Japan Cup 2026: German U19 champions face Japan's cycle-ball teams

German junior players met Japanese teams at the Japan Cup on 12 September. According to the JFIC, twelve cycle-ball pairs were entered across the men's and women's fields, among them the U19 European champions.

Kansai University hosted the Japan Cup 2026 on Saturday, 12 September 2026, with play scheduled from 9.30 am to 6 pm in the central gymnasium of its Senriyama campus. The Japan Federation of Indoor Cycling (JFIC) describes the event as an international tournament that grew out of the exchange between German and Japanese indoor cycling, pitting top German under-19 players against Japanese teams. Editions were also held in 2024 and 2025.

Eight entries made up the men's field. Germany was represented by Bjarne Diehl and Mika Röttel of RC Worfelden, who had won the U19 European title in Höchst in May with a 3-2 final win over Austria, as reported by bdr-medienservice.de. The Japanese line-up included RSV Kobe 1 with Yusuke Murakami and Noboru Tokuhiro, national champions since the end of August, alongside RSV Kobe 2, Tachikawa CSC, Tokyo Tech and murata+OU, plus a mixed team of LO Man Fai and Jung Jinwoo.

Four pairs were entered in the women's tournament: Ariane Fink and Verena Volk for Germany, KNV with Nana Yamashita and Kana Murabayashi, SYK with Yuka Yoshimura and Saki Tanaka, and 308.Link with Sayaka Tokuhiro and Akari Sotani. Fink of RSV Hardt had taken the U19 European title in Höchst together with Jule Gerlach, while Yamashita and Murabayashi had just won the Japanese women's championship. The federation has not yet published any results from the Japan Cup.