Yuta Watanabe, one of the best player of Japan national team, suffers an injury and leaves friendly game vs Angola early.
A friendly game in the SoftBank CUP 2023 Tokyo Tournament between Japan and Angola featured an episode that scared the local basketball fans.
With 3 minutes and 27 seconds remaining in the second quarter, the forward who play in NBA collided with an opponent and collapsed on the court. Watanabe got up when the play ended but had to go to the locker room and did not finish the game. Before getting injured, Watanabe played for 11 minutes, recording four points, seven rebounds, and three assists.
Japan seems to have avoided the worst. “He didn’t go to the hospital. He sprains himself often. I knew the condition wasn’t bad,” head coach Tom Hovasse told the media after the game.
“I can’t play him against France. It will be about 5 days to a week until his return,” the coach said. “If his condition improves, I’d like to use him against Slovenia, but I don’t know.”
Japan will play two more friendly games in the mini-tournament against France on August 17th and Slovenia on August 19th.
The FIBA World Cup will be played from August 25th to September 10th in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan. Japan will play in group E, with Germany, Australia and Finland.