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 who won a gold medal 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 ...

. 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 20 years old. She began playing goalball in 2004.

References

Paralympic gold medalists for Japan Goalball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Kumamoto Prefecture 1977 births Living people Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic goalball players for Japan Female goalball players University of Teacher Education Fukuoka alumni Paralympic medalists in goalball Goalball players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics 20th-century Japanese women 21st-century Japanese women Medalists at the 2010 Asian Para Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Para Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Para Games {{Goalball-bio-stub