With their quarterfinal win over Belgium on Wednesday, the Akatsuki Five officially pronounced themselves as the Cinderella team of the women’s Olympic basketball tournament.
The dramatic 86-85 victory has Japan in the Olympic semifinals and eyeing its first-ever basketball medal.
Ahead of the Games, many Japanese basketball writers had crossed the team off their medal-contender lists because they thought the squad would not have enough talent to compete with the world’s best. Ramu Tokashiki, 193-cms-tall and a former member of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, did not make the squad due to a torn ACL, and other stars that competed at the Rio Olympics hung up their sneakers in recent years.