Okazaki Surprises Japan Stars At King Power Quad Nations Training
- Shinji Okazaki visited the Japan Wheelchair Rugby team on Tuesday prior to the King Power Wheelchair Rugby Quad Nations tournament
- King Power Quad Nations takes place from 9-11 March at the Leicester Arena
- Okazaki says he has a great respect for Japan’s ‘murderball’ stars
- Leicester City fans can take advantage of a special ticket offer for the tournament this weekend
Okazaki’s compatriots took time out of their first training session since touching down in England to welcome the 2015/16 Premier League champion to the Leicester Arena.
The Leicester City frontman – Japan’s third-highest goalscorer of all time – wished them well ahead of their tournament-opener against Australia on Friday, before trying his hand at ‘murderball’.
“I didn’t know how to play wheelchair rugby, but I understand it well now from watching them training,” said Okazaki. “I’m really interested to see how the team does.
“I saw their training and it’s very hard. It’s a heavy contact sport and looks very hard to play so I respect that they play it. I’m happy to meet them.
“I told them I hope they do well in this tournament and also in the Tokyo Paralympics which is coming up in a few years.”
King Power Quad Nations runs from 9-11 March at the Leicester Arena. It sees Paralympic Gold, Silver and Bronze-winning medallists from Australia, Japan, the USA and reigning European champions Great Britain go head-to-head.
Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby Chief Executive David Pond said: “It’s brilliant to be here. We picked Leicester for its sporting heritage. With King Power coming on board, it’s just tremendous. Of course, the arena here is brilliant too.
“It’s fantastic for the Japan team to see Shinji too. They’ve come all the way over from Japan and they’ve had the chance to meet one of their fellow countrymen, who in Japan is a superstar in his own right.
“That’s really inspirational for them because the Japan team have made such a huge effort to come over here and compete.
“This is an amazing game because when you talk about wheelchair rugby, people don’t quite understand the concept, but the better word is ‘murderball’.
“It’s murderball for a reason. There’s crashes, there’s chairs tipping over. It’s really exciting because there’s an incredible amount of action.”
For Leicester City fans wanting to head down to the Leicester Arena and watch the action unfold, they can get a family ticket for four people to see all four teams in action on the afternoon of Saturday 10 March for just £10!
To get your tickets, click HERE and enter the promo code ‘Family10’.
If you can’t make it on Saturday, simply enter code LOCAL5 to get £5 off any adult ticket for any session in the tournament.
For the full match schedule, visit wrquadnations.com.