After the one-year postponement of the Tokyo Olympics was announced in March, Japan¡¯s men¡¯s national basketball team had hoped to use the extra time to further its development and preparation.
The ongoing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, has thrown a wrench in those plans.
The Akatsuki Five recently held their first training camp in nine months at Tokyo¡¯s National Training Center. The camp had originally been scheduled as part of the team¡¯s preparation for the second window of the FIBA Asian Cup qualifiers this month, before some of those games, including contests in Group B where Japan is competing, were canceled due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases around the world.
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