The Japan Table Tennis Association is scheduled to hold a press conference on January 19 to announce to the media the news of the new coach of the Japanese men's and women's national table tennis teams. The current men's team coach Kunishi Tasei, and the women's team coach Takehiro Watanabe will serve until the end of March, but Watanabe Takehiro has already indicated that he will step down, and it is expected that the men's team will also be replaced by a new coach.

Coach Misei Ito and Takehiro Watanabe, who gave advice to the Japanese women's team in the women's team final of the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships in Busan

At a press conference after the board of directors in December last year, Mika Baba, head of the Japan Table Tennis Association's Reinforcement Headquarters, said that she had begun testing candidates for the next coach, and said that she would announce her future national team building policy on January 19. Coach Takehiro Watanabe of the Japanese table tennis women's team has hoped to step down after the Paris Olympics, and it is said that the new coach of the Japanese table tennis women's team has already been selected. In December, the Japan Table Tennis Association also tested and negotiated with the coach of the men's team, and it can be seen that Kunishi Shida will not continue to serve.

Strengthened the head of the headquarters, Mika Baba

In addition, after the Tokyo Olympics, the Japan Table Tennis Association (JTA) established Japan's own method for selecting Olympic representatives on the grounds that the WTT and world rankings were not perfect, and the players were selected in a way that took into account the results of both the WTT Tour and the domestic selection tournaments. Until the end of the Paris Olympics, the Japan Table Tennis Association's Reinforcement Headquarters has not announced a specific strengthening policy for more than three years after the Tokyo Olympics, and so far, it has not announced the selection criteria for the Paris Olympics or the summary of the Paris Olympics.

Japanese media said that at the press conference on January 19, not only the announcement of the new coach, but also the strengthening of the headquarters at that time will propose what kind of team building policy, as well as the future-oriented lineup will attract attention.