Japanese Professional Team Tokyo Haneda Wins WKBL Futures League
Jul 10, 2025
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Tokyo Haneda Bikis, a Japanese professional team, won the WKBL Futures League for the first time.
On the 10th, Tokyo Haneda defeated the Japanese University Selection (JUBF) 92-68 in the final of the '2025 TicketLink WKBL Futures League' held at Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan.
Unlike previous years' Futures League, which involved six WKBL candidates and new players, this year, it has been upgraded to an international competition with 10 teams from four countries, including two Japanese teams that faced the final, as well as the Mongolian and Singaporean national teams.
Tokyo Haneda was a second division team in Japan's WJBL last season, but it ranked first with an overwhelming winning rate and was automatically promoted to the first division where eight teams compete in the 2025-2026 season. Tokyo Haneda, which beat Hana Bank, Shinhan Bank, Mongolian national team, and KB Stars in succession in Group A preliminary round, beat Samsung Life Insurance 70 to 62 in the semifinals the day before and won all six games. The Japanese university selection, the only amateur team in the tournament, lost to Samsung Life Insurance in the first match of the Group B qualifying round, but later advanced to the semifinals by beating Woori Bank, Singapore's national team, and BNK Sum, and beat KB Stars in a close game to reach the final.
This was shown in the final as well. Tokyo Haneda led 7-0 after the start of the first quarter based on consecutive goals by Haruki Takahara and Yuuki Kato. The Japanese university starter, who was somewhat struggling with the pressure of his professional seniors in the beginning, scored his first point with Yamamoto Haruka's three-point shot two minutes after the start of the game, and quickly began to chase 10-11 as Ikeda Lin and Sasaka Misaki added back-to-back points.
If Haneda runs away, the college starter's pursuit continued throughout the first half. In particular, the university selection put pressure on Haneda without hesitation with spirit. Even with about two minutes left in the first half, he succeeded in turning the game around 34-33, which shocked people.
However, Haneda, who faced this, also had the experience of a professional team. Along with a simple breakthrough of the opponent's double team defense, the team finished the first half 41-35 with a highly likely paint zone intensive attack. Nigerian center Aibe Chikamso, who is 1m85, took advantage of the opportunity that the opponent did not have an authentic center and cleared 10 rebounds in the first half alone. Chicamso scored 8 points and 13 rebounds on the day, and he was named MVP of the tournament in the previous game for his performance of using his tall body to completely control the bottom of the goal.
The game was virtually decided in the third quarter. Haneda widened the score gap to 68-51, with Takahara, Chiba Ayumi, Kato Yuuki and Kitagawa Akira continuously digging under the basket for low-level university selections. Takahara, who swept 30 points alone on the day, scored 11 points in the third quarter alone. In particular, Takahara succeeded in 10 by throwing 12 two-point shots by the third quarter, completely breaking the momentum of his juniors with a high-sensitivity shot hit rate of 83%.
Tokyo coach Haneda Hagiwal Mikiko said, `It's a tough schedule, and there were a lot of strong opponents, but I'm happy to try various plays and win the championship thanks to the players.' `The championship was a big boost in the season when we were going to the top division.'
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
