Brother can wait as Japan’s Mayu Ishikawa focuses on Olympics
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Volleyball – Women’s Pool A – Japan v Kenya – Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan – July 25, 2021. Mayu Ishikawa of Japan celebrates with teammates. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
TOKYO— Mayu Ishikawa mirrored her elder brother Yuki’s achievements on Sunday when she top scored in Japan’s rout of Kenya but said her focus was on forging her own path at the Tokyo Olympics and not on emulating her sibling.
Mayu scored 13 points in the straight sets win, a day after Yuki inspired Japan to their first victory at the Olympics in 29 years when he top-scored with 15 points in a win over Venezuela.
Japan’s Uta Abe and her brother Hifumi won gold medals in judo earlier on Sunday, making history as the first siblings to win gold medals on the same day, but Mayu said she is not looking that far ahead yet.
“I haven’t talked to him about the Olympics very much. I want to do my own job,” Mayu, 21, told reporters when asked about her brother.
“I think that I should focus on myself. My final goal is to get a medal, but first I want to focus on the next game with Serbia.”
Japan are top of their respective groups in both the men’s and women’s draw after the first round of matches. The men next play Canada on Monday while the women take on Serbia a day later.
