was a Japanese

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

player, who was also a member of the

Japan men's national volleyball team The Japan men's national volleyball team ( ja, 男子バレーボール日本代表) represents Japan in international volleyball competitions and friendly matches, governed by Japan Volleyball Association. Their nickname is "''RYUJIN NIPPON (� ...

and of Toray Arrows.

Personal life

Naonobu Fujii grew up in

Miyagi Miyagi may refer to: Places * Miyagi Prefecture, one of the 47 major divisions of Japan * Miyagi, Gunma, a village in Japan, merged into Maebashi in 2004 *Miyagi District, Miyagi, a district in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan Other uses * Miyagi (surna ...

, Japan where he attended Furukawa Industrial High School, a school known for its volleyball team. Gaining an interest in the sport, he went on to play for

Juntendo University is a private university in Japan. Its headquarters are on its campus in Bunkyo, Tokyo, for the School of Medicine and in Inzai, Chiba, for the School of Health and Sports Science. The university was established in 1838 for medical and in 1946 ...

. He enjoyed outdoor activities such as cycling in his free time. His family home was swept away by tsunami caused by Tohoku earthquake . Because of the disaster, his father was unemployed by that time. Fujii once was forced to the situation that he may need to give up his dream of playing volleyball. With his family's encouragement, Fujii continued his volleyball dream. In September 2021, Fujii announced that he had married Miya Sato, who was a setter of the

Japan women's national volleyball team The Japan women's national volleyball team (Hinotori Nippon, 火の鳥NIPPON), or ''All-Japan women's volleyball team'', is currently ranked 10th in the world by FIVB. The new head coach is Masayoshi Manabe. One of their greatest successes was ...

and Hitachi Rivale club. On February 27, 2022, Fujii announced that he has been diagnosed with Stage IV Stomach Cancer, which had metastasized to his brain. Fujii died from stomach cancer on March 10, 2023, at the age of 31. JVA sent out their condolences to his family and the Japanese volleyball community mourned his loss.

Career

After college Fujii went on to join the Torray Arrows team as a setter. Starting in the 2016–17 season, he was selected for the

where he played as number 3. In 2021, he was one of the Japanese men's national team roster, which competed in

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, and the team finished in 7th place after 29 years.

Awards

Individual

2017 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship The 2017 Asian Men's Volleyball Championship was the nineteenth staging of the Asian Men's Volleyball Championship, the biennial international men's volleyball championship of Asia organised by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with Indon ...

- Best Setter

Club teams

*2016/2017 V.Premier League Men's – Best 6, with Torray Arrows

References

External links

Player profile on 2017 World League Page
1992 births 2023 deaths Deaths from stomach cancer Japanese men's volleyball players Sportspeople from Miyagi Prefecture Juntendo University alumni Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players of Japan Setters (volleyball) {{Japan-volleyball-bio-stub