Mikael Jantunen’s banter also got the crowd excited during the team’s evening walk.
Susijengi will start the World Basketball Championships in Okinawa, Japan on Friday, August 25. In the opening match, they will face medal favorite Australia. The match starts at 11:00. You can see Susijengi and Lauri Markkanen’s highlights fresh on the website and in the app.
OKINAWA.
Susijeng’s training culminates in the last number and it is the turn of the players’ personal throwing practice. It also means that Japanese reporters will be able to enter the training hall.
15 local media representatives rush through the doors directly to the other side of the field. The reason is clear: a superstar Lauri Markkanen, one of the best players of the entire tournament. Already in previous trainings in Finland, dozens of Japanese journalists have come to watch just Markka.
You can see from everything that Markkanen is also interesting in Japan. The eyes of photographers and journalists are fixed on only one player when the “King in The North”, the king of the North, puts the ball in the air.
When the exercises are over, the same 15 reporters follow Markkas to the corridors of the hall as far as they can and try with all their might to get even one comment from the star player.
A good hour later, after Susijeng’s physical training, a few Japanese journalists get the two-minute interview they crave. The questions relate to both opinions about Japan’s chances at the World Cup and Markkanen’s ongoing military service.
The conscript service of the NBA star, which became an international news topic earlier this summer, is of course also of interest in Okinawa. The US army occupied Okinawa at the end of World War II in 1945 and the country controlled the island until 1972. There is still a US base in Okinawa.
One of those who followed Markkas closely on Wednesday was a commentator for the Japanese Asahi TV Yohei Onishi.
– Markkanen is a top player. We are excited to see him live on the field. I can’t wait for it, Onishi incenses through an interpreter.
All eight World Cup teams playing in Okinawa have received their own cheers from local schoolchildren in the training hall.
Greetings were sent to the wolf gang in Finnish. Clearly, local schools had tried to learn the right terms.
There were also other Finnish players on the wall than this year’s Susijeng’s World Cup group.
There were greetings in pure Japanese as well.
Some tender messages were also found.
Support was also shown in a straightforward manner.
Sometimes the translation didn’t quite go well with the Moomins…
The messages were still quite understandable in the final games, regardless of the translation flowers.
Guard escort, Finnish flags and requests for the name of Mikael Jantuse
The wolf gang has already attracted attention in basketball-loving Okinawa. When the Finnish players arrived on the island on Saturday, a security convoy had arrived at the airport and a lot of locals who waved the Finnish flag to show their respect to Susijeng.
– I think this tells about the sports culture here. Japan likes sports. It’s great to see something like this, Susijeng captain Sasu Salin says.
However, Salin reveals that Susijeng players other than Markkanen have also attracted attention. When some of the players went for an evening walk on Tuesday, the locals recognized one tall man. Earlier this summer, he played promisingly in the NBA summer league in the shirt of the successful club Golden State Warriors Mikael Jantunen.
– Came against the locals. They said they watched Micke’s summer league games. They had pictures of those games and asked for the number one. Everyone comes to take pictures anyway. A peace sign or a Korean heart should always be ready. It’s sweet, Salin says.
The thermometer whizzes over 30 degrees while doing an interview on the terrace of Susijengi’s hotel. The humidity percentage is at its best during the day at 84. The shirt is soaking wet in a few minutes.
Salini has his sixth prestigious men’s competition ahead of him. Five European Championships and one World Championship are behind us. Only one thing has surprised the 32-year-old Malmi graduate in Okinawa.
– Yes, it’s this heat and humidity. I can’t be out here for very long, Salin says with a smile and leaves back to the air-conditioned interior.