{"id":453606,"date":"2026-02-02T13:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453606\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T13:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:01:08","slug":"hovasse-era-ends-as-japan-coach-fiba-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453606\/","title":{"rendered":"Hovasse era ends as Japan coach\u00a0|\u00a0FIBA Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO (Japan) – Japan will have a new coach on the sidelines when the national team resumes its campaign in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers<\/a> at the end of February.<\/p>\n

The Japanese Basketball Association announced<\/a> on Monday that it has parted ways with Tom Hovasse, who took the reins of the men’s team after leading the Japan women to the Gold Medal Game of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.<\/p>\n

According to the JBA, “the decision was made due to differences in direction regarding the future strengthening of the national program and is not attributable to any individual responsibility on Hovasse’s part.”<\/p>\n

Japan are expected to announce at a press conference on Tuesday who will lead the men in the second window of the Asian Qualifiers<\/a>, with the national team set to host China on February 26 and then Korea on March 1. Both games will be played in Okinawa.<\/p>\n

Japan won both of their games against Chinese Taipei in the first window in late 2025.<\/p>\n

“I am so grateful to the JBA for giving me this opportunity 10 years ago,” Hovasse said in a JBA statement<\/a>. “It has been an incredible time, filled with many ups and downs, but it is a journey I would never change. Thank you.”<\/p>\n

Japan’s men qualified for the 2024 Olympics under Hovasse at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, when they hosted First Round games in Okinawa.<\/p>\n

There, Japan’s Yuki Kawamura <\/a>emerged as one of the best and most exciting players in international basketball.<\/p>\n

The team bounced back from an opening defeat to Germany with a thrilling come-from-behind win over Finland. Then in the Classification Round, Japan overcame Venezuela and Cape Verde. Hovasse’s team ended up 19th of out 32 countries in the competition – the best finish of any Asian team.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hovasse brought young stars Kesei Tominaga and Yuki Kawamura into the national team<\/p>\n

At the Olympics in Paris, Japan were on the cusp of a major upset against France in the Group Phase but a four-point play by the hosts’ Matthew Strazel forced overtime and Les Bleus won, 94-90.<\/p>\n

At the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, Japan finished at ninth.<\/p>\n

“Thank you to all the fans who have passionately supported our teams, both men and women, for the last 10 years!” Hovasse said in the statement. “Your positivity, patience, empathy and understanding are things that I will always remember and carry with me.<\/p>\n

“To my staff, I have never been around a more dedicated group. Your love and knowledge of basketball is infectious and your support and friendship have created memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you.<\/p>\n

“For all of the players who worked tirelessly to strengthen Japan basketball, it has been an honor to coach all of you.<\/p>\n

“Due to your dedication and relentless work, we have accomplished so much over the years. Winning a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics with the women\u2019s team, and coaching the men\u2019s team at the World Cup in Okinawa and qualifying for the Paris Olympics are just a few of the highlights that we can all be proud of.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of the highlights of his time in Japan was leading the women to the Tokyo Olympics Final<\/p>\n

“Yet, there is still more to accomplish. Keep working hard, stay positive and keep improving every day and the results will follow.”<\/p>\n

The JBA also expressed<\/a> its “sincere respect and gratitude” to Hovasse for “his significant contributions and achievements to Japanese basketball” since he was appointed coach of the Japan women’s national team in 2015.<\/p>\n

FIBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO (Japan) – Japan will have a new coach on the sidelines when the national team resumes its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-453606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}