The Japanese Volleyball Federation (JVA) unanimously decided to dismiss its president Kenji Shimaoka.
The JVA held a board meeting in Tokyo and unanimously decided to dismiss its president Kenji Shimaoka due to “an unprecedented scandal”, as it was stressed. Even before this decision of the JVA, the legendary figure of the country’s volleyball had indicated his intention to resign.
The reason for this was that it came to light that Shimaoka, now a 72-year-old official, concealed forging medical certificates in December 2019 for a couple of players in order for them to participate in the international beach volleyball tournament the following year. The pair of Japanese beach volleyball players (whose names are yet unknown) were scheduled to participate in the FIVB World Tour in January 2020 but announced their intention to withdraw because the JVA failed to register them for the event within the deadline. However, the federation officials created a fake medical certificate to avoid the penalty from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). According to the investigation report, Shimaoka and his colleagues were aware of the forgery but didn’t disclose it. The JVA president wasn’t the only one suffering consequences as 4 more officials were also punished.
Shimaoka was a legendary former member of the Japan National Team, competing in 3 Summer Olympics and was involved in winning the gold medal in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Because of his splendid play, Shimaoka has nicknamed the ‘Prince’. He was heading JVA since 2017 and was also the chairman of the Japanese Volleyball League Organization (V.League), the position to which he resigned in April last year.
