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Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Nov 2, 2021

Handball federation ends bikini bottom requirement for women

A fine against Norway's team shortly before the Tokyo Olympics added to the global discussion over double standards affecting female athletes at every level of competition.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 5, 2021

From trial balloon to TV ratings hit, WNBA marks 25 anniversary

By age 22, Rebecca Lobo had picked up a national college basketball championship, numerous player-of-the-year awards and Olympic gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Japan Times
SOCCER
May 4, 2021

Transgender soccer referee makes Israeli sports history

Sapir Berman made sports history on Monday, officiating at a soccer match in Israel's Premier League for the first time since coming out as transgender.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2021

The antitrust case against Europe’s breakaway soccer league

The latest proposal hews more closely to the American model of sports where the same teams compete and see steady income and higher valuations as a consequence.
Japan Times
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2021

In Hideki Matsuyama, Japan gets its long-sought Masters champion

His victory was the first ever for a Japanese man in a major golf championship, and with it Matsuyama claimed his place in the pantheon of Japanese sports heroes.
Japan Times
SPORTS
Apr 13, 2021

Minnesota sports teams postpone games after police shooting

Professional sports in Minneapolis were effectively suspended on Monday following the fatal police shooting of a 20-year-old Black man in the suburb of Brooklyn Center and subsequent outcry.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 6, 2021

Women's Sport Trust CEO: Yoshiro Mori's 'jaw-dropping' comments prove sports world in need of shakeup

'The fact that it's actually getting called out now is really positive in my view and it provides an opportunity to talk about this,' Tammy Parlour said.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 19, 2021

Chuck Mills, who inspired Japan's college football to flourish, dies at 92

The Chicago native brought Utah State and Wake Forest to Japan for exhibition games before taking local coaches under his wing in the United States.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2020

The god of soccer has departed this world

Maradona is often grouped with Pele and Messi as one of the three best soccer players of all time.
The anterior cruciate ligament can be damaged when people play sports such as soccer and basketball, and does not heal on its own, requiring reconstructive surgery.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 7, 2024

Clinical trial to use cow tendons for ligament reconstruction

The number of patients who undergo anterior cruciate ligament surgery in Japan is about 19,000 annually, including many professional soccer players and sumo wrestlers.
Boxer Kevin Johnson displays a shirt with an image of Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Nov. 24.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Dec 13, 2024

Aging U.S. heavyweight Kevin Johnson fights on to honor Vladimir Putin in Russia

Putin granted Johnson nationality with a decree under an express procedure used for others including U.S. actor Steven Seagal.
A Netflix advertisement for the Christmas Day NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers at a railway station in Munich on Nov. 10
MORE SPORTS / Football
Dec 24, 2024

Christmas Day games on Netflix to help NFL expand global reach

Two games will be available to almost all of Netflix's more than 270 million international subscribers.
A falconer during the Suwa Falconry Preservation Society's event in Tokyo on Friday. Falconry predates recorded history, originating, scholars believe, when nomadic herders observed birds of prey hunting and recognized their potential as partners.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 5, 2025

Tokyo falconers keep ancient traditions soaring

While a recent showcase was all about fun and education, like other sports involving animals, falconry is also serious business for competitors at the upper echelons of the sport.
"I hope skaters who train here will go on to shine on the world stage," Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada told the Japan Times at Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a skating rink in Tachikawa, Tokyo, whose establishment she was involved in, on Jan. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Feb 11, 2025

Mao Asada sets out to safeguard the future of Japanese skating

Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a project that involved the three-time world champion, has become a dream destination for skaters.
Masamune Goto (front) pilots his boat during a powerboat racing competition at Tokyo's Tamagawa boat course on Feb. 23.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 6, 2025

Powerboat racing revs up bid to shed shadowy reputation in Japan

Powerboat racing started more than 70 years ago under a special gambling law that classifies it alongside horse racing, speedway and cycling in Japan.
Outgoing International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach delivers a speech during the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece, ahead of an election to determine his successor.
OLYMPICS
Mar 20, 2025

Strange race to lead Olympic sports gets stranger

Smear campaigns have targeted some of the leading contenders in the final days before the vote, scheduled for Thursday in Greece.
Federica Brignone, seen on the podium at the FIS Alpine World Cup Finals on March 27, suffered a broken leg in the giant slalom at the Italian Championships on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS / Alpine skiing
Apr 4, 2025

Italian star Federica Brignone breaks leg with home Olympics on horizon

The 34-year-old is one of Italy's strongest medal contenders in the blue-ribbon sport of Alpine skiing for next year's home Olympics.
The start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah on March 9 last year.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 16, 2025

Team ownership could be next F1 step for Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia first hosted Formula One in 2021, while energy giant Aramco is a global partner of the sport and also the title sponsor of the Aston Martin team.
A member of the Staten Island Giants flag football team passes during a practice on April 21 in Staten Island, New York.
MORE SPORTS
May 1, 2025

Women's flag football takes off in U.S. with LA Olympics on horizon

Developed as an alternative to collision prone tackle football, girls' and women's flag football was relatively unknown six years ago.
Tomomi Bitoh, seen crossing the finish line in Antarctica, on the first stop of the World Marathon Challenge, is one of the very few Japanese athletes to speak publicly about her experience with egg freezing.
MORE SPORTS
May 19, 2025

The race for more time: Japanese runner decided to freeze eggs for her future

More women in Japan are expressing interest or following through with freezing their eggs in recent years, but only a few athletes in Japan have spoken about it publicly.
Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev poses after winning the men's 50-meter freestyle final at the European championships in Belgrade on June 23, 2024.
MORE SPORTS
May 22, 2025

Enhanced Games, where athletes can use banned substances, to start in 2026

The Enhanced Games operate under the principle that banning performance-enhancing drugs in major competition does not protect athletes but rather stifles their performance.
Swimmer Andriy Govorov speaks during a news conference about the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
May 23, 2025

Anti-doping bodies speak out against drug-fueled Enhanced Games

WADA, the global anti-doping watchdog, condemned plans for the event as "dangerous."
The planned wheelchair basketball venue for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games is seen in a digital artist's rendering released on Tuesday.
PARALYMPICS
Jun 4, 2025

LA28 unveils venue plan for largest ever Paralympics

The Paralympics will seek to take advantage of the city's vast network of existing sports venues when it hosts the event for the first time.
Hideo Nakata, deputy mayor of Nagoya, waves the Olympic Council of Asia flag as Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura watches during the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on Oct. 8, 2023.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 5, 2025

Organizers to house athletes on 'floating village' during 2026 Asian Games

Organizers will lease a luxury cruise liner that will be docked at Nagoya's port.
Kirsty Coventry, who will formally take over as the president of the International Olympic Committe on Monday, speaks during a news conference in Costa Navarino, Greece, in March.
OLYMPICS
Jun 21, 2025

As sports embrace gender tests, Coventry and IOC may follow

Such testing has its share of critics and the Olympics have already tried it once only to abandon it in 1996.
South African skydiver Jean Jacques "JJ” Wallis glides after his jump from Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa on July 28, 2025.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 22, 2025

South African Wallis pushes wingsuit flying to global heights

Wallis, 35, is one of the world's fastest wingsuit flyers, achieving speeds of 230 kilometers per hour.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years