These are very sad days for the volleyball community!
Naonobu Fujii, former member of the Japan men’s national team and Toray Arrows, has passed away. The Olympian from the Tokyo Games was diagnosed with stomach cancer. On February 27th, 2022, Fujii announced on his Instagram profile that he had an advanced stomach tumor. After experiencing sore eyes following a game, the captain of the V.League side Toray Arrows found out that he had cancer.
Born in Miyagi, Fujii began his volleyball career while attending Furukawa Industrial High School. Despite the destruction of his family’s home in the 2011 tsunami and earthquake, he persevered in the sport with the support of his loved ones. He played a key role in Japan’s gold medal and was recognized as the best setter in the 2017 Asian Championship held in Indonesia. Additionally, he won bronze in 2019 and silver in 2021 at the continental level. At the 2021 (Tokyo 2020) Olympic Games, he competed as part of the Japanese team and they ended competition on 7th place.
We express our sincere condolences to his family and to the entire volleyball community.
