Kentaro Takahashi
Japanese volleyball player (born 1995)
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Kentaro Takahashi (高橋 健太郎, Takahashi Kentarō; born 8 February 1995) is a Japanese male volleyball player. He is part of the Japan men's national volleyball team. Currently, he plays in V.League division 1 for JTEKT Stings[2]
| Kentaro Takahashi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Japanese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 8 February 1995 Yamagata, Japan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 93 kg (205 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spike | 355 cm (140 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Block | 330 cm (130 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College / University | University of Tsukuba | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Volleyball information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Middle blocker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current club |  JTEKT Stings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 10 (national) 2 (club) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Last updated: 27 August 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal life
Career
Kentaro used to play Baseball before and he aimed to be professional baseball player. But at 15 years old, he broke his elbow so he had to quit playing baseball.[4] After that, he attended at Yonezawa Chuo High School, he started to play volleyball and had an initiation about his future career as a volleyball player.[5]
In 2012, He had selected as a Japan men's national under-19 volleyball team for the first time and received the bronze medal from the 2012 Asian Youth Boys Volleyball Championship.
In 2014, Kentaro had registered in Japan men's national volleyball team for the first time and entered University of Tsukuba respectively. Then, he was dubbed by the then national team coach Masashi Nanbu as one of "NEXT4", the word that referred to 4 players who would be the future of Japanese men's national team, alongside Masahiro Yanagida, Yūki Ishikawa and Akihiro Yamauchi.[6]
In 2016, Kentaro decided to join Toray Arrows volleyball club in V.League and started playing for the team in 2016–17 season.[7][8]
Ahead of 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, he quit national team for family matter.[9] He returned to the team in 2023. After the 2024 Paris Olympics, he announced his retirement from the national team.
Individual Award
- 2021-2022 V.League Division 1 - Best Blocker[10]
- 2021-2022 V.League Division 1 - Best 6
- 2021-2022 V.League Division 1 - Fair Play Award
- 2022–2023 V.League Division 1- Best Blocker
