Spiker Kimura mulls retirement

Saori Kimura, who served as the women’s volleyball captain for Japan at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this summer, is contemplating retirement, she revealed on her personal blog on Monday.

In response to questions she says she gets regarding her career plans, the 30-year-old Kimura said she has told many people that she would quit after the Rio Olympics but has decided to play for the Toray Arrows in the V-League this season.

“The V-League will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. I hope to make this place the final destination of my volleyball career,” she said.

The women’s top-division Premier League starts on Oct. 29, and the Arrows will play the PFU Blue Cats at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Oct. 30.

Kimura, a wing spiker, made her first Olympic appearance in 2004 in Athens as a high school student, and was also part of the bronze-winning team at the 2012 London Games. In her fourth straight Olympic appearance in Rio, Japan lost to the United States in the quarterfinals.

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