italy)
15 Li Bo MB/ 30/ 193/ 344 Toray Arrows
17 Kenta Takanashi OH/ 24/ 189/ 337 Wolf Dogs Nagoya
19 Tatsunori Otsuka OH/ 20/ 194/ 338 Waseda University
20 Tomohiro Yamamoto L/ 26/ 171/ 301 Sakai Blazers
21 Ai Takahashi OH/ 19/ 188/ 343 Nippon Sport Science University
Director: Yuichi Nakagauchi
The host country. This is the 9th time in 3 tournaments. Japan has made a big effort to rejuvenate the team, focusing on outside hitters. The average height is lower than at the time of the Beijing Olympics, but the team's level seems to be the highest it has been in nearly 20 years. I hope they will play a game that they will be proud of as representatives of the host country and all Japanese volleyball players.
Venezuela
Photo: Marcelo Ruiz/voleysur.org
World ranking: 33rd
#1 Armando Velasquez S/ 32/ 185/- Fonte do Bastardo (Portugal)
#3 Fernando Gonzalez OH/ 32/ 194/ 333 -
#4 Hector Mata L/ 30/ 179/ 310 Bucharest (Romania)
#5 Ermerson Rodriguez OP/ 28/ 204/ 320 Cizre Belediyeci (Türkiye)
#6 Roberto Oramas MB/ 37/ 200/ 325 -
#7 Edison Valencia MB/ 33/ 195/ 330 Viana do Castelo (Portugal)
#9 Jose Carrasco (C) S/ 32/ 195/ 345 Baniyas VC (UAE)
11 Jose Verdi MB/ 31/ 196/ 350 -
14 Elieter Canelo OH/ 22/ 196/ 322 -
15 Luis Arias OP/ 32/ 196/ 339 -
17 Ronald Faola OH/ 26/ 198/ 340 Al Wasl VC (UAE)
19 Wilner Rivas OH/ 26/ 194/ 339 Police SC (Qatar)
Director: Ronald Sarti (Argentina)
This is the second time in three tournaments. Their world ranking is the lowest among the participating countries in this tournament, but they are the opponent that Japan lost to in the last Beijing tournament. I hope they will win without any trouble this time.
Canada
World ranking: 10th
#1 Taylor Sanders S/ 29/ 191/ 326 -
#2 Gordon Perrin (C) OH/ 31/ 201/ 353 Novosibirsk (Russia)
#3 Steven Marshall L/ 31/ 193/ 350 Nice (France)
#4 Nicholas Hoegh OH/ 28/ 200/ 342 Alkas Spor (Türkiye)
#7 Stephen Marr OH/ 26/ 201/ 350 Cisterna (Italy)
#9 Jay Blankenau S/ 31/ 194/ 334 Warsaw (Poland)
10 Ryan Sclater OP/ 27/ 200/ 347 set (France)
12 Lucas Vamberkel MB/ 29/ 210/ 350 Friedrichshafen (Germany)
13 Sharone Vernon-Evans OP/ 22/ 202/ 374 Perugia (Italy)
17 Graham Viglas MB/ 31/ 205/ 354 Halkbank Ankara (Türkiye)
19 Blair Van L/ 33/ 184/ 314 Friedrichshafen (Germany)
20 Arthur Schwartz MB/ 26/ 209/ 356 Cisterna (Italy)
Directed by: Glenn Hoag
This is the fifth time in two consecutive tournaments. With long-time Canadian representative and point guard Sanders back from injury, Canada has a fully-fitted roster. Most of the players play in Europe's top leagues, and this year's VNL saw them defeat Japan with their powerful serves. At the last Rio Olympics, they placed second in the qualifying pool but lost in the first match of the tournament. This time, they will be hoping to achieve better results than last time.
Italy
World ranking: 9th
#2 Jiri Kovar OH/ 32/ 202/ 353 Civitanova
#4 Luca Vettori OP/ 30/ 199/ 338 Shanghai (China)
#5 Osmany Yuantorena OH/ 35/ 200/ 370 Civitanova
#6 Simone Gianelli S/ 24/ 198/ 350 Perugia
#9 Ivan Zaitsev(C) OP/ 32/ 204/ 370 Civitanova
11 Matteo Piano MB/ 26/ 209/ 352 Milan
13 Massimo Coraci L/ 36/ 188/ 314 Perugia
14 Gianluca Galassi MB/ 23/ 201/ 350 Monza
15 Riccardo Sbertoli S/ 22/ 188/ 326 Trento
17 Simone Anzani MB/ 29/ 204/ 350 Civitanova
18 Alessandro Micheletto OH/ 19/ 205/ 357 Trento
19 Daniele Lavia OH/ 21/ 200/ 345 Trento
Directed by: Gianlorenzo Brenna
This is the 11th time in a row that they have won. Since the Beijing Olympics three tournaments ago, they have improved their rankings by one each time from 4th, 3rd, and 2nd, so perhaps they will win this time in good order. While familiar faces such as mainstays Zaitsev, Juantorena, and Giannelli are in the lineup, young players such as Micheletto and Sbertoli are also making their first Olympic appearances. Personally, I was happy to see Vettori, who I haven't seen in international tournaments recently, and Kovar, who has had few opportunities to play for his club and has been away from the national team for a while, selected.
Poland
World ranking: 2nd
#1 Piotr Nowakowski MB/ 33/ 205/ 355 Warsaw
#5 Łukasz Kaczmarek OP/ 26/ 204/ 345 Kendziedzinkośle
#6 Bartosz Kurek OP/ 32/ 205/ 352 Wolfdogs Nagoya (Japan)
#9 Wilfredo Leon OH/ 27/ 202/ 350 Perugia (Italy)
11 Fabian Zizga S/ 30/ 196/ 325 Rzeszow
12 Grzegorz Łomacz S/ 33/ 187/ 335 Bełchatow
13 Michal Kubiak (C) OH/ 33/ 191/ 328 Panasonic Panthers (Japan)
14 Alexander Silivka OH/ 25/ 196/ 340 Kendziedzinkozire
15 Jakub Kochanowski MB/ 23/ 199/ 353 Rzeszow
16 Kamil Semeniuk OH/ 24/ 195/ 350 Kendziedzinkozire
17 Paweł Zatorski L/ 30/ 184/ 328 Rzeszow
20 Mateusz Wieniek MB/ 27/ 210/ 351 Bełchatov
Director: Fital Heinen (Belgium)
This is their 10th time in 5 consecutive tournaments. They were the runner-up in VNL 2021 and are one of the favorites to win the Tokyo Olympics. They have won the World Championships in 2014 and 2018, but have yet to win a medal in the Olympics in recent years. However, for captain Kubiak, who spent five seasons in the V League, Japan can now be called home. Leon's performance was poor in the VNL final, and they lost to Brazil, but I'm sure they will get their revenge on the biggest stage. Please! Please win! (laughs)
Iran
World ranking: 12th
#2 Milad Ebadipur OH/ 27/ 196/ 342 Belchatov (Poland)
#4 Seyed Ma'arouf (C) S/ 35/ 189/ 331 Beijing (China)
#6 Mohammad Mousavi MB/ 33/ 200/ 362 Fenerbahce (Türkiye)
#9 Masoud Golani MB/ 30/ 200/ 349 Urmia
10 Amir Ghafur OP/ 29/ 202/ 354 Isfahan
11 Saber Kazemi OP/ 22/ 205/ 340 -
12 Morteza Sharifi OH/ 22/ 193/ 340 Hayriliye (Türkiye)
15 Ali Asghhar Mojarrad MB/ 23/ 205/ 330 Sirjan
17 Meisam Salehi OH/ 22/ 198/ 345 Olsztyn (Poland)
19 Mehdi Marandi L/ 35/ 172/ 295 Isfahan
21 Arman Salehi L/ 28/ 180/ 295 Gonbad
24 Javad Karimi S/ 23/ 204/ 330 Maaseik (Belgium)
Head Coach: Vladimir Alekno (Russia)
This is the second time in two consecutive tournaments. Earlier this year, Iran invited Alekno, the former head coach of the Russian national team who won a gold medal at the London Olympics. Although Iran's performance did not seem to be going well in the VNL, many young players gained experience and achieved some results, such as defeating the United States. The members of the Tokyo Olympics are a good mix of these young players and veterans such as Ma'arouf and Mousavi, who have supported Iran's progress so far. They are in the same pool as their Asian rival Japan, and the match between the two on the final day of the qualifiers will likely be an important and heated match with a chance to advance to the final tournament.
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