Japan men’s coach Siegfried Aikman believes the Samurai can cause a seismic upset at the Tokyo Olympics – despite the world’s top nine having the luxury of the Pro League as Games preparation.

Devoid of playing international Test matches since the pandemic, Japan will have the 2018 Asian Games to fall back on, a tournament where they were trounced by India early on before winning the tournament in sensational style. In these Olympics where anything is possible, Japan, the lowest-ranked men’s side, will be no pushovers on home soil.

“Nobody expected that the Argentine men would become Olympic champions, right?” Aikman told hockey.nl. “Or that the Irish women would reach the final of the World Cup? They really didn’t have a great team. Then why wouldn’t we succeed?’

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