is a Japanese

goalball Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded inside of it into the opponents' goal. The ball is thrown by hand a ...

player with a congenital visual impairment. She was part of the bronze medal-winning Japanese women's team at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

. At the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

she captained the gold medal-winning Japanese women's team. After the game she stated "The day e waited forfinally came. I was so overcome with emotion that I couldn't finish singing the '

Kimigayo is the national anthem of Japan. The lyrics are from a ' poem written by an unnamed author in the Heian period (794–1185), and the current melody was chosen in 1880, replacing an unpopular melody composed by John William Fenton eleven years e ...

' national anthem." Her impairment was caused by

retinitis pigmentosa Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of the eyes that causes loss of vision. Symptoms include trouble seeing at night and decreasing peripheral vision (side and upper or lower visual field). As peripheral vision worsens, people may ...

, which destroyed her vision in both eyes when she was in primary school. She began playing in 2001. Her coach, Naoki Eguro, introduced her to the sport.

References

Paralympic gold medalists for Japan Paralympic bronze medalists for Japan Goalball players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Fukuoka (city) 1975 births Living people Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic goalball players for Japan Female goalball players Kyushu Sangyo University alumni Paralympic medalists in goalball Medalists at the 2010 Asian Para Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Para Games {{Goalball-bio-stub