Surprise in the Japanese team: Veteran Takanobu Okabe will be competing in the upcoming 62nd 4-Hills-Tournament.
Okabe will replace Reruhi Shimizu and was named to the team together with Daiki Ito, Taku Takeuchi, Noriaki Kasai and Yuta Watase.
This means that the 43-year-old will participate in a World Cup event outside of Japan for the first time since March 2010. Back then he was 45th in Kuopio.
Instead of competing in the World Cup in Engelberg this weekend, the Japanese team around the the top jumpers Noriaki Kasai, Taku Takeuchi and Daiki Ito returned home to train for the 4-Hills-Tournament.
